Sleeper depends very much on slapstick humour, rooted in the early days of Hollywood, with an edge of (very gentle) satire. I'm not particularly familiar with Woody Allen's films - I think literally the only one I've seen in the cinema was Hannah and her Sisters, shortly after it came out - and I must say I had expected a bit more intellectual depth. One could say that it hasn't aged well, but I'm surprised that this was considered acceptable even in 1973. In the climactic scene as Miles and Luna are pretending to be surgeons cloning the dictator in front of an audience of loyal scientists, he twice shuts her up by grabbing her face and forcing her mouth shut. He then kidnaps her, tying her up and gagging her - and she becomes a convert to his cause, perhaps in a reference to Patty Hearst. I would never force myself sexually on a blind person.” Perhaps the joke is meant to be that a sighted person wouldn’t let him get close enough to try. When introducing himself to Luna, Miles says, “I'm a nice person. And I have to say that I was startled by Sleeper’s misogyny. There are several black extras in the film, but I don't think any of them speaks and certainly none is credited. To start with my old favourites, race and sex. Also John McLiam (Dr Agon) had a very small part in My Fair Lady, which I won't bother to track down.
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