4. Sleeper (1973)
Director: Woody Allen Cast: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton Comedian Woody Allen delved into the science fiction genre early in his career with the 1973 sleeper hit Sleeper. Yes, Sleeper is a comedy, with plenty of slapstick, sight gags and witty banter. Yet despite its laughs, Sleeper manages to serve the science fiction genre better than, say, Mel Brooks Spaceballs. Its plot could be filmed as a straight-up sci-fi film and would probably be pretty good. Thematically its closer to George Orwell and Aldous Huxley than it is to Charlie Chaplin. Frozen since a botched ulcer surgery in 1972, Miles Monroe is awakened in a big brother society 200 years later by a group of subversive intellectuals bent on revolution. This is a future with a supreme ruler. People are tagged and cataloged, and dissent and individualism are not tolerated. In this mechanized society there is no ambition, few personal freedoms, and totalitarian government control. Humans are served by androids that perform every conceivable task. Humanity itself is at a standstill. When these rebels are discovered by the secret police, they urge Miles to flee and join the resistance movement. After a slapstick-heavy escape punctuated by Allen's Dixieland jazz score, Miles joins the resistance and learns that the supreme leader has been killed in an explosion. The state plans to clone the leader with DNA from his remains. Miles and Luna, played with a goofy exuberance by Diane Keaton, infiltrate the medical center in order to steal the leaders remains so that he cannot be cloned. (Spoiler: the remains in question are a single, dismembered nose, which is kept on life support.) Allen and Keaton's smooth onscreen chemistry serves the film well, and Sleeper is funny and engaging enough to keep you awake.