Sleeping Dogs (1997)

Name: Sleeping Dogs
Genre: Action, Science Fiction
Released: 1997-10-12
Duration: 90 min
Rating: 4.6
Cast: Scott McNeil, C. Thomas Howell, Heather Hanson, Kiara Hunter, Richard Toth

Sleeping Dogs (1997), directed by Michael Bafaro, starring Scott McNeil and C. Thomas Howell.

10/12/1997 BR Action and Science Fiction 1h 30m

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Quiz about this movie

A man is frozen, then awakened in the future to find himself embroiled in some murderous mayhem.

Synopsis

A master jewel thief in 21st century Los Angeles targets the illegal emerald smuggling operations of a highly-connected crime syndicate. During what he believes to be a routine heist, cat burglar Harry Maxwell discovers that his target, notorious criminal Sanchez Boon is also the target of a police raid. In attempting to evade both the law and Boon's well-armed men, Harry meets Pandora Grimes, one of dozens of young women Boon kidnapped to work in his factory. When Boon sets a group of social deviants free and hijacks a space transport ship and its crew, only Harry and Pandora's cunning can save the hundreds of innocent people aboard.

David PelletierCinematography
Michael BafaroDirector
Derek A WhelanEditing
Richard BenwickEditing

About the film

Sleeping Dogs (also known as Deviants and Mission: LA 2029) is a 1997 Canadian sci-fi action film directed by Micheal Bafaro.

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Sleeping Dogs (also known as Deviants and Mission: LA 2029) is a 1997 Canadian sci-fi action film directed by Micheal Bafaro.

Plot

A jewel thief in 2020s Los Angeles (Scott McNeil) tries to save a spaceship crew from the emerald smuggling criminals who are holding them captive.

Cast

Scott McNeil as Harry Maxwell

C. Thomas Howell as Sanchez Boon

Heather Hanson as Pandora Grimes

Kiara Hunter as Zee 4R

Richard Toth as Wallace

Angela Madden as Stocker

Stephen Fisher as Morton

Sean Fuller as Sweeney

Paul Jarrett as Willy Boy Pruitt

Gregory Linington as Brock

Christopher Clarke as Grogan

Julius Krajewski as Samson

Seth Markel as Crenshaw

Michael Rogers as Haverty

Darren Dalton as Dexter

Jaroslav Peterka as Raoul

Pavel Kříž as Alexandrov

Dave Ulrich as Cole

Shannon McCormick as Tippit

Karel Vávrovec as Carlos

Miroslav Lhotka as Hugo

Background

It was a Czech Republic co-production, with filming taking place in Czech studios. It is the only film to feature Australian-Canadian actor Scott McNeil in a leading role. McNeil is known for his extensive voice acting career, and at the time was voicing Piccolo in the Saban dub of Dragon Ball Z.

Release and reception

It was released direct-to-video in North America, Europe and Australia.

Robert Firsching of AllMovie gave the film two stars, writing "Set in the year 2029 for no apparent reason, this Canadian-Czech co-production literally consists of almost nothing but a steady barrage of gunfire and explosions. Reducing its genre (sci-fi/action) to nothing but the so-called 'good parts,' Sleeping Dogs (1997) emerges as a movie that looks like it was filmed in shorthand. It's a paint-by-numbers effort with very little to either praise or criticize; it's just there, although that's no reason for anyone to feel compelled to watch it." He also claimed that, "As the ludicrously named Sanchez Boon, C. Thomas Howell prances around and prissily quotes literature like a bearded Riddler from a particularly bad episode of the old Batman TV series. Howell's ridiculous performance is the sole reason that even those viewers who cherish bad movies would want to watch this."

TV Guide gave Sleeping Dogs a mixed negative review, labelling it as having "looney-tune characters, stale dialogue and the unmistakable whiff of cheesy camp." They claimed that, "nothing about this futuristic sci-fi adventure is exceptional or unexpected, except the extensive exposition involving gems replacing cash as currency."

References

External links

Sleeping Dogs at IMDb

Sleeping Dogs at Rotten Tomatoes

Text from Sleeping Dogs (1997 film) on Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleeping_Dogs_(1997_film)

Trivia

It premiered on October 12, 1997, a Sunday.
It runs 1h30 — a typical feature length.
This film's quiz has 12 questions — enough to play more than once without repeats.

Production

StudiosNorth American Pictures
CountriesCanada, Czech Republic
LanguagesEnglish
StatusReleased

Cast

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Crew

David Pelletier Cinematography
Michael Bafaro Director
Derek A Whelan Editing
Richard Benwick Editing
Lloyd A. Simandl Producer
Peter Allen Original music
Chris Hyde Writer

Questions about this film

What is Sleeping Dogs about?

Sleeping Dogs: A master jewel thief in 21st century Los Angeles targets the illegal emerald smuggling operations of a highly-connected crime syndicate. During what he believes to be a routine heist, cat burglar Harry Maxwell discovers that his target, notorious criminal Sanchez Boon is also the target of a police raid. In attempting…

Who directed Sleeping Dogs?

Sleeping Dogs was directed by Michael Bafaro in 1997.

Who stars in Sleeping Dogs?

The cast of Sleeping Dogs includes Scott McNeil, C. Thomas Howell, Heather Hanson, Kiara Hunter and Richard Toth.

How long is Sleeping Dogs?

Sleeping Dogs runs for 90 minutes, or 1h30.