Liberty Heights (1999)

Director:

Barry Levinson

Writer (WGA):

Barry Levinson (written by)

Release Date:

17 November 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

You're only young once, but you remember forever.

Plot:

Anti-Semitism, race relations, coming of age, and fathers and sons: in Baltimore from fall, 1954, to fall...

Plot Keywords:

Teenage Girl | Nostalgic | Antique | Poignant | School Life

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Adrien Brody	...	Van Kurtzman
Ben Foster	...	Ben Kurtzman
Orlando Jones	...	Little Melvin
Bebe Neuwirth	...	Ada Kurtzman
Joe Mantegna	...	Nate Kurtzman
Rebekah Johnson	...	Sylvia
David Krumholtz	...	Yussel
Richard Kline	...	Charlie, Nate's Assistant
Vincent Guastaferro	...	Pete, Nate's Assistant
Justin Chambers	...	Trey Tobelseted
Carolyn Murphy	...	Dubbie the Blonde
James Pickens Jr.	...	Sylvia's Father
Frania Rubinek	...	Grandma Rose
Anthony Anderson	...	Scribbles
Kiersten Warren	...	Annie the Stripper

Runtime:

127 min | Germany:122 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | German | Yiddish

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Iceland:12 | South Korea:12 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Chile:14 | France:U | Germany:6 (w) | Spain:13 | UK:15 | USA:R | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Baltimore County Courthouse - 401 Bosley Avenue, Towson, Maryland, USA

Company:

Baltimore Pictures

Trivia:

According to 'Barry Levinson', this film came out of a derogatory comment about Dustin Hoffman's character in Sphere (1998). The critic's comment got Levinson thinking about his experiences growing up in Baltimore, and Liberty Heights was born.

Goofs:

When the boys wander through Mt. Vernon Place, a large metal green sign (normally bearing tourist information) is clearly visible. These signs were not erected until the early 1990s.

Quotes:

Ben Kurtzman: You don't walk out on Sinatra, sir.

Movie Connections:

References "The Milton Berle Show" (1948)

Soundtrack:

Stranger in Paradise

I am neither Jewish nor Baltimorian (?), but . . .

this was a fine film, if not anything to blow one's hair back, leave one humming, or slipping into the dialogue. The story was set in the mid-1950s, accurately looks the part, and is actually three tales involving the three males in a middle class family.

Yes, there is the treatment of racism and the self-consciousness that it spawns on both sides, and yes, the death throes of anti-semitism (at least among decent people). A middle-aged man finds he has outlived the world in which he came to prosper, and does not know what to do. There is something else: the "grass is always greener" hypothesis in ethnic/social class mixing. One of the protagonists meets his "shiksa goddess" and her lot, longs to cross a divide he does his best to bridge -- and finds his betters have feet of clay for all their poise and social standing.

LIBERTY HEIGHTS is in the best sense a North American story. Leaving one's ghetto, the benefits of learning to do so, and creation of a better world. Note how toward the end, the flawed and even cruel W.A.S.P. society boy becomes better for having accepted the hand of friendship of someone his father might have avoided.