Liberty Heights

Starring:Joe Mantegna, Adrien Brody
Studio: Warner Home Video
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
When he's not crafting lavish Hollywood features like Rain Man, Bugsy, or the misbegotten Sphere, Barry Levinson occasionally makes highly personal films (the so-called "Baltimore series" of Diner, Tin Men, Avalon, and Liberty Heights). The latter, a 1999 release that disappeared all too soon from theaters, finds the aging Levinson working in a vein of pure memory: lyrical, mystical, forgiving. Ben Foster and Adrien Brody star as the middle-class Jewish sons of a shrewd burlesque operator (Joe Mantegna) running a petty numbers racket on the side. Set in the mid-'50s, the story finds the boys restless within the confines of their tight-knit community and unwilling to be restrained or rejected by anti-Semitic barriers or other racial and class prejudices.

Amazon.com

When he's not crafting lavish Hollywood features like Rain Man, Bugsy, or the misbegotten Sphere, Barry Levinson occasionally makes highly personal films (the so-called "Baltimore series" of Diner, Tin Men, Avalon, and Liberty Heights). The latter, a 1999 release that disappeared all too soon from theaters, finds the aging Levinson working in a vein of pure memory: lyrical, mystical, forgiving. Ben Foster and Adrien Brody star as the middle-class Jewish sons of a shrewd burlesque operator (Joe Mantegna) running a petty numbers racket on the side. Set in the mid-'50s, the story finds the boys restless within the confines of their tight-knit community and unwilling to be restrained or rejected by anti-Semitic barriers or other racial and class prejudices.

Customer Reviews:

An excellent film that is often overlooked.......2006-07-24

A Barry Livingstone production, which is semi-autobiographical. The story centers on a Jewish family living in Baltimore at the height of anti-Semitism. Other racial issues emerge, such as the introduction of African American students into White schools. Despite the `weighty' content, this movie is actually a comedy, and there are several moments that are truly funny. Benefits from a great cast, including Adrian Brody - before his `mainstream' emergence.

Awesome!.......2006-06-10

A movie about a Jewish family in Baltimore, Maryland in the mid-1950s. One of my favorite movies.

Good all around movie.......2006-05-20

Everyone who's seen this movie knows what happens to the dad(Joe Mantegna) at the end. If you havent seen it- dont read it ahead---------

Anyway, the end is so sad when the father gets arrested and charged with crimes he never commited, and sentenced to 8 to 10 years, which he doesnt live through. ANd its even more sad because its so realistic. The police were evil back then, just like they're sick, evil people now. They are racist, they are immoral, they're ignorant, brainwashed, sick people. Its amazing how people can look back on an era and realize how corrupt the cops were in it, but then think that nowadays they arent. They are still horrible. There are countless people getting put in jail for no reason today, just like in this movie. Our country has numerous immoral laws- most glaring drug prohibition. It is immoral to put someone in jail, where they will be raped, beaten up(often by gaurds), and forced to live in torturous conditions. Its immoral to put any one in these conditions for commiting a non violent crime. Its absolutely immoral. Therefore, any person who becomes a cop and enforces these laws has to be an immoral person. In a hundred years(hopefully much sooner), the majority of the population will consider our imprisonment of drug users and sellers as just as sick and misguided as we do the imprisonment for homosexuality, miscegenation, drinking alcohol(during alcohol probition), and countless other laws we consider ridiculous and evil today.

But anyway, the movie is very good. Im not jewish, but i think everyone can relate to the characters and the lives they live. I love the 1950's and 60's culture- the cars and the parties and the soda founatain shops and all that, and this film is steeped in that kind of 50's nostalgia. It isnt the kind of insipid, mindless film that treats the time period as some idealized era steeped in goodness and innocence. It portrays it as it was- a cool time period but one absolutely amok with discrimination, paranoia, racism, conservativism, and corrupt authority figures- politicians like McCarthey, and cops like the ones in the movie- in these ways the 50's were a time period that is much like the last ten years here in america- one of innocence on the surface but discrinimation and corruption and evil underneath. One has only to watch the TV show cops or listen to various politicians on C-Span(of both parties)to see this.

But yeah, i dutifully reccomend the movie, its not fantastic, its kind of unique in that it doesnt really adhere to a three act format or anything, but it is well made, extremely well acted, and an accurate, well rounded portrait of both the positive and negative aspects of the 1950's in America.

Just barely got 4 stars -- here's why.......2006-01-30

Story: Joe Mantegna, Bebe Neuwirth, Adrien Brody, and Ben Foster portray the Kurtzmann family, a Jewish family, in the 1955 suburbs of Baltimore. As the father runs a burlesque show (the legitimate family business), he also runs a numbers racket. Meanwhile, the older son falls in love with a non-Jewish blonde, who is outwardly perfect but actually very troubled. The younger son, portrayed by Ben Foster, falls in love with a Black girl (Rebekah Johnson), who is in the first group of Black students integrated into their school. Then, the world begins to crumble when Orlando Jones wins big in the numbers racket, and Mr. Kurtzmann and Company don't have the cash to pay off.

Why I gave it four stars: Ben Foster and Rebekah Johnson are completely likeable, cute, funny, charming, and realistically wonderful. The story is replete with the cultural and ethnic clashes that were rife in that era, but none of it is overdone, underdone, or trivialized. Some of the music is very good, especially the scene near the end, as everything is falling apart for the elder Kurtzmann, while the burlesque tune "It's Over" plays.

Why it doesn't get the fifth star: This is a good character study, but it meanders and drifts quite a bit. For the first half of the movie, I kept expecting something to happen, and trying to figure out if the story was actually going anywhere at all. Also, from the other reviews, it appears that others found this film to be funnier than I did. There were two somewhat funny scenes (when Foster and his friends try to analyze an anti-Semetic and racist sign, instead of being incensed by it; when Foster and his friends very creatively protest the exclusion of Jews from a local beach). Oh, and Adrien Brody added nothing to this film, in my opinion.

Bottom line: This is a good, likeable film, weak on action but strong on characterizations. Ben Foster, Rebekah Jonhson, and Joe Mantegna were excellent.

Excellent film, valuable history lesson..........2005-04-11

A lot of Americans---especially the younger generations---are breathtakingly ignorant of their own very recent history, and films like "Liberty Heights" are invaluable for reminding us that no, this country has never been a utopian paradise of freedom as current day simpletons (read: George W. Bush and all his right wing partisan prostitutes like Rush Limbaugh, etc.) would have us believe.

The idea is not to fixate on the past but to use it as a guidepost towards the future---the kind of racist and anti-semitic world that "Liberty Heights" portrays has abated on many fronts but is far from vanquished, and all this progress did not magically arise but was the fruit of the blood sweat and tears of many principled and brave individuals over the course of the last several decades. Many battles have been won but the war is not over by a long shot.

Aside from social history, Levinson's film is also stirring entertainment: he has assembled a very strong cast, with an excellent script and masterful camera direction. "Liberty Heights" does not have the grand epic sweep of "Avalon" but is deals more directly with racial and ethnic tensions in 1950s Baltimore without falling into the usual cliches and sensationalistic traps that such socially conscious films (see "Grand Canyon" or recent Spike Lee movies) often stoop to. This is no cheap Hollywood tear-jerker but an honest, balanced and very mature work---probably explains why it tanked at the box office.

Average customer rating:

Diner/Liberty Heights
Starring: Comedy Double Feature
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

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( D ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Avalon
Tin Men
Key Largo (Snap Case)
Double Indemnity (Universal Legacy Series)
Glengarry Glen Ross

ASIN: B0009UZG3M
Release Date: 2005-08-30

Description

Filmmaker Barry Levinson (Rain Man) draws on his hometown for these humorous and heartwarming tales set in 1950s Baltimore. Diner serves up bonding (up-all-night pals share bragging rights and fries topped with gravy), laughs (a would-be bride must first pass a test of her football knowledge) and a sparkling ensemble of Kevin Bacon, Ellen Barkin, Mickey Rourke and more then-rising stars. Lives are also in transition in the richly detailed Liberty Heights, where two Jewish brothers (Adrien Brody, Ben Foster) discover the neighborhoods around them are very different than their own. Worlds unfold in Baltimore.

Charlie Rose with Barry Levinson; Dean Smith (November 10, 1999)

Average customer rating:

Charlie Rose with Barry Levinson; Dean Smith (November 10, 1999)

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

( C ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Description

The director and screenwriter Barry Levinson talks about his film Liberty Heights, the fourth of his Baltimore series. Levinson talks about the movie's autobiographical nature and looks back at his 1998 film Rain Man. Then, an interview with the NCAA men's basketball coach Dean Smith, who for 36-years guided University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill team. He shares his new book, A Coach's Life.

Charlie Rose with Fouad Ajami & Robert Satloff; Barry Levinson (February 2, 1999)

Average customer rating:

Charlie Rose with Fouad Ajami & Robert Satloff; Barry Levinson (February 2, 1999)

Manufacturer: Charlie Rose
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

( C ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Description

Fouad Ajami and Robert Satloff talk about the transfer of power from the dying King Hussein of Jordan, royal politics, the King's commitment to peace, and the stability of the Middle East. Then, filmmaker Barry Levinson talks about his films Wag the Dog and Liberty Heights, his TV series Homicide, his long career in the movie industry, and some of the actors who have worked on his films.

Average customer rating:

Liberty Heights [Region 2]
Starring: Adrien Brody , Ben Foster , Orlando Jones , Bebe Neuwirth , and Joe Mantegna
Director: Barry Levinson
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000057X1D

Average customer rating:

Liberty Heights [Region 2]
Starring: Adrien Brody , Ben Foster , Orlando Jones , Bebe Neuwirth , and Joe Mantegna
Director: Barry Levinson
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

( L ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
ASIN: B00005AM5D

Average customer rating:

Diner / Liberty Heights (Two-Pack)
Starring: Warner 2pak
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Average customer rating:

Liberty Heights
Starring: Joe Mantegna
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000GAKBJ4
Release Date: 2005-06-14

Average customer rating:

An excellent film that is often overlooked
Awesome!
Good all around movie
Just barely got 4 stars -- here's why
Excellent film, valuable history lesson...

Liberty Heights [Region 2]
Starring: Adrien Brody , Ben Foster , Orlando Jones , Bebe Neuwirth , and Joe Mantegna
Director: Barry Levinson
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video