Liberty Heights (1999)

An excellent film that is often overlooked

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. July 24, 2006

Awesome!

A movie about a Jewish family in Baltimore, Maryland in the mid-1950s. One of my favorite movies. June 10, 2006

Just barely got 4 stars -- here's why

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. January 29, 2006

Excellent film, valuable history lesson...

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. April 10, 2005

I Loved Liberty Heights for Two Reasons

1) My daughter was a featured extra who had a close up in the film's opening scene. As the story opens in a Jewish neighborhood in Baltimore in 1954 or so the narrator tells the audience how he thought everyone in the world was Jewish. The camera pans to his elementary school classrom while the teacher calls the roll, Bernstein, Cohan, Cohen, etc. He says he even thought Ling (my daughter) was Jewish as the camera zooms in on her. Okay that explains why I liked the film and bought the DVD. Why should you?

2). It is a nice, sweet movie that is suitable for family viewing. (Caveat: there is one rather muted scene in which the younger son, played well by Ben Foster, appeared to get a bit over excited by his love interest. You have to be a bit older to understand what happened though). Although it does not leave as lasting an impact as Diner or Avalon on the viewer it is well worth viewing in DVD.

It has an excellent ensemble cast led by Joe Mantegna plays the father and Bebe Neuwirth the prototypical gulit inducing mother. Ben Foster plays the younger brother and Adrien Brody (pre-Oscar winner days) plays the older brother. The films consists of a series of stories each of which involves the intrusion of the brave new world of integration into a cohesive ethnic enclave. There are some extremely funny scenes and dialogue. Ben Foster and his friends walk away from a public pool after seeing a sign stating: "No Jews, Coloreds, or Dogs." Rather than anger they engage in an extended discussion as to why the three groups were set out in that particular order. It was both funny and moving.

Ben falls for a young classmate, the girl who integrated the school. Their relationship (sweet and puppyish) is met by consternation by both sets of parents. Adrien Brody, the older brother, falls for an anglo-saxon blonde and runs into much resistance as he works his way into her 'crowd'. Mantegna's burlesque club and numbers running set him apart from the more rigid confines of his crowd. Levinson approaches these stories with a light hand and humorous touch. He does not preach. He simply tells their stories.

As noted, this movie does not have the same impact as Diner or Avalon and this may explain, in part, its rapid disappearance from movie theaters. The DVD, which contains a number of added items (trailers, crew interviews, etc.), is a nice opportunity to spend a very pleasnt two hours. July 21, 2004

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