Liberty Heights
Liberty Heights
R | 17 November 1999 (USA)
Liberty Heights Trailers

This semi-autobiographical film by Barry Levinson follows various members of the Kurtzman clan, a Jewish family living in suburban Baltimore during the 1950s. As teenaged Ben completes high school, he falls for Sylvia, a black classmate, creating inevitable tensions. Meanwhile, Ben's brother, Van, attends college and becomes smitten with a mysterious woman while their father tries to maintain his burlesque business.

Reviews
Incannerax What a waste of my time!!!
SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped
Steineded How sad is this?
Inadvands Boring, over-political, tech fuzed mess
BreanneB I love this movie. I just watched it last night. Thank God my library had a copy of it, because my local Blockbuster does not have a copy of it. It is an excellent movie, the acting, costumes, production, directing, script and directing. I love Ben Foster, he certainly did a great job in this movie, as he always does.Spoiler Alert!It surprised me that on Halloween night Ben Kurtzman, (Ben Foster) dresses up as Adolf Hitler being that the family is Jewish. I knew the parents would be appalled. A funny part is the scene in the kitchen when he was talking about the ass story that is in the Bible. Ha, Ha, Ha.
Claudio Carvalho In Baltimore, 1954, the Kurtzman family is a Jewish family living in the area of Liberty Heights. Ben (Ben Foster) is a rebel teenager, who has a crush on his black friend Sylvia (Rebekah Johnson). His college brother Van falls in love with Dubbie (Carolyn Murphy – why this gorgeous actress has just this movie in her filmography?), a very problematic girl. He becomes friend of Trey Tobelseted (Justin Chambers), a young man from a very wealth family and boyfriend of Dubbie. Nate (the excellent Joe Mantegna) is the father, who lives from an illegal lottery of numbers. Nate loves his family and keeps them apart of his legal problems. Ada (Bebe Neuwirth) is the mother, who keeps the tradition of their family. Little Melvin (Orlando Jones) is a drug dealer, who wins a fortune of US$ 100,000 (in 1954) in Nate's lottery, raising a serious situation in the plot. This movie is wonderful: the soundtrack, photography and costumes are marvelous. The story, about segregation of Jews and blacks and love between races, is very beautiful. The viewer will not be disappointed with this entertainment. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "Ruas de Liberdade" ("Liberty Streets")
gbheron It is the autumn of 1954 in Baltimore, and the Brown vs the Board of Education ruling is quickly bringing down racial barriers in this heretofore segregated city. "Liberty Heights" is told from the perspective of an insular Jewish family, primarily the family's two high-school age brothers. Both are on journeys of self-discovery, the older brother with hostile WASP gentiles, the younger with African-Americans. Both fall for girls from opposing racial camps. In "Liberty Heights", Levinson again lovingly recreates 1950s Baltimore. You can tell he knows the lay of the land; it's etched in his heart. Like his other three Baltimore movies "Liberty Heights" is a labor of love. Thankfully Levinson did not stop with his 'Baltimore Trilogy', this is the fourth outing. And I hope there is a fifth, sixth, seventh...
ladder2thestars This movie is sort of like the concept of the TV show Seinfeld-- it's about nothing. By this I don't mean that it lacks substance, in fact, it has plenty, but I mean rather that it does not involve an intense plot line. It's more like a series of snapshots taken out of one family's album, like a brief recording of one year in their lives. It's as if these people were real, simply going about their lives in their times, and we got to peek in on them, and it is acted in just that way. I think it's very true to director Barry Levinson's vision, a vision that is clear upon viewing his other films that he includes with Liberty Heights as his "Baltimore" films. These include Diner, Avalon, and Tin Men. Because this is not the typical problem arises-conflict ensues-climax is reached-conclusion is found film, Levinson shows us that these people's lives were a series of ups and downs, joys and losses, that summarize American middle-class youth in all ages in history. There connections between the different walks of life and the idea of growing up and discovering diversity around you is what makes this film universal and beautiful, all without handing you morals and themes on a silver platter. This film takes a wonderfully objective viewpoint that allows you to make meaning of it rather than spelling it out for you.