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LIBERTY HEIGHTS Send This Review to a Friend
Writer-director Barry Levinson reaches back once more to his growing-up days in Baltimore and entertains us royally with personal portraits against the backdrop of social problems that existed in the city, and elsewhere, in 1954. Levinson skillfully juggles assorted situations and events without making the film cumbersome. He's astute enough to load "Liberty Heights" with humor while making his points about bigotry and family ties.
The perspective is Jewish, revolving around Nate (Joe Mantegna), the father who runs a burlesque house and a numbers racket, his wife Ada (Bebe Neuwirth), and their sons Ben (Ben Foster) and Van (Adrien Brody). At dinner one night there's the only family discussion on film I know in which criticism of McCarthyism is inter-cut with shots of a stripper doing her stuff at dad's burlesque theater. As you see, Levinson is inventive.
The bigoted atmosphere depicted is symbolized by a sign at a local country club: "No Jews, Dogs or Coloreds Allowed." Ben, Van and buddies feel out of place when they get a taste of posh gentile surroundings and anti-Semitism can lead to a fight at the drop of an insult. Forget about whites and blacks intermingling, except at their peril. Ben becomes fascinated with Sylvia (Rebekah Johnson), an African-American girl in his class, and they secretly become good friends, definitely a taboo, especially for Sylvia's strict dad. Van has his own fling of infatuation with a gentile blonde beauty Dubbie (Carolyn Murphy); he hungers for her, only to find that all that is blonde and gentile doesn’t glitter.
Such territory has been explored before, but what makes Levinson's excursion special is his humorous outlook on the divisions. What kind of turmoil happens in a Jewish household when one son wants to go dressed as Hitler on Halloween? The anti-Semitic country club gets the shaft in a hilarious way. The contrasts in cultures are explored with humor as well as sensitivity. Sometimes Levinson goes a bit far. When Nate becomes involved in negotiations with Little Melvin (Orlando Jones), a black drug dealer, because Nate can't pay off his big numbers hit, Little Melvin is made to look too stereotypically stupid. Nate eventually gets into deep trouble with the law, and that brings a note of pathos, which is a tribute to Montegna's fine, sympathetic acting.
The rest of the cast is excellent, too, especially Ben Foster and Adrien Brody as the sons, Rebekah Johnson as Sylvia, Carolyn Murphy as Dubbie and Justin Chambers as her boyfriend Trey. It is also enjoyable to see Neuwirth nicely handle the Jewish mother role, so different from the more flamboyant parts she has played on screen and stage. Levinson adds further spice by getting the feel of the era with references to its music, including one major scene of a James Brown concert. Levinson proves a most engaging tour guide to Baltimore's past and, by inference, America beyond that particular environment. A Warner Bros. release.
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