Search - Liberty Heights on DVD

MPAA Rating: R Content Advisory: Profanity, Sexual Situations Movie Release: 1999 DVD Release: 06/20/2000 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV Audio Tracks: English Subtitles: English, French SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 2 hrs 8 mins Studio: Warner Home Video Total Copies: 20 Genres: Drama, Americana, Period Film, Family Drama, Coming-of-Age, Ensemble Film

Writer/director Barry Levinson returns to his home town of Baltimore, where he previously set three nostalgic features (Diner, Tin Men, and Avalon) for this story of two brothers growing up in the tumultuous days of 1954, as rock 'n' roll, the atom bomb, and the civil rights movement changed the way teenagers looked at the world. One of the brothers has fallen in love with a beautiful girl who, to the chagrin of his family, is a blonde-haired, blue-eyed Protestant, while the other has an even bigger shock for his folks: his new girlfriend is black. Joe Mantegna and Bebe Neuwirth play the parents, with Adrien Brody, Vincent Guastaferro, Orlando Jones, David Krumholz, and Kiersten Warren also topping the cast. Tom Waits wrote several original songs for the film, while Andrea Morricone (daughter of Ennio Morricone) wrote the score. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Adrien Brody - Van Kurtzman
Ben Foster - Ben Kurtzman
Orlando Jones - Little Melvin
Bebe Neuwirth - Ada Kurtzman
Joe Mantegna - Nate Kurtzman
Rebekah Johnson - Sylvia

The DVD format works particularly well for films that just miss the mark but have many winning elements. Viewers can easily skip past any scene that doesn't work. Liberty Heights, writer/director Barry Levinson's fourth autobiographical film set in Baltimore, is a movie that deserves to be seen yet needs a "skip" or two. The DVD edition shows off Christopher Doyle's sumptuous cinematography that is preserved in the anamorphic widescreen transfer and showcases the movie's exquisite period art direction and costume design. Another welcome bonus is the separate "music only" soundtrack that brims over with a great cross section of 1950s hits. On the other hand, the accompanying promotional "making of" documentary offers little insight into the film. Another extra has Levinson leading viewers through the one deleted scene, indirectly proving that more could've been pruned from the movie. Liberty Heights is full of many wonderful scenes but Levinson crams too many ideas into it. He still comes up with a good film but he could've made a great one. Thankfully, the DVD format allows viewers to enjoy Liberty Heights's warm scenes between family and friends and skip over its overly complicated crime subplot. ~ Nick Dedina, All Movie Guide