Liberty Heights | |
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![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Barry Levinson |
Written by | Barry Levinson |
Produced by |
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Starring | |
Cinematography | Christopher Doyle |
Edited by | Stu Linder |
Music by | Andrea Morricone |
Production company | Baltimore/Spring Creek Pictures |
Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release date |
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Running time | 127 minutes |
Language | English |
Budget | $11 million |
Box office | $3.7 million |
Liberty Heights is a 1999 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Barry Levinson. The film is a semi-autobiographical account of his childhood growing up in Baltimore in the 1950s. The film portrays the racial injustices experienced both by the Jewish and African-American populations. Both of Nate Kurtzman's sons find women "prohibited" to them; for Van because he is Jewish and white, and for Ben because he is white. Their father goes to prison for running a burlesque show with Little Melvin, an African-American and known local drug dealer.
It is the fourth of Levinson's "Baltimore Films", set in his hometown during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s: Diner (1982), Tin Men (1987) and Avalon (1990).[1]