  liberty heights is a 1999 comedy-drama by writer-director barry levinson. the film is a semi-autobiographical account of his childhood growing up in baltimore in the 1950s. it is the fourth of levinson's four "baltimore films" set in his hometown during the 1940s, '50s, and '60s: diner (1982), tin men (1987), avalon (1990), and liberty heights (1999). ==plot summary== in the fall of 1954, the kurtzmans, a jewish family, live in forest park, a suburban neighborhood in the northwest section of baltimore. at the beginning of the film, nate, the father, runs a burlesque theatre, and engages in a community numbers racket. his wife ada stays home and takes care of the household. van, the older son, attends the university of baltimore, while ben is finishing his final year in high school. ben meets sylvia, an african-american girl, who begins attending his school after the district has been integrated. ben immediately starts to develop feelings towards sylvia, and introduces himself. the two become close based on a mutual love for little richard, james brown, jazz musicians, and black comedians. sylvia's father, an affluent doctor, disapproves of their relationship and forbids them to see one another. on halloween, ben dresses up as adolf hitler, which offends his parents greatly. van and his friends head over to a party in a predominantly bourgeois, gentile section of baltimore. van is attracted to a mysterious blonde woman. a fight between one of van's buddies and a gentile erupts and trey, one of the party-goers, drunkenly crashes his car into the house. van must leave the mystery woman. trey goes to court for the car crash. van and his friends are there as witnesses. after the court session expires, van asks several of the other party attendants about the blonde woman he met. trey discovers that the girl van has fallen in love with is dubbie, his own girlfriend. meanwhile, nate's burlesque theatre has problems. in order to boost returns on the numbers game, an additional bonus number is added w
1990s_drama_films 1999_films American_comedy-drama_films American_coming-of-age_films American_films English-language_films Films_directed_by_Barry_Levinson Films_set_in_1954 Films_set_in_Baltimore,_Maryland Films_set_in_Maryland Films_shot_in_Baltimore,_Maryland Films_shot_in_Maryland Jews_and_Judaism_in_Baltimore,_Maryland Warner_Bros._films