by Arnold T. Blumberg
Around my house, you’re likely to hear lines like “You can take Elyse,” “Might as well call it a night,” and “We always got the diner” peppering casual conversation throughout the day. The vernacular of DINER, Barry Levinson’s first ode to Baltimore in what became a four film series to date, is an intrinsic part of our family discourse, as much for its humor as for its familiarity.
Levinson’s “Baltimore Trilogy Plus One” (DINER, TIN MEN, AVALON, and LIBERTY HEIGHTS) is one long love letter to his hometown, not only capturing much of the charm of Baltimore - and occasionally the dichotomy of growing up Jewish in Crab City - but tapping into certain fundamental truths about that experience that anyone can understand and appreciate. Together, Levinson’s Baltimore films stand as some of the most compelling dramatizations of a distinct American region and local culture in movie history.
This isn’t to say, of course, that there aren’t some missteps along the way. There are, for example, many locals who will tell you that for the sake of story and movie magic, the geography of our fair city can be a bit distorted from time to time - cries of “But you can’t get there from Fells Point!” will be heard in the audience every once in a while. Perhaps more importantly, there are some times - most often in LIBERTY HEIGHTS - when Levinson’s drive to tell his tales of a youth spent in ’50s Baltimore betray an ugly side to life in a Jewish family of that era that just doesn’t ring true. But all in all, these films are a treasure trove of wit, warmth and the kind of careful introspection that comes from a deep love of that fabled ’simpler time’ and the steps that led us inexorably away from it.
As a born and bred Baltimorean, raised in a moderately observant Jewish household, there’s a great deal of Levinson’s Baltimore films that ring even truer for me, and I thought I’d take this opportunity to take you on a brief tour of the series and point out some of the more intriguing thematic and visual elements that tie all of these movies together. We’ll also rate the entire series and tell you where to spot Levinson’s favorite character actor, the late great Ralph Tabakin - a guy so humble that he genuinely believed, despite the director’s own statements to the contrary, that he had to audition for every Levinson film he appeared in (and he appeared in every Levinson Baltimore film as well as YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES, WAG THE DOG, and many more, as well as having a recurring role on TV’s Homicide). So what are youse waiting for, hon? Click a film title above, and let’s go down the ocean! (Honestly, we don’t all talk like that.)
