Opening to Liberty Heights VHS (06-23-00) (USA) (Screener)

Printed on April 1, 2000. Hailed as one of the best films of 1999, this semi-autobiographical drama, set in 1954 Baltimore, stars Ben Foster as a Jewish teenager falling in love with a black classmate; Adrien Brody co-stars as his brother, who falls in love with a mysterious figure; Joe Mantegna plays the father of both boys, who tries to keep his burlesque theatre alive amidst competition from television. From Warner Home Video. NOTE: The catalog number for the commercial release was #18019. ANECDOTAL INFORMATION FOR THIS TAPE: Director Barry Levinson was inspired to write the script for this movie based on ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY's review of his previous film SPHERE, which basically stated that Dustin Hoffman was Jewish, therefore, his character in the film had to be Jewish too. Levinson felt that particular review reminded him of his childhood days in Baltimore, where Jewish people (such as himself) were not allowed to participate in swim clubs, or even reside in certain parts of the area. He felt it was time to see a film that examined distinctions between race, religion and class within the 1950s setting, and LIBERTY HEIGHTS is the result of this. COMMENT: I remember when this particular opening was uploaded by a user now known as ‪@TheVideoLover3‬ ; I made a note of that when I uploaded the opening for the commercial release. This opening has since vanished from YouTube. However, I still have a capture of it from when I originally bought the tape in July 2016, and have trotted it out again here. Contents: Text: "© 2000 Warner Home Video, New Line Home Video and HBO Home Video. ROI Data Source: Video Store and Lieberman Research." Trailers: a. Warner Power Lease June (intro) b. NEXT FRIDAY c. LIBERTY HEIGHTS d. WITNESS PROTECTION e. FREEDOM SONG f. THE GREEN MILE g. Warner Power Lease June (outro) FBI Warning Logo: Warner Home Video Text: "This film has been modified as follows from its original version. It has been formatted to fit this screen." Logo: Warner Bros. Pictures Opening scenes (on-screen text reads "PROPERTY OF WHV; NOT FOR SALE OR RENTAL" at ten-minute intervals on the tape signal; in other portions of the tape signal, there is a text graphic reading "IF YOU HAVE RENTED OR PURCHASED THIS CASSETTE PLEASE CALL 1-800-NO-COPYS.")