Barry Lee Levinson is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Levinson won the Academy Award for Best Director for Rain Man (1988). His other best-known works are similarly mid-budget comedy drama and drama films such as Diner (1982), The Natural (1984), Good Morning, Vietnam (1987), Bugsy (1991), and Wag the Dog (1997). In 2021, he co-executive produced the Hulu miniseries Dopesick and directed the first two episodes.
Avalon is a 1990 American drama film written and directed by Barry Levinson and starring Armin Mueller-Stahl, Elizabeth Perkins, Joan Plowright and Aidan Quinn. It is the third in Levinson's semi-autobiographical tetralogy of "Baltimore films" set in his hometown during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s: Diner (1982), Tin Men (1987), and Liberty Heights (1999). The film explores the themes of Jewish assimilation into American life, through several generations of a Polish immigrant family from the 1910s through the 1950s.
Toys is a 1992 American surrealist comedy film directed by Barry Levinson, cowritten by Levinson and Valerie Curtin, and starring Robin Williams, Michael Gambon, Joan Cusack, Robin Wright, LL Cool J, Arthur Malet, Donald O'Connor, Jack Warden and Jamie Foxx in his feature film debut. Released in December 1992, the film was produced by Levinson's production company, Baltimore Pictures, and distributed by 20th Century Fox.
Mario Van Peebles is an American film director and actor best known for appearing in Heartbreak Ridge in 1986 and known for directing and starring in New Jack City in 1991 and USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage in 2016. He is the son of actor and filmmaker Melvin Van Peebles, whom he portrayed in the 2003 biopic Baadasssss!, which he also co-wrote and directed.
The Big Hit is a 1998 American action comedy film directed by Hong Kong filmmaker Che-Kirk Wong, and stars Mark Wahlberg, Lou Diamond Phillips, Christina Applegate, Bokeem Woodbine, Antonio Sabàto Jr., China Chow, Avery Brooks, Lainie Kazan, Elliott Gould, Sab Shimono and Lela Rochon.
Diner is a 1982 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Barry Levinson. It is Levinson's screen-directing debut and the first of his "Baltimore Films" tetralogy, set in his hometown during the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s; the other three films are Tin Men (1987), Avalon (1990), and Liberty Heights (1999). It stars Steve Guttenberg, Daniel Stern, Mickey Rourke, Paul Reiser, Kevin Bacon, Timothy Daly and Ellen Barkin and was released on March 5, 1982. The movie follows a close-knit circle of friends who reunite at a Baltimore diner when one of them prepares to get married.
Sphere is a 1998 American science fiction psychological thriller film directed and produced by Barry Levinson, adapted by Kurt Wimmer, and starring Dustin Hoffman, Sharon Stone and Samuel L. Jackson. It is based on Michael Crichton's novel of the same name. The film was released in the United States on February 14, 1998.
Envy is a 2004 American black comedy buddy film directed by Barry Levinson and starring Ben Stiller and Jack Black.
Benjamin A. Foster is an American actor. His films include The Punisher (2004), X-Men: The Last Stand and Alpha Dog, 30 Days of Night (2007), The Messenger and Pandorum, The Mechanic (2011), Contraband (2012), Kill Your Darlings and Lone Survivor, The Program (2015), Warcraft (2016), and Leave No Trace (2018). He has won an Independent Spirit Award for portraying Tanner Howard in Hell or High Water (2016). He also had a recurring role as Russell Corwin in the television series Six Feet Under (2003–2005).
Ann Robinson is an American former actress and stunt horse rider, perhaps best known for her work in the science-fiction classic The War of the Worlds (1953) and in the 1954 film Dragnet, in which she starred as a Los Angeles police officer opposite Jack Webb and Ben Alexander.
Tin Men is a 1987 American comedy film written and directed by Barry Levinson, produced by Mark Johnson, and starring Richard Dreyfuss, Danny DeVito, and Barbara Hershey. It is the second of Levinson's tetralogy of films set in his hometown of Baltimore, Maryland, during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, along with Diner (1982), Avalon (1990), and Liberty Heights (1999).
Analyze That is a 2002 American crime comedy film directed by Harold Ramis and produced by Paula Weinstein and Jane Rosenthal. The film is a sequel to the 1999 film Analyze This. The film starred Robert De Niro and Billy Crystal who respectively reprise their roles as mobster Paul Vitti and psychiatrist Ben Sobel.
Man of the House is a 1995 American comedy film starring Chevy Chase, Farrah Fawcett, Jonathan Taylor Thomas and George Wendt. The film is about a boy (Thomas) who must come to terms with his potential stepfather (Chase), a well-meaning lawyer who is unknowingly the subject of a manhunt by relatives of a man he helped land in prison. It was shot in Los Angeles, California and Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Just Looking is a 1999 American comedy-drama film. Directed by Jason Alexander and written by Marshall Karp, it stars Ryan Merriman, Gretchen Mol, Peter Onorati, and Patti LuPone. The film's plot follows Lenny, a teenage boy from the Bronx who is sent to Queens to live with his aunt and new uncle for one summer in the 1950s. Since Lenny is hormonal and curious about sex, his goal for the summer is to “witness an act of love”.
Baltimore, a city in the US state of Maryland, has been described by some as "Charm City", by others as "Bodymore, Murderland". F. Scott Fitzgerald, who lived there for five years in the 1930s, wrote of it, "I belong here, where everything is civilized and gay and rotted and polite."
Ralph Tabakin was an American actor.
He's Just Not That Into You is a 2009 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Ken Kwapis, based on Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo's 2004 self-help book of the same name. It follows nine people and their varying romantic problems. Gigi, a common thread amongst the characters, is followed more closely than the other eight and has a more developed storyline as she consistently misreads all of her romantic partners' behaviors. She meets Alex, who helps her to interpret signs given to her by her dates.
Samuel Levinson is an American filmmaker and actor. He is the son of Academy Award-winning director Barry Levinson. In 2010, he received his first writing credit as a co-writer for the action comedy film Operation: Endgame. The following year, he made his directorial film debut with Another Happy Day (2011), which premiered at Sundance Film Festival. He then received a writing credit on his father's HBO television film The Wizard of Lies (2017). He continued writing and directing for the feature films Assassination Nation (2018) and Malcolm & Marie (2021).
Melvin Douglas "Little Melvin" Williams was an African-American actor, author, entrepreneur, public speaker, educator, community activist, gambler and reformed drug trafficker. Considered a drug kingpin in the 1960s, Williams was known for trafficking heroin in Baltimore before he was sentenced to prison in 1985. After his release he began working as a community activist to help reform the lives of underprivileged minorities and youth. He later appeared as “The Deacon” in the HBO series The Wire and served as an inspiration for the show.
Wrong Turn 3: Left for Dead is a 2009 American slasher film directed by Declan O'Brien and starring Tom Frederic, Janet Montgomery, and Tamer Hassan. It is a sequel to Wrong Turn 2: Dead End (2007) and the third installment in the Wrong Turn film series. The film grossed $5.9 million in home sales.
