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. Portrayed are 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 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 tetralogy "Baltimore Films", set in his hometown during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s: Diner (1982), Tin Men (1987) and Avalon (1990). Plot In the fall of 1954, the Kurtzmans, a Jewish family, live in Forest Park, a suburban neighborhood in northwest Baltimore. Nate, the father, runs a burlesque theater, and engages in a numbers racket. His wife Ada is a housewife. Van, the older son, attends the University of Baltimore, and Ben is in his senior 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. They become close based on a mutual love for Little Richard, James Brown, jazz, 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 shocks his parents greatly, and he's forbidden to go in public wearing it. Van and his friends head over to a party in a predominantly bourgeois, gentile section of town. He is attracted to a mysterious blonde woman. A fight between one of Van's buddies and a gentile erupts over his jewishness 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, but they find ways to avoid testifying against him. After the hearing is over, 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, Trey's own girlfriend. Meanwhile, Nate's burlesque theatre has problems. In order to boost returns on the numbers game, an additional bonus number is added that will increase the pay-off. Little