This is Not a Hallmark Christmas - Christmas in Baltimore

So this is Christmas? This holiday season I submit for your approval Barry Levinson’s first theatrical release: Diner. The film’s events occur between Christmas night and New Year’s Eve in 1959. Yes, many of the characters are Jewish. Like Trading Places and Die Hard, Christmas serves as the backdrop to all that occurs. Plus, there’s a scene in a manger. So there! Diner operates on many levels as a nostalgic period piece, comedy, coming-of-age drama and hang-out film. It’s more than just a dialog-heavy “guy film” of all-night bull sessions with French fries and gravy. While it certainly earns its R rating, it is not Porky’s.

Diner was released in 1982 and the ensemble cast is full of young actors on the cusp of stardom. It stars Steve Guttenberg as Eddie, Mickey Rourke as Boogie, Kevin Bacon as Fenwick, Daniel Stern as Shrevie, Ellen Barkin as Shrevie’s wife Beth, Tim Daly as Billy and Paul Reiser as…Paul Reiser. Oh, sorry, I mean Modell. The principal characters are all college-age friends struggling to enter adulthood and be better men. Billy is returning home to Baltimore from graduate school for the holiday and Eddie’s impending wedding. The wedding is the primary storyline for the movie, but along the way, we hang out with them at home, the pool hall, the movies, their jobs, and the diner. We get to know them, their relationships, dreams and doubts as they enter adulthood. As scripted, the characters are already well drawn, but the actors bring so much more to their roles as they work off each other. The performances are consistently solid.

This movie wasn’t a gigantic hit, the theatrical release sailed by unnoticed. I saw a review on Siskel & Ebert and promptly forgot about it. A year later I was a maintenance dude at the Southampton Cabana and Swim Club in Bucks County, PA. Think of this place as a low-rent Red Oaks. I was on my shift at the sports shack, killing time smoking Camel Filters, listening to cassettes on the boom box, monitoring the tennis court reservation clipboard, doling out ping pong paddles, shuffleboard gear, etc. I overheard one of the club members talking about a movie where this guy wasn’t going to get married unless his fiancé passed a football trivia test. OK, that sounds funny! I’m pretty sure I either rented it or maybe it was already running on our local premium cable channel, PRISM. At the very least, I know I watched it A LOT on PRISM thereafter.

Diner resonated with me on many levels, despite being set in 1959. I saw a little bit of myself and my friends in each of the characters. Shrevie’s OCD record collector is my spirit animal. My buddy Frank was Boogie. We had a hangout, food was consumed, cigarettes smoked, “important” topics of the day were discussed, and we busted each other’s onions.

Levinson’s production team places the viewer into 1959 masterfully. The film just nails everything with the locations, costumes, sets, hairstyles, music, TV, radio and the diner itself. The soundtrack is primarily composed of needle drops, but oh what a selection. The soundtrack was released as a double album and reflects the period well with the likes of Bobby Darin, Elvis, The Del Vikings, Chuck Berry, Dion and the Belmonts, Jimmy Reed, Jerry Lee Lewis, Fats Domino and Clarence “Frogman” Henry. Many will recognize Clarence “Frogman” Henry’s song as the one used during Rush Limbaugh’s Homeless Update segments.

This wouldn’t be the last tribute to Barry Levinson’s hometown. He would later produce Tin Men, Avalon, Liberty Heights, and Homicide: Life on the Street. Be sure to watch all the way through the credits until the music stops. Diner is “Definitely the smile of the week!”