Diner (1982)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Barry Levinson

Writer:

Barry Levinson (written by)

Release Date:

5 March 1982 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

Suddenly, life was more than french fries, gravy and girls.

Plot:

A group of college-age buddies struggle with their imminent passage into adulthood in 1959 Baltimore.

Plot Keywords:

Diner | Christmas | Cinema | Gambling Debt | Menu

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 3 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Steve Guttenberg	...	Edward 'Eddie' Simmons
Daniel Stern	...	Laurence 'Shrevie' Schreiber
Mickey Rourke	...	Robert 'Boogie' Sheftell
Kevin Bacon	...	Timothy Fenwick Jr.
Tim Daly	...	William 'Billy' Howard (as Timothy Daly)
Ellen Barkin	...	Beth Schreiber
Paul Reiser	...	Modell
Kathryn Dowling	...	Barbara
Michael Tucker	...	Bagel
Jessica James	...	Mrs. Simmons
Colette Blonigan	...	Carol Heathrow
Kelle Kipp	...	Diane
John Aquino	...	Tank
Richard Pierson	...	David Frazer
Claudia Cron	...	Jane Chisholm
Tait Ruppert	...	Methan
Tom Tammi	...	Howard Fenwick (as Tom V.V. Tammi)
Pam Gail	...	First Stripper
Lauren Zaganas	...	Second Stripper
Sharon Ziman	...	Elyse
Mark Margolis	...	Earl Mager
Ralph Tabakin	...	TV Customer
Frank Stoegerer	...	TV Director
Nat Benchley	...	Technical Director
Frank Hennessy	...	Audio Man
Marvin Hunter	...	Newscaster
Steve Smith	...	Announcer
Lee Case	...	Mr. Howard - Billy's Father
Clement Fowler	...	Mr. Simmons - Eddie's Father
Howard Silverman	...	Clothing Hustler (as Howard 'Chip' Silverman)
Ted Bafaloukos	...	George
Barney Cohen	...	Knocko
Bruce Kluger	...	Guy at Pool Hall
Bruce Elliott	...	Soap Opera Man (as Bruce Elliot)
Carole Copeland	...	Soap Opera Woman
Aryeh Cooperstock	...	Rabbi
Brian Costantini	...	Drunk at Wedding
Lorraine D. Glick	...	Woman at Wedding
Florence Moody	...	Waitress (as Florence L. Moody)
Mary Lou Vukov	...	Waitress
Alan Kaplan	...	Bagel's Friend
Donald Saiontz	...	Bagel's Friend
Chief Gordon	...	Man in Jail
Beverly Sheehan	...	Beautician
Dusty Clare	...	Salon Woman
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Allison Caine	...	Additional Voice (voice) (uncredited)
Herb Levinson	...	The Emerson Black & White Console Televison Customer (uncredited)
Todd Stockman	...	(uncredited)

Directed by
Barry Levinson

Writing credits
Barry Levinson		(written by)

Produced by
Mark Johnson	....	executive producer
Jerry Weintraub	....	producer

Original Music by
Bruce Brody
Ivan Kral

Cinematography by
Peter Sova

Film Editing by
Stu Linder

Casting by
Ellen Chenoweth

Art Direction by
Leon Harris

Set Decoration by
R. Chris Westlund

Costume Design by
Gloria Gresham

Makeup Department
Irving Buchman	....	makeup artist
Christine George	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Ken Swor	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
D. Scott Easton	....	first assistant director
Win Phelps	....	first assistant director
Robert Rooy	....	second assistant director

Art Department
Larry Clark Bird	....	property master (as Larry Bird)
Steven Franciotti	....	construction coordinator
Bill Gay	....	lead man (as Billy Gay)
Vinnie Vecchio	....	property master
Ken Zimmerman	....	assistant property master

Sound Department
Gary Alexander	....	sound re-recording mixer
Paul Hochman	....	sound editor
Chris Jenkins	....	sound re-recording mixer
C. Darin Knight	....	sound mixer (as Darin Knight)
Larry Stensvold	....	sound re-recording mixer
Charles J. Bond	....	sound (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Charles Schulthies	....	special effects (as Charles R. Schulthies)

Camera and Electrical Department
George Berrios	....	assistant camera
Catharine Bushnell	....	still photographer
Ted Churchill	....	camera operator
Richard Falk	....	lighting consultant (as Richard Falk Sr.)
John M. Gilgar	....	gaffer
Donald Sweeney	....	camera operator (as Don Sweeney)
Tom Weston	....	assistant camera
Ted Churchill	....	Steadicam operator (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Deahdra Scarano	....	costumer: women
G. Tony Scarano	....	costumer: men (as Tony Scarano)
Mary E. Vogt	....	assistant costume designer (as Mary Vogt)

Editorial Department
Andy Blumenthal	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Harry V. Lojewski	....	music supervisor
Joe Tuley	....	music editor

Transportation Department
Mike Padovich	....	transportation coordinator

Other crew
Ted Bafaloukos	....	creative consultant
Paul Gongaware	....	production assistant
Nancy Hackerman	....	location manager
Leanne Moore	....	assistant to production accountant
Susan Moore	....	assistant to producer
Betsy Norton	....	script supervisor
Judith Rheiner	....	publicist
Bob Roe	....	production assistant (as Robert Roe)
Paul Roedl	....	production accountant
Gene Rudolf	....	visual consultant
Bill Sanders	....	production assistant
Anna Zappia	....	production office coordinator
Alan Jacques	....	projectionist (uncredited)
Kevin King	....	payroll accountant (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
• SLM Production Group

Distributors

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1982) (USA) (theatrical)
• Chapel Distribution (1997) (Australia) (theatrical)
• American Broadcasting Company (ABC) (1986) (USA) (TV) (broadcast premiere)
• Vídeo Arte (19??) (Brazil) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (2000) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Dolby Laboratories  sound post-production
• Elektra Records  soundtrack
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)  titles and opticals
• Taylor Royall Casting  extras casting

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L | Canada:14+ (Ontario) | Argentina:13 | Chile:14 | Sweden:11 | UK:15 | USA:R | Australia:M | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

400 block N. Charles Street, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

MGM was reluctant to release the film, which they believed would be a commercial flop. But when they found out that critic Pauline Kael had written a glowing review in the New Yorker, they immediately released it.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The movie ends 1st January 1960, however at some point before that we hear "Beyond the sea" by Bobby Darin. The song wasn't released until later in 1960.

Quotes:

Edward Eddie Simmons: You're dealing with a rational girl; that's your problem.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Greatest Game Ever Played (2008) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Ubangi Stomp

Coming of Age in Fifties Baltimore

Recent films set in the 1950s, such as 'Pleasantville', 'Far from Heaven' and 'Mona Lisa Smile' have tended to portray the decade as being a repressed, overly conservative period. A generation ago, however, the tendency was to take a more sympathetic, nostalgic look at the fifties in films such as 'Grease' or television programmes such as 'Happy Days'. The post-Vietnam generation seemed to look back at the period immediately before that war as a lost age of innocence.

'Diner' follows a group of young men from Baltimore, former school friends now in their early twenties, over a week of their lives, that between Christmas Eve and New Year, 1959. Some of them are still living and working in the town, others are now at college, but are using the Christmas vacation as a chance to get back together with old friends. The title is taken from the diner that is their favourite meeting-place. There is no real coherent plot; the film is very episodic in structure and concentrates on character rather than on action.

As is perhaps inevitable with young men of this age, many of their preoccupations are with girls and relationships. One of them, Shrevie, is married, but seems to be discontented with married life. Another, Eddie, is engaged. A third, Billy, discovers during the course of the film that he has got his girlfriend pregnant, but when he offers to do the decent thing by her, he is disconcerted to realize that she would much rather he did the indecent one. A fourth, Boogie, seems to lead a carefree life, flitting from one romance to another. The characters are not, however, preoccupied with love and sex to the exclusion of all else. We also learn about their other private obsessions with such matters as music, sport and the cinema. Shrevie quarrels with his wife because she does not share his passion for popular music and fails to understand his complex system for cataloguing his extensive record collection. (I wonder if this scene was the origin of a similarly obsessive character in 'High Fidelity'). Eddie's passion for sport is even more all-consuming than Shrevie's for music; he subjects his fiancée Elyse to a football quiz and threatens to break off the engagement if she cannot score a sufficiently high score. A minor character knows off by heart the entire dialogue from the film 'Sweet Smell of Success'.

Many of the young actors who starred in the film have gone on to become famous names in the movie world. From my point of view the best was probably Kevin Bacon as Timothy, the rebel without a cause who has dropped out of his wealthy family and lives an aimless life. (The first time we see him he is smashing windows just for the hell of it). I was, however, also impressed by Daniel Stern as Shrevie and Mickey Rourke as Boogie.

I have never been to Baltimore, but it was clear from watching the film that the director was trying to capture the spirit of a particular place and time. It therefore came as no surprise to discover that Barry Levinson, who both wrote and directed the film, is himself a Baltimore native, although slightly younger than the characters depicted in the film. (He would have been seventeen in 1959). Despite this concentration on the particular, however, 'Diner' has a universal appeal. The film with which it has most in common is 'American Graffiti'. Although that film was actually set in the early sixties rather than the fifties, it nevertheless deals quite openly with the idea of the pre-Vietnam era as a golden age. 'Diner' does not deal with this theme so overtly, but there is still nevertheless a distinct sense of an era coming to an end. It is significantly set in the final week of a decade, and in the wedding scene we see a large banner saying 'Eddie and Elyse- in the sixties and forever', a reminder that change is on the way, both for these young men and for America as a whole.

The most important change that the characters in 'Diner' have to come to terms with is neither social nor political, but rather the challenge of growing up. The traditional 'Coming of Age' film has tended to concentrate on adolescence and the teenage years. For many young men, however, their early twenties, when they are completing or have already completed their education, are setting out on their careers and are starting to think about more serious relationships with women, can be a time of even greater changes than their days in secondary school. All the major characters- except perhaps the serious-minded Billy who is keen to accept new responsibilities- want to hang on to elements of their boyhood even while moving into adulthood.

For Boogie, and, to an even greater degree, Timothy, this means keeping the freedom to be irresponsible. For Shrevie and Eddie, this means trying to keep hold of their youthful passions even after marriage. The discord between Shrevie and his wife (slightly older than him and considerably more mature in outlook) is caused as much by his fear that marriage will mean having to give up his association with his old friends as by her inability to differentiate between jazz and rock-and-roll. Barry Levinson's claim that Elyse's football test was based on a true incident may seem improbable, but there is some psychological truth in this part of the film. It has, after all, been said that every man's ideal woman is himself incarnated in the body of a beautiful girl, and Elyse's willingness to take this test shows that she is prepared to make sacrifices and enter into Eddie's male-oriented world.

'Diner' is a film worth seeing more than once. On my first viewing I found it dull, an inferior copy of 'American Graffiti'. The second time round, I started to appreciate it as a fine film in its own right. Barry Levinson has gone on to make a number of other good films ('The Natural', 'Good Morning Vietnam', 'Rain Man' and 'Sleepers'), but 'Diner', his first film, is perhaps his most personal and heartfelt. 8/10