Barry Levinson

Tin Men, the second in Barry Levinson's ongoing film series about his native Baltimore in the 1950s and '60s, focuses on a pair of competing aluminum-siding salesman at a point when the industry was loaded with scam artists. Richard Dreyfuss and Danny DeVito play rivals who get involved in a fender-bender that quickly escalates from a minor argument into an all-out war, as they begin pulling practical jokes on each other. Dreyfuss takes it too far, however, when he sets out to seduce DeVito's unhappy wife (Barbara Hershey) and winds up falling in love with her.

Barry Levinson (Wag the Dog) directed this comedy-drama about an Armed Forces Radio disc jockey (Robin Williams) whose manic, hilarious delivery from a studio in 1965 Saigon gives U.S. troops in the field a morale boost (while upsetting military brass). Based on the real-life experiences of deejay Adrian Cronauer, the film is actually more concept than story: put Williams in front of a microphone and let him go nuts.

Not only was Barry Levinson's comedy shot in a relatively fast period of 29 days, the satire of politics and show business feels as if it were made yesterday. There's a fresh spin quite evident here, a nervy satire of a presidential crisis and the people who whitewash the facts. The main players are a mysterious Mr. Fix-It (Robert De Niro), veteran Hollywood producer (Dustin Hoffman), and a White House aide (Anne Heche). Can the president's molesting of a young girl be buried in the two weeks before an election? A war in Albania just might do the trick.

Far below the surface in the mid-Pacific, U.S. officials have isolated what may be the greatest discovery in human history. They've found a huge spacecraft that plunged into the depths--300 years ago. What is the spacecraft's origin? Could there be living intelligence aboard? Dustin Hoffman, Sharon Stone and Samuel L. Jackson portray members of an elite underwater team charged with finding the answers in Sphere, the deep-water, deep-suspense science-fiction adventure that shapes a new dimension in thrills.

Rain Man is the kind of touching drama that Oscars are made for--and, sure enough, the film took Academy honors for best picture, director, screenplay, and actor (Dustin Hoffman) in 1988. Hoffman plays Raymond, an autistic savant whose late father has left him $3 million in a trust. This gets the attention of his materialistic younger brother, a hot-shot LA car dealer named Charlie (Tom Cruise) who wasn't even aware of Raymond's existence until he read his estranged father's will.

Boyhood dreams, a bat made from a tree struck by lightning and most importantly, a never-ending passion for the game. Nothing was going to stop Roy Hobbs from fulfilling his boyhood dream of baseball superstardom. Robert Redford stars in this inspiring fable that begins when 14-year-old Hobbs (Redford) fashions a powerful bat from a fallen oak tree. He soon impresses major league scouts with his ability, fixing his extraordinary talent in the mind of sportswriter Max Mercy (Duvall), who eventually becomes instrumental in Hobbs' career.

His career, marriage, and future are all on the line for DigiCom executive Tom Sanders (Michael Douglas). He rejected the passionate advance of his new boss (Demi Moore). Now she's charging him with sexual harassment. Tom must scramble for his corporate life - a scramble that will lead him into the dazzling cyberworld of DigiCom's new virtual reality corridor... and bare a shocking conspiracy among key company personnel.

Fries with gravy, a cherry cola. Friendship, bragging rights...and does Sinatra or Mathis croon the best makeout music? Before there was a counterculture of the '60s, there was a counter culture. From his Oscar-nominated script, Barry Levinson makes his directing debut with this endearing study of pals in transition. Film-debuting Ellen Barkin plays a neglected wife.

Warren Beatty and Annette Bening star in the incredible true story of Benjamin Bugsy Siegel, the playboy gangster who betrayed the Mob for love. A cold-blooded killer who dreamed of Hollywood stardom, a crazed "patriot" who plotted against Mussolini and the brilliant visionary who carved Las Vegas out of the dry Nevada desert. Bugsy had it all until he fell for the one woman who wanted more.