Barry Levinson arrived, big time, with this 1982 character study, a smart and tender look at a bunch of friends in Baltimore at the end of the 1950s. Levinson both wrote and directed this movie, and deserves equal credit for both. He also deserves praise for his eye for casting, because the group of actors he assembled here is top-notch, and catches most of them at the start of their careers. Daniel Stern. Mickey Rourke. Kevin Bacon. Steve Guttenberg. Paul Reiser. Ellen Barkin. Tim Daly. And the whole hang-out-at-the-diner, argue-about-insignificant-things approach? Wecome to the clear prototype for Seinfeld.