March 5, 1982: “Diner” Premieres

March 5, 1982: Diner premieres, directed by Barry Levinson, set in his hometown of Baltimore, during Christmas-to-New-Year's Week, 1959. Levinson was 17 at the time, so these characters were a few years older.

Maryland was the only one of the "Original Thirteen Colonies" founded by the Roman Catholic Church, and Baltimore was the site of the 1st Catholic Archdiocese in America. It is known for its large Irish, Italian and German (including Babe Ruth and his family) Catholic populations.

Nevertheless, Levinson is Jewish, and so are several of the main characters of this film: Daniel Stern as Laurence Schreiber, a.k.a. Shrevie; Mickey Rourke as Robert Sheftell, a.k.a. Boogie; Paul Reiser, in his film debut, whose character is listed only as "Modell"; and Michael Tucker, who is known in the film only as "Bagel." Not Jewish are Steve Guttenberg as Eddie Simmons, Kevin Bacon as Timothy Fenwick Jr., and Tim Daly as Billy Howard.

The guys meet at the Fell's Point Diner, and talk about everything from girls to sports to music. This is the week in which the Baltimore Colts are playing in the NFL Championship Game, at home at Memorial Stadium, against the New York Giants, in a rematch of the previous season's game, which famously went to overtime at Yankee Stadium, and quarterback Johnny Unitas led the Colts to victory, making Baltimore a very proud city.

Eddie's obsession with the Colts reaches a ridiculous level. On New Year's Eve, he is marrying Elyse, played by Sharon Ziman, but whose face is never shown. But he'll only go through with it if she can pass a quiz on Colts facts. He also demands a color theme for the wedding: Blue and white, Colts colors. Beth, Shrevie's wife, played by Ellen Barkin, compares it to the yellow and white theme that they had for their wedding, and tells Shrevie this is Eddie being too stubborn. Shrevie says, "It could be worse: It could be black and gold, Steelers colors."

Elyse fails the quiz, but Eddie decides to go through with it, anyway. The color scheme is, indeed, blue and white, and the organist plays the Colts' fight song. Oh yes: After trailing 9-7 after 3 quarters, the Colts come from behind, and beat the Giants, 31-16, and repeat as World Champions.

A major goof: Eddie and Elyse discuss a honeymoon in Cuba. But it had been almost a year since Fidel Castro's Communist takeover, making such an idea impossible.

As Reiser himself might say, Here's what I'm thinkin': It's a great movie, because, A, it's got Paul Reiser before Mad About You; and, 2, it's got Ellen Barkin, who was too sexy for the Fifties.

The Fell's Point Diner was built just for the movie, but the City of Baltimore bought it cheap, as a tourist attraction. It is now a training center for restaurant jobs.

One of the great retroactive ironies: Diner is set in Baltimore, at the height of the Colts' success; and yet it contains a character named Modell, the same as the man who would move the Cleveland Browns to become the Baltimore Ravens, to take the place of the Colts.

It could have been weirder, though: There could have been a character named Irsay, after the man who moved the Colts out to Indianapolis, less than 2 years after the film premiered.

March 5, 1982 was a Friday. This was also the day that actor John Belushi died. I have a separate entry for that event.

Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. There were 6 games in the NBA that day:

* The New York Knicks beat the Boston Celtics, 105-98 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Detroit Pistons, 122-108 at the Silverdome in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Dallas Mavericks, 98-91 at the Reunion Arena in Dallas.

* The Seattle SuperSonics beat the Houston Rockets, 126-103 at The Summit in Houston. (The arena has since been converted into the Central Campus of the Lakewood Church, Dr. Joel Osteen's "megachurch.")

* The Denver Nuggets beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 126-120 at the McNichols Arena in Denver. Kiki Vandeweghe scored 36 points.

* And the Golden State Warriors beat the Utah Jazz, 127-121 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena. Joe Barry Carroll scored 52 points, and had 14 rebounds. Clearly, this was not a night when he earned the nickname "Joe Barely Cares."

And there were 2 games played in the NHL. The Washington Capitals beat the Calgary Flames, 8-6 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland. And the Winnipeg Jets beat the Detroit Red Wings, 2-0 at the Winnipeg Arena.