Why have I been such a fan of Levinson? Maybe it's because he hails from my favorite city - Baltimore, Maryland - and sets many of his movies there. More likely, though, it's because Levinson is the most eclectic filmmaker working today. He is not bound by theme or style. He can go from comedy (Tin Men) to drama (Avalon) to science fiction (Sphere). And regardless of the genre he's working in, Levinson always - always - keeps the focus on the characters. Because I admire his work so greatly, I was thrilled to discover that the American Film Institute has honored Barry Levinson with his own installment of their "Directors Series." This 60-minute DVD includes interviews with the filmmaker himself, as well as stars like Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford.

Levinson burst onto the scene with the now-classic Diner. As he admits on the DVD, studio execs didn't quite get the film; after all, the only "plot" was that a bunch of guys sit around talking. Audiences, on the other hand, related to those guys and made the movie a sleeper hit. (Strangely, the DVD makes no mention of Diner Guys, the documentary Levinson made about the real-life men who inspired the film. He publicly showed it just once - at the first annual Maryland Film Festival. Despite Levinson's secrecy over the project, something of this nature deserves at least a passing mention.)

One of the most interesting sections involves the filming of Good Morning, Vietnam. When Levinson realized the Vietnamese extras were not able to understand their scenes as written, he simply turned the cameras on and let star Robin Williams interact with them. Remember that charming scene where Williams starts an impromptu softball game with a melon and a Vietnamese gentleman informs him that the melon is not a real ball? That was for real.

The Directors: Barry Levinson offers a master filmmaker commenting on his other projects as well. We learn about how he almost talked Sidney Pollack into directing Rainman before wising up and doing it himself. We hear how a borderline-offensive remark by Entertainment Weekly critic Lisa Schwarzbaum inspired Levinson to make Liberty Heights. We hear how stunned the cast and crew were when the "outlandish" events portrayed in Wag the Dog happened in real life.

The stars have good stuff to say, too. Perhaps most intriguing, Annette Bening tells us that her notoriously meddlesome husband Warren Beatty had a positive working relationship with the director on Bugsy. (Someone tell that to Peter Chelsom, who helmed Beatty's recent flop Town & Country.)

My major complaint is that the DVD glosses over Levinson's flops, including Jimmy Hollywood and Toys. I think this is a mistake. Wouldn't it be just as useful to hear the filmmaker talking about what he did wrong as it is to hear him talk about what he did right? Besides, even if it was a failure, Toys was an ambitious failure. Who wouldn't want to hear about a great director shooting for the moon and missing?