In 1999, Barry Levinson directed Original Diner Guys, a documentary that followed the lives of the men who were the models for the characters in the movie. Filmed between 1990 and 1997, it follows the guys through reunions and celebrations, capturing their humor, interactions, and lifelong connections.

Most of the characters are based on people Levinson really knew. There was a real Boogie, who was known for being a good fighter, and Eddie was based on his cousin, Eddie Kirk, who liked to sleep late and when he arose, would pull on the shirt he had worn the night before and removed without unbuttoning it, just as Steve Guttenberg does in the movie. The real Eddie also gave his wife-to-be a football test before their wedding. In an interview for TCM, Kevin Bacon talked about how the guy his character, Fenwick, was based on was murdered over a bad debt from some shady deals and how the real Boogie showed up on the set in a limo driven by a bodyguard, very flashy. All of the cast members had different notions about which character might represent Levinson himself, with the strongest opinions placing him as Billy, the guy who goes away to college and sees sides of life and culture the others never get. But Levinson has said that while there was a little of him in all the characters, none was actually based on him.

Levinson abandoned his plans to become a lawyer (like Boogie in the movie) to go into show business. With actor Craig T. Nelson (Poltergeist, 1982; the TV series Coach), he began writing comedy routines, which eventually sold. In his early years, he worked on The Carol Burnett Show, earning Emmy Awards for his writing. He was hired by Mel Brooks to write for Silent Movie (1976) and High Anxiety (1977), and with his first wife, actress-writer Valerie Curtin, wrote ...And Justice for All (1979), the critically acclaimed Inside Moves (1980), the semi-autobiographical Best Friends (1982), and other scripts, including Toys (1992), which was set to become his directorial debut in 1981 until it was shelved by a new regime at Twentieth Century Fox. Besides the other three films in his Baltimore series (Tin Men, 1987; Avalon, 1990 and Liberty Heights, 1999), he has directed The Natural (1984), Good Morning, Vietnam (1987), Wag the Dog (1997), and Rain Man (1988), which won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Actor (Dustin Hoffman), Screenplay, and Director, as well as numerous other awards and nominations throughout the world. In spite of that picture's great critical and commercial success, Levinson has had a bumpier career road in a Hollywood he says increasingly favors "writing by committee" and movies that lack logic and good characterization but are excused because they are fun "thrill rides." His most recent releases at the time of this article were the TV movie You Don't Know Jack (2010), with Al Pacino as assisted-suicide advocate Jack Kervorkian, and the found-footage shocker The Bay (2012).

Mark Johnson, whose faith in the script helped get financing for Diner and earned him his first producing credit, produced 11 of Levinson's features. Most recently he has produced The Notebook (2004), all three Chronicles of Narnia movies, and the television drama Breaking Bad.

Oscar®-winning editor Stu Linder (Grand Prix, 1966) has edited 17 of Levinson's films, working with the director almost exclusively since Diner.

Cinematographer Peter Sova also shot Levinson's films Tin Men, Good Morning, Vietnam (1987), and Jimmy Hollywood (1994).

Baltimore native Michael Tucker reprised his character "Bagel" in Levinson's movie Tin Men. The actor is probably best known for his role as Stuart Markowitz in the long-running television series L.A. Law.

Levinson and first wife Valerie Curtin were divorced the same year the film was released. While shooting in Baltimore, he met a local woman, Diana Rhodes, a production designer for TV commercials. They married in 1983 and are still together. Rhodes' daughter played the flower girl at Eddie's wedding in the movie.

Ellen Barkin said in a documentary about the making of Diner that she identified so fully with the character of Beth that 20 years later it was still the role that was the closest to who she really is.

Kevin Bacon shot a scene that was not used in the movie. His character, Fenwick, was constantly ducking a guy named the Gripper, a big scary person he owed money to, who would put a really painful vise grip on people who crossed him. In the scene, Bacon as Fenwick saw him approach and ripped an antenna off a car and waved it at the Gripper like a sword to try to fend him off.

Except for Michael Tucker, who appeared in Tin Men, and Paul Reiser, who reprised his role as Modell in the failed pilot for the Diner TV series, Levinson only ever directed one member of his principal cast again. In a 1990s interview with TCM about the picture, Kevin Bacon said he always wanted to work with Levinson after Diner but that he thought he was too identified as Fenwick in the director's mind to ever get another shot at a role. He did, however, in the thriller Sleepers (1996).

None of the male principals in the cast worked together in movies again, although Daniel Stern directed an episode of The Paul Reiser Show on television in 2011 and Kevin Bacon appeared as himself in a 1996 episode of Reiser's sitcom Mad About You. Stern and Bacon previous to Diner had small parts in Starting Over (1979).

Ellen Barkin appeared with Daniel Stern in Daniel (1983), with Kevin Bacon in Enormous Changes at the Last Minute (1983), and with Mickey Rourke in Johnny Handsome (1989).

After his appearance here as the disgruntled customer shopping for a TV, former Federal Aviation Administration engineer Ralph Tabakin had bit parts in every Barry Levinson film through Liberty Heights (1999).

Memorable Quotes from DINER

MODELL (Paul Reiser): You know what word I'm not comfortable with? Nuance. It's not a real word. Like gesture. Gesture is a good word. At least you know where you stand with gesture. But nuance? I don't know. Maybe I'm wrong.

MODELL: When you make out, who do you listen to, Sinatra or Mathis?

MODELL: What is that, roast beef?
EDDIE (Steve Guttenberg): Don't ask me this any more, Modell. Yes.
MODELL: You gonna finish that?
EDDIE: Yeah, I'm gonna finish it. I paid for it. I'm not gonna give it to you.
MODELL: If you're not gonna finish it, I'll eat it, but if you're gonna eat it...
EDDIE: What do you want? Just say the words.
MODELL: Nah, go ahead, eat it if you're gonna eat it.
EDDIE: Say the words. I want the sandwich. Say the words and I'll give you a piece.

MODELL: You know what your problem is? You don't chew your food. That's why you get so irritable. Lumps, you have like roast beef in your heart. It just stays there.

FENWICK (Kevin Bacon): You ever get the feeling that there's something going on that we don't know about?

SHREVIE (Daniel Stern): Every one of my records means something! The label, the producer, the year it was made. Who was copying whose style, who was expanding on that, don't you understand? When I listen to my records they take me back to certain points in my life, okay? Just don't touch my records, ever! You! The first time I met you? Modell's sister's high school graduation party, right? 1955. And "Ain't That a Shame" was playing when I walked in the door!

BILLY (Tim Daly): I'll hit you so hard, I'll kill your whole family.

EDDIE: You think I'm doing the right thing, getting married?
BOOGIE (Mickey Rourke): Eddie, I can't tell you.
EDDIE: I keep thinking I'm missing out on a lot of things.
BOOGIE: That's what marriage is all about.

BILLY: The whole thing with girls is painful. And it seems like it keeps getting more painful instead of easier.

BOOGIE: You know I got plans.
BAGEL (Michael Tucker): Always a dreamer, eh, Boog?
BOOGIE: If you don't have good dreams, Bagel, you got nightmares.

MODELL: We all know most marriages depend on a firm grasp of football trivia.

Compiled by Rob Nixon