"I came to America in 1914," says Sam Krichinsky, a Jewish immigrant from Europe whom writer-director Barry Levinson based on his own grandfather. Levinson shows the young Sam dazzled by the lights and flag-waving as he arrives in Baltimore on the Fourth of July. Levinson and cinematographer Allen Daviau ("E.T.") give this opening scene a mythic allure. For Sam, Baltimore the beautiful is alive with promise. But as the film moves through the next five decades, Levinson shows America defaulting…