StunnaKrypto Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

Breakinger A Brilliant Conflict

Bluebell Alcock Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

Patience Watson One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.

ma-cortes A panoramic epic of the American melting pot and dealing with a middle class family formed by an upright father : James Olson , an attractive mother: Mary Steenburgen and her brother : Brad Dourif. The latter falls in love for an ex-dancer: ElizabethMcGovern married to a jealous millionaire : Robert Joy . As a little incident starred by an African American musician : Howard E Rollins triggers a series of misfortunes and distresses to a sad ending . This wrong act represents all the racist attacks on one man who refuses to back down this time . A thoughful and provoking picture regarding New York American way of life describing racism, social injustices and status of the lower and upper classes . At the end takes place a thrilling siege of the Pierpont Morgan Library which ensues some exciting scenes, including James Cagney acting as the persuasively authoritative police chief Waldo and James Olson interceding between the militants and the massing police.This interesting film results to be an emotive drama with love stories , plenty of historical events and marvelous attention to period detail. From the E.L Doctorow novel , an overrated bestseller , but not nearly as complex. The picture concerns about historic deeds alongside major historical figures as Henry Ford, J Pierpont Morgan , Harry Houdini: Jeffrey DeMunn , Emma Goldman , all are written out of the screenplay. Features wonderful interpretations from Howard Rollins, Elizabeth McGovern, Mary Steenburgen , James Olson , Debbie Allen. Support cast is frankly extraordinary including famous and prestigious secondaries as Pat O'Brien, Jeff Daniels ,Moses Gunn, Mandy Patinkin, Robert Joy , Kenneth McMillan, Donald O'Connor and the writer Norman Mailer.And special mention for James Cagney in his last film performance.It displays a colorful and adequate cinematography by Miroslab Ondriceck . As well as an atmopheric and evocative musical score by Randy Newman, including Ragtime music, of course.The motion picture was lavishly produced by Dino De Lurentiis and well directed by Milos Forman. Milos had directed very good movies as Loves of a blonde, Hair, One flew over the cuckoo nest, Amadeus, Valmont, Larry Flint , Man on the moon and Ragtime

classicsoncall Evoking the spirit and look of turn of the century New York, I was dumbfounded to learn that most of the filming for "Ragtime" took place at Shepperton Studios in London. This was Cagney's first appearance before the cameras for almost twenty years, due in large measure to his doctor's insistence that he get back to work to 'recharge his batteries'. Cagney was being treated for diabetes following a slight stroke in 1977. Following a lunch meeting with director Milos Forman, Cagney willingly agreed to accept a part that he found suitable, a toss-up between his eventual role as Police Commissioner Rhinelander Waldo, and Mandy Patinkin's character Tateh. To get Cagney, Forman offered him ANY part in the picture, including that of Evelyn Nesbitt if he thought it would work. Fortunately, senility was not one of Cagney's ailments.Knowing a good deal of the country's history of slavery from the mid 1800's through the Civil Rights turmoil of the Sixties, it's a bit difficult to place in context what blacks would have been going through about mid-way in that span. Prior to the altercation with the firemen, Coalhouse Walker Jr. (Howard Rollins) seemed to have fashioned a rather successful career for himself as a ragtime piano player for the Clef Club Band - "I read music so good white folks think I'm fakin' it." So as an impartial viewer, I was torn between Walker's commitment to a cause and his bullheaded approach to seeking retributive justice. This was one of those 'unintended consequences' stories that ended badly for the picture's central character. It forces the viewer to make a mental choice between sucking it up and walking away, or setting in motion a string of events that's bound to end badly. Personally, I believe I would have seen the wisdom of backing down in favor of a larger battle should one emerge down the road.As a classic film fan of movies made from the Thirties through the Fifties, I've seen just about all of Jimmy Cagney's team-ups with contemporary Pat O'Brien, my favorite being "Angels With Dirty Faces". If my math is correct, they did eight films together prior to "Ragtime", all of them back in the day of course. So my one disappointment with the picture in question is that there was no scene of them together. Come on, how hard would that have been to write into the script?

JasparLamarCrabb A massive undertaking. RAGTIME is a mostly successful adaptation of E.L. Doctorow's tapestry of a novel. Director Milos Forman and writer Michael Weller condense a good portion of the novel, eliminating certain characters all together, while maintaining the book's ambiguities. RAGTIME centers on a typical early 20s American family and their interactions with real life personalities of the time, specifically Evelyn Nesbit, Harry Thaw, and Stanford White. Interwoven are the stories of a immigrant artist (Mandy Patinkin) and a piano player turned revolutionary (Howard Rollins). It's so well put together, it has to be admired. The art direction, costumes and cinematography (by the great Miroslav Ondricek) are all first rate, as is the score by Randy Newman. In fact, this is probably Newman's finest, least intrusive, least syrupy work. The acting is stellar. Mary Steenburgen and James Olson are ideally cast as the "mother" and "father" and Rollins is brilliant as the angry Coalhouse Walker. The rest of the cast includes Elizabeth McGovern, Brad Dourif, Norman Mailer as Stanford White and James Cagney (this was his now famous comeback after 20 years off the screen...he's very commanding as the fast-talking police chief).

bkoganbing Back in the day when Hollywood was grinding out B westerns it wasn't unusual at all to see famous folks of the west in stories that had absolutely nothing to do with their own lives or to see many famous people interacting when they never even met in real life.Ragtime revives some of that dubious tradition in filming E.L. Doctorow's novel about the Teddy Roosevelt years of the first decade of the last century. Teddy figures into this briefly as does his Vice President Charles Fairbanks. Booker T. Washington is here too, as are the principals of the Stanford White murder, and New York City Police Commissioner Rhinelander Waldo.It's quite a blend because Roosevelt and Fairbanks ran for re-election in 1904 as Fairbanks is shown delivering a campaign speech. He wasn't even Vice President then, just a Senator from Indiana. Fairbanks was running for Vice President because Roosevelt had no Vice President in his first term. He succeeded to the presidency when Willima McKinley was assassinated.The Stanford White murder took place in 1906 and was then called the crime of the century. Many such murders right up to O.J. Simpson were given that dubious distinction. And Rhinelander Waldo was not NYPD Police Commissioner until 1910 and he was much younger than James Cagney. Still and all E.L. Doctorow's book is made into a fine film which got a whole bunch of Academy Award nominations including Best Picture, Best Director for Milos Forman and Supporting player nominations for Howard Rollins, Jr. and Elizabeth McGovern.The main story is about Coalhouse Walker, Jr. a black ragtime pianist and his Sarah. She has his baby and they'd like to get married. But a whole lot of things, some of them peripherally connected to the true events and people previously mentioned that lead him and a gang to take possession of the Morgan Library and threaten to blow it up.Howard Rollins was a real tragedy. This was a great start to a short, but brilliant career that included his long running role as Virgil Tibbs in the TV series In the Heat of the Night and the film A Soldier's Story. He died way too young from AIDS contracted from a lot of intravenous drug use. Elizabeth McGovern is the famous Evelyn Nisbet, the girl on the red velvet swing which was the title of another film that dealt with the Stanford White murder. McGovern's performance is probably closer to the real Evelyn than Joan Collins was in that earlier film. She's basically a goldigger who juggled two men, her husband Harry K. Thaw and her upscale lover, society architect Stanford White. Her circus act led to White's death, Thaw's commitment to an insane asylum and a vaudeville career for her.Ragtime was eagerly awaited because of the anticipated return of James Cagney to the screen after being off for 19 years. Cagney is clearly aged, but he gets through the role because unlike that television film Terrible Joe Moran, he's not the center of the film, though he's first billed. Note that he's sitting down during most of his performance and when he has to stand the camera is a discreet distance. It's nothing like the bouncing Cagney of old, but light years better than Terrible Joe Moran.This was also the final joint appearance as it turned for the team that invented the buddy film, James Cagney and Pat O'Brien even though they have no scenes together. O'Brien is Harry K. Thaw's attorney and Mrs. O'Brien plays Thaw's mother under her maiden name of Eloise Taylor. She was an actress before she married Pat, but gave up her career to raise their four children. Author Norman Mailer plays Stanford White, fulltime architect and hedonist and Robert Joy plays the demented millionaire Harry K. Thaw and both fit the parts perfectly. Maybe one day we will have a definitive film version just concentrating on the murder and it's aftermath for the three principals.Milos Forman gave us a remarkable evocation of an exciting time in American history. It seemed that America had limitless possibilities then. I doubt they'll be saying that about the first decade of this century.