Ragtime (1981)

Director:

Milos Forman

Writers:

E.L. Doctorow (novel) and
Michael Weller (writer)

Release Date:

6 January 1982 (France)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was Ragtime

Plot:

A young black pianist becomes embroiled in the lives of an upper-class white family set among the racial tensions, infidelity, violence, and other nostalgic events in early 1900s New York City.

Plot Keywords:

Racial Slur | Piano | Horse Manure | Shot To Death | Forced Settlement

Awards:

Nominated for 8 Oscars. Another 2 wins & 12 nominations

Cast

James Cagney	...	Commissioner Rheinlander Waldo
Brad Dourif	...	Younger Brother
Moses Gunn	...	Booker T. Washington
Elizabeth McGovern	...	Evelyn Nesbit
Kenneth McMillan	...	Willie Conklin
Pat O'Brien	...	Mr. Delphin Delmas
Donald O'Connor	...	Evelyn's Dance Instructor
James Olson	...	Father
Mandy Patinkin	...	Tateh
Howard E. Rollins Jr.	...	Coalhouse Walker Jr.
Mary Steenburgen	...	Mother
Debbie Allen	...	Sarah
Jeffrey DeMunn	...	Harry Houdini (as Jeff Demunn)
Robert Joy	...	Henry 'Harry' Kendall Thaw
Norman Mailer	...	Stanford White

Also Known As:

Love and Glory (Philippines: English title)
Ragtime (Austria) (West Germany) [de]
Na Época do Ragtime (Brazil) [pt]
Ragtime (France) [fr]
Ragtime - toivon ja vihan aika (Finland) [fi]

Runtime:

155 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Canada:14A (Ontario) | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Chile:18 | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

81 West Main Street, Mt. Kisco, New York, USA

Company:

Dino De Laurentiis Company

Trivia:

Cagney had been advised by his doctors and caregivers that making a film at this point in his life was very important for his health. The actor never flew, so he and his wife took an ocean liner to London, where his scenes were filmed. It is a tribute to his professionalism that despite his numerous infirmities, he generously stayed on set during his fellow actors' closeups to give them line readings.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Charles W. Fairbanks was not the Vice President of the United States when he was running with Theodore Roosevelt in 1904. He was a Senator from Indiana and was chosen as Roosevelt's running mate that year. Roosevelt was Vice President when he succeeded to the presidency upon William McKinley's assassination and he had no Vice President for his first term of office.

Quotes:

Younger Brother: I design fireworks. That's my job.
[the black anarchists laugh in derision]
Younger Brother: . I can make bombs.
[They stop laughing and take him seriously]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Remembering 'Ragtime' (2004) (V)

Soundtrack:

ONE MORE HOUR

A Flawed Beauty Is Nonetheless A Beauty

I finished reading Doctorow's novel just before it was announced that production had started on the movie. I remember thinking, "How the hell do you make a movie of a book where the central characters are named 'Mother,' 'Father,' and 'Mother's Younger Brother?'"

Milos Forman showed how: In a word, beautifully.

And "Ragtime" is beautiful, stunning in its recreation of early 1900s New York, utilizing a script which somehow ties together the central events and their effects on its main characters as well as one of the finest, most haunting soundtracks (Randy Newman, who went so far as to compose several original 'ragtime' numbers) in the past twenty years, topped off with a first-rate cast.

James Cagney was the big news, of course, and deservedly so: Emerging from twenty years of retirement, he showed that he'd not only not lost anything but had added to his expertise. Add Mary Steenburgen, Mandy Patinkin, James Olsen, Howard Rollins, Keith McMillan and even Elizabeth McGovern (each of them perfectly cast), to name but a few, and you see where Forman wasn't missing a bet.

"Ragtime" suffers, ultimately, due to lapses in editing -- the most grievous lapse the cutting of a short scene which explains Commissioner Waldo's motivation behind the action he ultimately takes with Coalhouse Walker. Some cuts are always necessarily (especially in a movie as sprawling as this), yet that cut -- and several others -- flaw this beauty of a film.

But not fatally. Not at all. More than twenty years later, "Ragtime" is still gorgeous.