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Ragtime [Region 2] | ![Ragtime [Region 2]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/4149RK7WMBL._SL500_.jpg)
| Director: Milos Forman
Actors: James Cagney, Elizabeth Mcgovern, Howard E. Rollins Jr., Brad Dourif, Moses Gunn
Category: DVD
This item is no longer available
Rating:  54 reviews
Sales Rank: 261240
Format: Anamorphic, Full Screen, Ntsc
Languages: French (Unknown), English (Unknown), French (Subtitled)
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Region: 2
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Running Time: 155 Minutes
EAN: 3530941006436
ASIN: B000056CU7
Theatrical Release Date: January 6, 1982
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Amazon.com essential video
Fact and fiction intertwine in Milos Forman's colorful kaleidoscope of E.L. Doctorow's sprawling novel of turn-of-the-century America. Anchored in the true story of the murder of architect Stanford White (Norman Mailer) by Harry Thaw (Robert Joy) over the affections of his wife Evelyn Nesbit (Elizabeth McGovern), Forman weaves a portrait of early 1900s America in a tapestry of intertwining fictional tales. The primary thread involves the proud black pianist Coalhouse Walker Jr. (Howard Rollins) and his demand for justice when a racist fireman destroys his automobile, which escalates into a reign of terror by Walker and a band of revolutionaries. A secondary story involves an ambitious immigrant artist (Mandy Patinkin) whose primitive flipbooks send him on the road to creating early cinema. Centering all of these stories in one way or another is an upper-class family known simply as Father (James Olson), Mother (Mary Steenburgen), and Younger Brother (Brad Dourif). James Cagney came out of a twenty-year retirement to play the irascible Irish police commissioner, a character created for the film. Forman's biggest departure from Doctorow's novel, however, is his focus on Walker's story, cutting away the other threads to little more than asides in the final half of the picture, the primary dramatic weakness of an otherwise rich evocation of America's past. Randy Newman's lyrical score and Miroslav Ondricek's understated cinematography earned two of the film's eight Academy Awards nominations --Sean Axmaker
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| Customer Reviews: Read 49 more reviews...
Interesting period piece May 28, 2009
S. Seymour (Alexandria, VA United States)
Just saw the musical Ragtime and wanted to see the movie again after so long. Had seen movie and read book 30 years ago. A good movie but not a great one. Long and a little dragging in places. Interesting story for the times with its racial and immigrant relations aspects. Also fun to see some familiar faces on today's entertainment scene, when they were young.
3 stars out of 4 May 6, 2009
One-Line Film Reviews (Ann Arbor)
The Bottom Line:
A successful adaptation of Doctorow's novel, Ragtime can't quite manage to do every storyline from the book justice but it does craft a solid movie based largely on the plot thread of Coalhouse Walker, an African-American who refuses to silently accept racism; a well-made slice of Americana (albeit directed by a Czech), it's worth a look.
Great To See Cagney But Don't Overlook Olson April 13, 2009
Craig Connell (Lockport, NY USA)
I never saw this film until 2005 and after I had become a big James Cagney fan and wanted to see the movies of his I had missed. Thus, I had to check this out, especially since it was his first film he had made in over 20 years.
En route to getting a glimpse at the 80-year-old star, I found out he wasn't on screen until 45 minutes were left in this 155-minute movie but his absence didn't upset me that much because I was absorbed in this interesting story. The sets, clothing, etc. of this "period piece" were fantastic to view.
Anyway,the star of the film was a guy who hardly got any billing: James Olson. He is the key figure in this story and very interesting to watch. Actually, just about everyone is interesting which makes for good storytelling. Nonetheless, Olson's fine performance is unfairly overlooked.
Howard Rollins was good as the black "victim" of the profane slob Kenneth McMillian and Elizabeth McGovern certainly kept ones attention although I wasn't quite sure how her character tied into the story.
By the way, to rate this movie "PG" is ludicrous since McGovern is seen in a 3- to-4-minute scene casually talking away naked for all to see. And - contrary to a popular rumor - nothing of her scenes were cut out of the DVD.....at least the one I have.
Meanwhile, Cagney showed he hadn't forgotten how to act. It was a pleasure to see him again, just a few years before he would pass away. It's a cliche, but I doubt if anyone was in his class as an actor and a dancer, a tough guy or a comedian. He was the best and went out in style here, too.
 A Bygone Era Revisited March 2, 2009
Norman Telsey (Salem, N.J.)
For anyone interested in the great ragtime music of the early 20th century, this movie is a "must see." Why?---because, it transports the viewer back to a bygone era so artistically as to make the viewer believe that he was actually present and viewing the events as they are unfolding. One feels the presence of the era while actually experiencing the horrors of racist hatred---wanting to, but not being able to stop it. Observing and experiencing first hand the warped mentality of the bigots practicing there calumny. Although there were moments of extreme heroism that raised the spirits of the viewer, the heros of this film did not ultimately enjoy the fruits of their heroism as we see in the great majority of Hollywood films. Instead, the heros here became its victims by losing what they had rightfully earned. The film concluded by relegating the hero to simply being inconsequential--certainly not the usual Hollywood ending. However, if its true to life realism you prefer, this is it. The "good guys" don't always win.
Overall, this film definitely leaves lasting impressions.
A classic of it's time February 28, 2009
Michael A. Decontreras (Anaheim, CA)
Ragtime is a period piece very well done for it's time period.
The subject should be seen that these events happened when these types of things were really happening. Would not happen today
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