Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

SparkMore n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

Salubfoto It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

Robert Joyner The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

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?

Dave from Ottawa E.L. Doctorow's sprawling novel set in New York of 1910 was adapted rather loosely by Milos Forman to tell a story of race and justice in America. The main plot lines, that of a black man (Howard E. Rollins Jr.) seeking justice for the vandalism done to his car, and the sensational trial of Harry K. Thaw for the murder of famed architect Stanford White seem unrelated at first. As the picture winds on, however, the point of the parallel stories becomes more obvious: in the white rich man's world of the day, Thaw's money and family connections could manipulate the justice system to give him the results he desired, even free him from responsibility for his crime, while Rollins' character could have no such expectations, however justified his outrage. A further subplot involving the rise of immigrant artist Mandy Patinkin is woven into he fabric of the narrative, giving the film at least some of the sprawling flavor of the book, although other plot lines had to be cut for brevity's sake. Forman had many of his usual collaborators, such as art director Patrizia Von Brandenstein (Amadeus) and choreographer Twyla Tharp (Hair), assisting him in the elaborate task of minutely re-creating period details of interior decoration, dance, and stage entertainment that give the film its wonderful period color. A superb ensemble cast which also included James Cagney, Mary Steenbergen, James Olsen and Brad Dourif works hard to portray the manners and mores of the day, not to mention the racial and class attitudes, which made up so much of the fabric of the novel. All in all, it is a very good and watchable film on its own, although fans of the book might balk at some of the changes made in its adaptation. Features a then-controversial nude scene involving Elizabeth McGovern, in a terrific debut performance as Thaw's wife, showgirl Evelyn Nesbitt.

ElMaruecan82 The 1900's, what the Europeans used to call 'La Belle Epoque', set in the last years of the Industrial revolution, after the invention of the light bulb, the car and cinema and right before the infamous World War I put the world's foot on the twentieth century, and it's not a surprise that the film ends precisely when the war starts, and that many people forgot about this era.The war changed the face of the world so much that we hardly remember the agonizing years of this 'Old Time', and many people would probably think that the film is set during the much more famous 'Prohibition'. "Ragtime" is set in the dawn of the modern world where the most representative elements of the modern world were still experimental, cars, cinema, benign distractions, immigration, America itself was still a distorted structure where everything was still to be constructed. Milos Forman's "Ragtime" is about the spirit of a period, it doesn't feature a lead character, because it's all about a time, a forgotten time, not modern enough to be cinematically appealing, like the war or the prohibition, but not old enough to look exotic as exotic as a Western. Forman handles this period with the perfect nostalgic feeling, never trying to embellish this period whose atmosphere can be painted in a sepia tone. At the end, there's something extremely charming in the gallery of supporting actors who incarnate the excitement of a nation sweeping off all the dust of the Old System and preparing its entrance into the New World. "Ragtime" is about a transition.And to a certain extent, "Ragtime" the film embodies this transitional aspect, lost between much more acclaimed movies from the same director, including two Best Picture winners : "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and "Amadeus", two masterpieces that inevitably dwarfs "Ragtime" which, despite its undeniable quality, is not Forman's best. The film is also lost between many nostalgic period films of the 80's, "Once Upon a Time in America" and "Radio Days", far more entertaining material. And I guess Ragtime" is less remembered because on the surface, it has the humble quality of a Sunday TV movie, just as if it didn't take its epic setting into consideration. It starts with a recreation of the famous murder of Stanford White by Thaw, the husband of the young model and actress Evelyn Nesbit, Elizabeth McGovern in her Oscar-nominated role, which leads to the trial of the century. The rest plays like an intricate puzzle where each piece finally assembles at the end, it involves a young Jewish emigrant who becomes a film-maker, an abandoned African-American baby adopted by an upper-class family, and the journey of the baby's father, Coalhouse Walker Jr., played in the film's greatest performance by the late Harold E. Collins Jr. As soon as he makes his entrance, we finally get the answer to the question we all asked during the first hour: where is "Ragtime" leading to? Indeed, as much as the film manages to be enjoyable, I think Milos Forman took his subject with a little bit of overconfidence and mixed up patience with needless length, at the point I want to add a "D" in the beginning of the title. So many long sequences become unnecessary after you've finished the film, and the heart of the story, Walker's desperate attempt to avenge his dignity alone could have made "Ragtime" a classic social commentary, if only for the extraordinary confrontation with the Police Commissioner Rhinelander Waldo, James Cagney in one of his latest roles. I understand that Coalhouse's story was only one of the many tales, Forman wanted to tell us in a sort of ingenuously constructed narrative but this part grab our hearts so much, accelerate the rhythm of the film with such a powerful efficiency that I'm sure, "Ragtime" would have been more remembered if it didn't try to be just a homage. There's no bad scene and each actor shines at one moment or another, but it's Collins' film, and something that Forman handled with perfection, he who knows so much how to portray irreverent characters, Mozart, McMurphy, Kaufman, Flynt etc.There is something extraordinary in Walker's character, a man full of life and energy, loving his son, dedicated to his passion for piano. In a film full of so dull or self-absorbed characters, we know he's the guiding light, the soul, literally the "Ragtime" player. And the film takes a beautiful turn when he's victim of an injustice by a group of volunteer firemen, who harass him before inflicting the ultimate provocation by putting manure in the front seat of his Ford T. Walker tries every legal action to obtain reparation, with no use. Even the other African-Americans refuse to help him. In these times where even the most sincere idealism had its limits, those were "The Birth of the Nation" years. And as we expect it, the man inevitably goes from legality to violence, and it's hard not to feel empathy for his idealism, in a heart-breaking scene, he addresses God asking him why he filled his heart with so much rage and passion. Coalhouse represents the emotional core of the fight for freedom and we know that the country would be built thank to the struggles of the likes of Coalhouse, a mix of violence, rage and passion for noblest purposes.In this journey, many characters find the purpose of their lives, a young man joins Coalhouse's gang, a dedicated mother becomes infatuated with the filmmaker, the film is all about people finding their place in a new uncertain world. The last shot of Houdini suspended in the air while people learn about the war, is an illustration of this end of a dream, where people will wake up to the harsh reality … and some dream about brighter and more tolerant future.Everything was yet to be built in that time, in "Ragtime".

johnbee-1 I read the book years ago, and am glad I finally got around to watching the movie. It is an engrossing and well crafted story, beautifully set in the final years of the American Gilded Age. On the surface it appears to be a wonderfully happy and enthusiastic era, but the tensions created by the different racial groups and social classes of that time show that, aside from the wonderful architecture, manners and wardrobe of the well-to-do, most people of that period suffered the same challenges and woes as they always have. Same crap, better packaging.I was originally unhappy that they didn't do more with the character of Evelyn Nesbit, played by the captivating Elizabeth McGovern, but I finally understood that her character wouldn't let herself get involved with the many nasty situations that happened. She just floated away to the next soirée when things got ugly. All the other characters got sucked into the many interrelated subplots because they cared, and wanted to deal with the challenges and problems - not simply move on to greener pastures.Some of the less enthusiastic comments here indicate some viewers didn't care for the film because it didn't contain all the characters and sub-stories that were in the book, but to me that is irrelevant. The movie stands well on its own merits. It is a powerful and thoroughly enjoyable film, with a great ending. As Evelyn elegantly waltzes around in dreamy bliss with yet another beau, we see that all the efforts of most of the other key characters to solve their problems and find happiness have turned to doo doo. It ends with a shot of a newspaper headline announcing the start of World War I. The Gilded Age is over.