Ragtime

 

Ragtime 1981

• Director: Milos Forman
• Seen by this director: Amadeus, Hair, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
• Based on the book by E.L. Doctorow
• Cast: James Cagney, Elizabeth McGovern, Howard E Rollins Jr, Brad Dourif, Moses Gunn, Kenneth McMillan, James Olson, Mandy Patinkin, Mary Steenburgen, Debbie Allen, Robert Joy
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• James Cagney – something, no doubt
• Elizabeth McGovern – Woman in Gold, Downton Abbey, Angels Crest, Cheerful Weather for the Wedding, If Not for You, Racing for the Moon
• Brad Dourif - Alien, Mississippi Is Burning, Dune, One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, various TV series
• Mandy Patinkin – Dead Like Me, Lulu on the Bridge, Impromptu, Daniel
• Mary Steenburgen – Song One, The Help, Honeydripper, The Dead Girl, I Am Sam, The Grass Harp, Philadelphia, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Back to the Future
• Robert Joy - The Shipping News, Waterworld, Desperately Seeking Susan, Atlantic City
• Why? I mixed it up with Kansas City
• Seen: 24 March 2023      

       What a mishmash story. Turn of the century New York, Rich white family, abandoned black baby, young black piano player, free spirit ex showgirl divorcée, poor immigrant. It’s not as though it’s hard to follow the story, it’s just that I’m not sure it’s being told in the right way. Racism is naturally an important subject but it gets lost in all the rest.

       I read the book years ago but to tell the truth I was as little impressed by it as I am by this film.

 

2 ½ * of 5