Ragtime

By: Denis Blot

DVD Features Video:1.85:1 Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital Mono, French Dolby Digital Mono Remembering Ragtime Commentary by Director Milos Forman & Executive Producer Michael Hausman Deleted Scenes Theatrical release: 11/20/1981 DVD released on 11/16/2004 by Paramount  Running time of 155  minutes Starring: James Cagney, Brad Dourif, Elizabeth McGovern, Mandy Patinkin, Mary Steenburgen Director: Milos Forman Plot:This vivid, high-energy human tableau interweaves the lives and passions of a middle class, small town family against the scandals and events of a transitional America in 1906.

Before Milos Forman directed his epic period masterpiece Amadeus, he wet his appetite with the film Ragtime. The film, based on E.L. Doctorow’s novel of the same name, has everything one would expect from a well made period film; excellent costumes, set design, music (Randy Newman should have won an Oscar), acting and directing. Unfortunately, at two and a half hours in length the film it is much too short. Considering, most films today barely break an hour and a half that statement might seem ludicrous, but it is accurate.

While Forman managed to create a film that imparts the atmosphere of the early 1910’s (which was his goal) on the audience, he fell short of fully realizing the individual stories of several key characters. Forman has always been brilliant at casting actors for roles that end up resonating extremely well with audiences. The characters from films like Amadeus, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and even his Czech New Wave work Loves of a Blonde forever remain in our memories. The characters in Ragtime begin with that potential, but because their stories are short and cut up they appear more like mere sketches still needing to be painted. Nonetheless they are beautiful sketches easily able to captivate and engross an audience, but also leaving them wanting to see more.

Forman mentions during the DVD film commentary that E.L. Doctorow was originally asked to write the screenplay, but that he had wanted to have separate sections for each individual character’s story. Forman dismisses this idea, as not being right for a feature film (Doctorow was replaced with another screenwriter), but it is what would have been necessary for complete character development and could have made a great television mini series. Forman instead chose one main story with one fully developed character (Cole House Porter Jr) and had the rest of the characters lives somehow end up connected intermittently to this main story. The result is effective; the audiences catch glimpses of every type of character of various ethnicities and social status, capturing the essence of the time period.

The main DVD extra of director commentary is mainly anecdotal, which is interesting if one is interested in film history, but if you are looking to gain insight into Forman’s directing style, it will not be revealed to you here. The film, which is over twenty years old, is certainly not a classic, but it holds up wonderfully, and is definitely worth the rental.

Reviewer’s Opinion: RENT IT!!