Ragtime **** (1981, James Cagney, Elizabeth McGovern, Howard E Rollins Jr, James Olson, Mary Steenburgen, Pat O’Brien, Brad Dourif) – Classic Movie Review 3664

Director Milos Forman’s 1981 drama tempted the 81-year-old James Cagney out of retirement for one final appearance in the cinema, though he made one more TV movie, Terrible Joe Moran, in 1984. He had not filmed for 20 years, since Billy Wilder’s One, Two, Three.

It was nominated for eight Oscars (though Cagney was overlooked) and didn’t win any. It was nominated for seven Golden Globes (though Cagney was overlooked) and didn’t win any. Randy Newman’s Best Original Song nomination for ‘One More Hour’ was its sole Bafta nomination and it didn’t win.

Cagney gives a very worthwhile performance as New York Police Commissioner Rhinelander Waldo, though he is only one of a large group of actors who light up Forman’s fascinating film adapted by Michael Weller from E L Doctorow’s panoramic novel of America in 1906.

Forman goes to the most extraordinary lengths to capture the mood and spirit of the age, and he is helped by splendid production values in an extraordinarily lavish, impeccably achieved movie that cost producer Dino De Laurentiis a then huge £32million.

The narrative makes a change of step midway, with some loss of quality, to focus on the fanatical fight for justice by black musician / piano player Coalhouse Walker Jr (Howard E Rollins Jr) after his new car is vandalised and he is assaulted by some white men who hate that he has won fame and fortune playing with a jazz band. But, nevertheless, even with this dip in quality, it remains a rewarding film throughout.

Largely neglected on release, when it grossed only $21million in the US, Ragtime now clearly shows its long-term worth and status. Future star Samuel L Jackson plays the second gang member.

It was filmed in Shepperton Studios, Surrey, England, hence the British actors in the cast, and on location in New York, New Jersey, Greenwich Village and Connecticut.

Also in the cast are James Olson, Mary Steenburgen, Pat O’Brien, Elizabeth McGovern, Brad Dourif, Moses Gunn, Kenneth McMillan, Donald O’Connor, Mandy Patinkin, Debbie Allen, Norman Mailer, Jeff Daniels, John Ratzenberger, Jeffrey DeMunn, Robert Joy, Bruce Boa, Norman Chancer, Fran Drescher, Frankie Faison, Hal Galili, Alan Gifford, Richard Griffiths, Samuel L Jackson, Michael Jeter, Calvin Levels, Bessie Love, Christopher Malcolm, Herman Meckler, Harry Ditson, Robert Dorning, Geoffrey Greenhill, John Alderson and Jan Tríska (as Special Reporter).

Jan Triska, the co-star of Ronin and The People Vs Larry Flint, died at 80 on 23 September 2017 after a fall from a bridge in the Czech Republic.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3664

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