Ragtime (1981)

Taglines: The passion, the violence, the birth of America’s Gilded Age.

Ragtime movie storyline. Milos Foreman’s cinematic adaptation of E.L. Doctrow’s sprawling pop-culture epic Ragtime follows a variety of characters whose lives intertwine during the earliest years of the 20th century. Brad Dourif plays the meek young brother in a wealthy family who ends up helping Coalhouse Walker Jr. (Howard E. Rollins) when the proud black man stands up to the racism that surrounds him with a criminal act that leads to a standoff with a police commissioner (James Cagney – making his return to the big screen after fifteen years away). Secondary characters include a street artist (Mandy Patinkin) who gets his foot in the door of the nascent film business, and a flighty young woman (Elizabeth McGovern) who inspires men who desire her to violence.

Ragtime is a 1981 American drama film, directed by Miloš Forman, based on the 1975 historical novel Ragtime by E. L. Doctorow. The action takes place in and around New York City, New Rochelle, and Atlantic City early in the 1900s, including fictionalized references to actual people and events of the time. The film features the final film appearances of James Cagney and Pat O’Brien, and early appearances, in small parts, by Jeff Daniels, Fran Drescher, Samuel L. Jackson, Ethan Phillips, and John Ratzenberger. The music score was composed by Randy Newman. The film was nominated for eight Oscars.

About the Story

A newsreel montage depicts turn-of-the-20th-century celebrities including Harry Houdini, Theodore Roosevelt, architect Stanford White (Norman Mailer), and life in New York City, accompanied by ragtime pianist Coalhouse Walker, Jr. (Howard E. Rollins, Jr.). Millionaire industrialist Harry Kendall Thaw (Robert Joy) makes a scene when White unveils a nude statue atop Madison Square Garden, modeled after former chorus girl Evelyn Nesbit (Elizabeth McGovern), Thaw’s wife. Convinced White has corrupted Evelyn, Thaw publicly shoots him dead.

An upper-class family resides in New Rochelle, New York, where Father (James Olson) owns a factory where his wife’s Younger Brother (Brad Dourif) makes fireworks. An African American baby is abandoned in their garden, and upon learning the police intend to charge the child’s mother, Sarah (Debbie Allen), with child abandonment and attempted murder, Mother (Mary Steenburgen) takes Sarah and her child in, despite Father’s objections. Coalhouse arrives in search of Sarah, driving a new Ford Model T, and realizing he is the baby’s father, announces his intention to marry Sarah.

Younger Brother witnesses White’s murder and becomes obsessed with Evelyn. Thaw’s lawyer Delphin (Pat O’Brien) bribes Evelyn with a million-dollar divorce settlement to keep silent about Thaw’s mental instability and to testify that White abused her. Passing through the Lower East Side, Evelyn encounters street artist Tateh (Mandy Patinkin), who throws out his unfaithful wife (Fran Drescher). He leaves New York with their daughter and sells the flip book he created. Evelyn and Younger Brother begin an affair as she prepares her return to the stage, while he assumes they will eventually marry. After Thaw is found not guilty by reason of temporary insanity, his lawyers inform Evelyn that Thaw will sue her for divorce on the grounds of infidelity and she accepts a smaller settlement. The affair ends, leaving Younger Brother adrift.

In New Rochelle, Coalhouse is targeted by bigoted volunteer firemen led by Willie Conklin (Kenneth McMillan), who refuse to allow his automobile to pass by. Coalhouse finds a policeman (Jeff Daniels) and returns to find his car’s soiled with horse manure, and the racist policeman arrests him for parking illegally. After Father arranges for Coalhouse’s release, they discover his car has been further vandalized. Coalhouse pursues legal action, but can find no lawyer willing to represent him. Father and Younger Brother argue over Coalhouse’s legal recourse. At a presidential rally, Sarah attempts to tell President Roosevelt about Coalhouse’s case but is beaten by guards and dies.

After Sarah’s funeral, Coalhouse and his supporters kill several firemen. He threatens to attack other firehouses, demanding his car be restored and Conklin be turned over to him. Father is disgusted at the violence but Younger Brother joins Coalhouse’s gang with his knowledge of explosives. Ostracized by their own white community and hounded by reporters, Father and Mother leave for Atlantic City.

They encounter Tateh, now a film director on a photoplay with Evelyn. Mother is attracted to Tateh and she and Father quarrel. Coalhouse’s gang hold the Pierpont Morgan Library’s collection hostage. Police Commissioner Rhinelander Waldo (James Cagney) sends for Walker’s child as a bargaining chip but Mother refuses to give him up. Father demands she turn the child over and returns to New York to assist Waldo and Mother leaves.

Directed by: Miloš Forman
Starring: James Cagney, Elizabeth McGovern, Howard E. Rollins Jr., Moses Gunn, Kenneth McMillan, Brad Dourif, Pat O’Brien, Mandy Patinkin, James Olson, Mary Steenburgen, Debbie Allen
Screenplay by: Michael Weller, Bo Goldman
Production Design by: John Graysmark
Cinematography by: Miroslav Ondrícek
Film Editing by: Anne V. Coates, Antony Gibbs, Stanley Warnow
Costume Design by: Anna Hill Johnstone
Art Direction by: John Dapper
Music by: Randy Newman
MPAA Rating: PG
Distributed by: Paramount Pictures
Release Date: November 20, 1981