Ragtime

1981
AA
2h 35m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

A young black pianist becomes embroiled in the lives of an upper-class white family set among the racial tensions, infidelity, violence and other nostalgic events in early 1900s New York Cit... Read allA young black pianist becomes embroiled in the lives of an upper-class white family set among the racial tensions, infidelity, violence and other nostalgic events in early 1900s New York City.A young black pianist becomes embroiled in the lives of an upper-class white family set among the racial tensions, infidelity, violence and other nostalgic events in early 1900s New York City.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.3/10

11K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Nominated for 8 Oscars
- 2 wins & 22 nominations total

Photos74

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
James Cagney had been advised by his doctors and caregivers that making a film at this point in his life was very important for his health. The actor never flew, so he and his wife took an ocean liner to London, where his scenes were filmed. Despite his numerous infirmities, he stayed on-set during his fellow actors' closeups to give them line readings.

Goofs
Charles W. Fairbanks was not Vice President when he ran with Theodore Roosevelt in 1904. He was a Senator from Indiana, chosen as Roosevelt's running mate that year. Roosevelt was William McKinley's Vice President; he became president when McKinley was assassinated, and had no Vice President for his first term.

Quotes
Coalhouse Walker Jr.: I read music so good, white folks think I'm fakin' it.

Alternate versions
A work print version was included on the film's US Blu-ray release in 2021. It runs 19 minutes longer than the theatrical version.

Connections
Featured in James Cagney: That Yankee Doodle Dandy (1981)

Soundtracks
One More Hour
(1981)
Words & Music by Randy Newman
Sung by Jennifer Warnes

User reviews76

Featured review

8/10

It doesn't do the impossible, but so what?

A short commentary: Having read through a few of the comments here, I note that there are several which express disappointment that the movie didn't do the book justice. Personally, having read the book some time after seeing the movie, I can understand their point, but realistically it's the type of book which would be nearly be impossible to do justice to, as there are so many broad interwoven threads in the book that it would require at least a 6 hour movie to even scratch the surface, and even then, putting it all together into a singular coherent whole which would hold the viewer's interest for that long would be quite a mean feat indeed. So instead of looking at it as an attempt to fully capture the book, it might be best to simply appreciate it for what it is, rather than what it isn't. And I believe that on its own terms it succeeds admirably, and remains one of my favorite movies of all time.

Another way of looking at this, as an introduction to the book, rather than vice versa it has some value on those terms. Perhaps if I hadn't seen the movie I might never have happened upon the book, and never known what I'd missed.