If you missed seeing "Ragtime" back in 1981, it wasn't your fault because you probably didn't even know it existed. Much like Terry Gilliam's "Adventures of Baron Munchausen", this truly great movie was poorly distributed and miserably publicized and advertised when it was released. This is too bad because both films deserved much better. Anyway...
Milos Forman has time and again proven that he is not only one of the world's best directors but also one of the sharpest viewers of American culture and history. "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", "The People vs. Larry Flint", and, to an extent, "Man on the Moon" have at their core an indictment of American society: its racism, its hypocrisy, its perversity, its corruption, and its insanity. However, Forman is by no means anti-American. In fact, these movies also have at their hearts a deep fascination with America and a yearning to make it better. And like few directors can do, he doesn't create a manifesto disguised as a film. His characters and dialogue are believeable, and his filming is gorgeous to watch.
Of all his films--and that includes "Amadeus"--"Ragtime" is perhaps his best, in my opinion. Its complex narratives are logically, fluidly and masterfully meshed together. But what I find fascinating about the movie is that all the complicated, volatile emotional reactions the characters experience--sometimes ending in violence--all start from simple wants. Coalhouse Walker, Jr. (powerfully played by the late Howard Rollins) wants the racists who vandalized his car to repair it. Harry Thaw (played by the underrated Robert Joy) is an erratic millionaire who simply wants a nude statue of his wife taken out of public view. A father (movingly played James Olson) simply wants to keep his family together. His brother-in-law (Brad Dourif in an extraordinary performance) simply wants the girl he loves to love him back. And a Jewish immigrant (a wonderfully manic Mandy Patinkin) simply wants to make it in America. It's when all these desires collide that the fireworks of "Ragtime" begin. And like the great American tradition of 4th of July fireworks, "Ragtime" is dazzling to watch.
