Ragtime

E. L. Doctorow's novel Ragtime was a sprawling fictional account of American manners and mores in the years between 1900 and 1913. Among the mosaic of colorful factual and fictional characters in the novel were escape artist Harry Houdini and radical Emma Goldman. Both characters are all but ...more

Milos Forman's Ragtime offers a gorgeous recreation of turn-of-the-century suburban New York, from the immaculate sets and costumes down to the terrific ragtime score by Randy Newman. The novel's complex social tapestry --which weaves together several intriguing storylines -- is here ultimately winnowed down by director Forman and writer Michael Weller to a black man's inevitably tragic pursuit of justice, thereby resulting in the significant diminishment of Doctorow's challenging and acutely ...more