List Price: $14.99 Our Price: $13.49YOU SAVE $1.5!
Buy it
DVD Ragtime
Fact and fiction intertwine in Milos Forman's colorful kaleidoscope of E.L. Doctorow's sprawling novel of turn-of-the-century America. Anchored in the true story of the murder of architect Stanford White (Norman Mailer) by Harry Thaw (Robert Joy) over the affections of his wife Evelyn Nesbit (Elizabeth McGovern), Forman weaves a portrait of early 1900s America in a tapestry of intertwining fictional tales. The primary thread involves the proud black pianist Coalhouse Walker Jr. (Howard Rollins) and his demand for justice when a racist fireman destroys his automobile, which escalates into a reign of terror by Walker and a band of revolutionaries. A secondary story involves an ambitious immigrant artist (Mandy Patinkin) whose primitive flipbooks send him on the road to creating early cinema. Centering all of these stories in one way or another is an upper-class family known simply as Father (James Olson), Mother (Mary Steenburgen), and Younger Brother (Brad Dourif). James Cagney came out of a twenty-year retirement to play the irascible Irish police commissioner, a character created for the film. Forman's biggest departure from Doctorow's novel, however, is his focus on Walker's story, cutting away the other threads to little more than asides in the final half of the picture, the primary dramatic weakness of an otherwise rich evocation of America's past. Randy Newman's lyrical score and Miroslav Ondricek's understated cinematography earned two of the film's eight Academy Awards nominations --Sean Axmaker
The only E. L. Doctorow book I ever read was "Ragtime," and I read it because I enjoyed Milos Foreman's film version. I wasn't impressed with the novel. The author's writing style was excruciating--on purpose or unintentional, I don't know--in a way that reminds one of Theodore Dreiser. Moreover, I continually found myself sighing heavily over the book's anachronisms. Sorry, but the early twentieth century WAS NOT the 1960s! Quit trying to rewrite history! Doctorow did do a few things right, however. His characters, at least a few of them, were interesting. Too, I liked how he integrated their tales with real life historical figures and events. So when I recently learned that Foreman's version of the book came out on DVD, I decided to rewatch the film. The director, who made "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" in 1975, went on to lens several other memorable films, including "Amadeus," "The People vs. Larry Flynt," and "Man on the Moon." If you're familiar with any of these movies, it's obvious Milos Foreman likes using his camera to document kooky characters. "Ragtime" provides him with plenty of opportunities to examine oddball personalities engaging in often oddball behavior. Those crazy Gilded Age Americans!
Several major and minor stories wend their way through "Ragtime." We follow a well to do New York family--consisting of "Father" (James Olson), "Mother" (Mary Steenburgen), and Mother's "Younger Brother" (Brad Dourif)--that seems to represent the WASP majority. The family becomes embroiled in a pregnancy scandal involving a black woman named Sarah (Debbie Allen) and her lover Coalhouse Walker Jr. (Howard E. Rollins Jr.). While Walker attempts to ingratiate himself with our WASP family in an effort to win over Sarah, he becomes involved in a minor scandal when a group of firemen led by Willie Conklin (Kenneth McMillan) vandalizes his automobile. Other threads focus on a poor Jewish artist named Tateh (Mandy Patinkin), whose invention of a nifty little gimcrack called "picture books" leads to a career as one of Hollywood's first film directors. A notorious murder case also takes center stage from time to time. When renowned architect Stanford White (Norman Mailer) starts fooling around with airheaded Evelyn Nesbit (Elizabeth McGovern), her jealous lover Harry K. Thaw (Robert Joy) pops a couple of caps in White's noggin--in full view of hundreds of witnesses. As you can see, "Ragtime" covers an enormous amount of material.
Remarkably, the movie works quite well. The first part spends all of its time establishing the story lines and fleshing out the characters. The second part focuses largely on Coalhouse Walker's failures to achieve justice for the wrongs done to him. He eventually turns into a terrorist who, with the help of a few friends, bombs several firehouses around town. Then he seizes a library in New York City, wires it with explosives, and threatens to blow the place sky high if he doesn't receive a new car to replace the damaged vehicle. Let's see--what else happens? Well, Younger Brother strikes up an affair with Evelyn Nesbit only to discover she's a total ditz that flits from man to man in search of easy money. Disenchanted with his failed relationship, Younger Brother falls in with decidedly unwholesome elements that--surprise--play a big part in the film's most important segment. Mother and Father drift apart over a number of issues, not the least of which involves Sarah's baby but also Father's stuffiness when it comes to progressive issues like feminism and race. Booker T. Washington (Moses Gunn) and Harry Houdini (Jeffrey DeMunn) also pop in from time to time, although the former plays a bigger part in the proceedings.
Man, is this a tough film to summarize! Foreman and company pack a ton of stuff in two and a half hours and still fail to incorporate everything Doctorow put in his book. Oh well. Only a television miniseries could hope to achieve a faithful adaptation, and even then it wouldn't work considering the very adult material Doctorow placed in certain segments of his story. I think the best way to view the film is as a well-done period piece populated with a stellar cast. The costumes and the set pieces look great, from the glittery buildings populated by the elites to the dirty tenement houses where Tateh plies his trade. Performances are sublime. Watching Jimmy Cagney play a tough as nails police commissioner is wonderful, especially when you consider he hadn't appeared in a movie since 1961. Donald O'Connor, Pat O'Brien, Jeff Daniels, and even Jack Nicholson turn up as well in smaller roles. The late Kenneth McMillan, a personal favorite of mine, deserves special mention for playing a racist scumbag that you'll love to hate. Throw in an amazing score from none other than Randy Newman, and the result is an extremely entertaining film that holds your attention for 155 minutes.
Extras on the disc include a commentary track with Milos Foreman and producer Michael Houseman, a lengthy deleted scene involving McGovern's character meeting anarchist Emma Goldman, and a featurette on the making of the film. My only real problem with "Ragtime" the motion picture concerns the anachronistic attitudes on race. I highly doubt the police would take the word of a black man over a white firefighter back in the 1910s, nor would there be as much sympathy as there is for Sarah's plight. That's the 1960s talking. Anyway, the film is a winner for the reasons I stated above. I also should mention that any movie that shows all around jerk and agitator Norman Mailer taking a bullet in the head gets my vote any day!
EDITED! Don't buy this edition...
if you wanted the whole film. Elizabeth McGovern's (who was Oscar nominated for this) scenes were cut from this edition, in order, I imagine, for it to have a PG rating. Buy an older VHS for the original film.
not as good as i thought
musical parts were droped from the script... the story went to fast and was poorly directed....
This silky smooth film noir pits gruff police detective Dana Andrews, stiff and blunt in his street-bred manners, against a cultured columnist and acidic wit (Clifton Webb at his prissiest) in a battle of wits during a murder investigation. The cop is a romantic hiding under a hard-boiled exterior who falls in love with the beautiful victim through the portrait that hangs in her apartment. Gene Tierney, whose heart-shaped face mixes the exotic with the girl next door, brings the poise and calm of a model to her role as the object of every man's gaze and the target of a killer. Laura, handsomely shot in dreamy black and white, is the first and best of Otto Preminger's cool, controlled murder mysteries. In the gritty world of film noir it remains the most refined and elegant example... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Gene Tierney - Dana Andrews Director(s): Rouben Mamoulian - Otto Preminger DVD Release Date: Released the 15 March 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $14.98 Your Price: $8.98YOU SAVE $6!
Buy it
For a knock-out combination of timeless entertainment and vintage studio history, you can't do much better than The Warner Brothers Gangsters Collection. In the 1930s and '40s, Paramount specialized in glossy comedies, MGM popularized lavish musicals, Universal produced signature horror classics, and Fox scored hits with sophisticated dramas. But it was Warner Bros. that generated controversy--if not always box-office profits--with so-called "social problem" films, and that meant gangsters. When viewed in their pre- and post-Prohibition context and in chronological order (Little Caesar and The Public Enemy, 1931; The Petrified Forest, 1936; Angels With Dirty Faces, 1938; The Roaring Twenties, 1939; White Heat, 1949), these six films... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): James Cagney - Humphrey Bogart - Edward G. Robinson DVD Release Date: Released the 25 January 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $68.92 Your Price: $55.14YOU SAVE $13.78!
Buy it
This big, boisterous adventure is more inspired by than based on Rudyard Kipling's famous poem. Legendary screenwriters Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur have fashioned a rousing Hollywood movie full of high adventure, knockabout comedy, and old-fashioned male bonding. And old-fashioned it is: the trio of British officers and best friends who form the core of the film are a 19th-century three musketeers in India, threatened by the interventions of a woman who means to marry the dashing Ballantine (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.). Blustery commander MacChesney (Victor McLaglen) schemes to keep Ballantine in the army while his second in command, the treasure-hunting Cutter (Cary Grant in a hopelessly mugging comic performance), continues searching for his elusive mother lode, but all their plans are... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Cary Grant - Joan Fontaine Director(s): George Stevens DVD Release Date: Released the 07 December 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $19.97 Your Price: $15.98YOU SAVE $3.99!
Buy it
Otto Preminger expanded his vision in the 1960s with a whole series of ambitious, expansive dramas with huge casts and big themes. Advise and Consent (1962), an examination of deal making, party politics, and congressional diplomacy in Washington's legislative halls (based on the novel by Allen Drury), is one of his best. Preminger broke the blacklist with his previous film, Exodus, and it rings through in this drama about a controversial nominee for secretary of state (a confident, stately Henry Fonda) accused of being a Communist. The nomination process becomes the center ring of the political circus, with fidgety accuser Burgess Meredith in the spotlight; devious, silver-tongued Charles Laughton cracking the whip as a southern senator with a grudge against Fonda; and... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Henry Fonda DVD Release Date: Released the 10 May 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $79.92 Your Price: $71.93YOU SAVE $7.99!
Buy it
Leave Her to Heaven is one of the most unblinkingly perverse movies ever offered up as a prestige picture by a major studio in the golden age of Hollywood. Gene Tierney, whose lambent eyes, porcelain features, and sweep of healthy-American-girl hair customarily made her a 20th Century Fox icon of purity, scored an Oscar nomination playing a demonically obsessive daughter of privilege with her own monstrous notion of love. By the time she crosses eyebeams with popular novelist Cornel Wilde on a New Mexico-bound train, her jealous manipulations have driven her parents apart and her father to his grave. Well, no, not grave: Wilde soon gets to watch her gallop a glorious palomino across a red-rock horizon as she metronomically sows Dad's ashes to the winds. Mere screen moments later,... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Gene Tierney - Cornel Wilde Director(s): John M. Stahl DVD Release Date: Released the 22 February 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $14.98 Your Price: $11.98YOU SAVE $3!
Buy it
