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Re: Other films like Ragtime...

For other films like Ragtime, just check out most of Robert Altman's movies from 1970-1982 ("MASH" through "Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean"). He was originally slated to direct "Ragtime", and began preparing to put it together while directing "Buffalo Bill and the Indians." Pauline Kael has speculated that Altman's deep involvment with "Ragtime" may have hurt his work on "Buffalo Bill," and when "Buffalo Bill and the Indians" flopped upon its release in 1977, producer Dino de Laurentiis, who was behind both films, fired Altman as director of "Ragtime" and wound up hiring Milos Forman. If you have never seen "Nashville" I recommend it. The concepts of community and interrelated actions are especially imnportant in "MASH," "Brewster McCloud," "McCabe and Mrs. Miller," "The Long Goodbye," "Nashville,"
"A Wedding," "Come Back," and his later films "The Player," and "Short Cuts."

The subplot in "Ragtime" involving racism was actually only a small part of the novel, and was expanded to help the film appeal to a wider audience...in fact, different movie trailers and posters highlighting the stars of that one storyline were used to market the film to black audiences.

Cagney has one good moment in the film, when he hitches up his shoulders and says something to the effect of "Let's go!" (it is a very obvious moment in the film). Reminded me of the way he moved in his great films of the 30s and 40s.


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