MovieChat Forums > Ragtime (1981) Discussion > A few questions about it...

A few questions about it...

posted 17 years ago by macgeek2004
3 replies | jump to latest

Jeez.. what a mess.

I could barely remember why one scene followed the previous one, or why one event was shown before or after another. During the last 45 minutes of the film, I could barely remember what the first two hours was about.

Needless to say, I was never bored, and this film shared all the beloved traits of other Milos Forman films. I'll be watching it again for sure.

However, I don't understand a few things plot wise. First of all, why did it show that dance at the beginning and end of the film? What was the point of that?

My second question is, you know there's that guy that does cut out portraits of people, and he ends up directing a film later? He barges into this place toward the beginning of the film and throws clothes out of a window onto this woman who's screaming and crying at him. What was that all about?

Now that the film is over, I can barely piece together a solid image of the film in my mind. What the hell was it about? What was the point of anything that happened? It was probably the messiest film i've ever seen, but because Milos Forman directed it, and because it's obvious that his skill in directing played a huge part in making this film completely non-boring from beginning to end, I still give it an 8/10.

But god.. what a *beep* mess!

I'd appreciate answers to my questions. Thanks.

[–] khemet 17 years ago

Why don't you try paying attention as you watch? He discovered his old lady had been cheating, that's why he threw her and her things out.

The truth is spoken here.

[–] macgeek2004 17 years ago

I do pay attention when I watch. I noticed no reason for him to do what he did. But thanks for the clarification.

Do you know why the film started and ended with that dance scene?

[–] schappe1 17 years ago

It hops from one story to another rather than going from A to B to C. The idea is to provide a cross-section of the times. I also think there were more than one delete scene, besdies the one shown on the DVD. That scene explains Evelyn's panicky reaction to the appearance of Brad Dourif and her willingness to be be naked in the subsequent scene. Other inconsistencies could similarly be explained by deleted scenes. Doctorow wanted to do this as a mini-series to incldue everything. Forman had to boil it down to the movie and did a great job. But some scenes were removed due to the excessive running time and some continuity was lost because of it.