Coalhouse attempts to force the policeman to intervene, but the policeman insists that Coalhouse should clean the manure off his car and move on, giving him the choice to do so or be arrested. Coalhouse finds a policeman and returns to find his car soiled with horse manure. In New Rochelle, Coalhouse is targeted by bigoted volunteer firemen led by Willie Conklin, who refuse to allow his automobile to pass by. The affair ends, leaving Younger Brother adrift. After Thaw is found not guilty by reason of temporary insanity, his lawyers inform Evelyn that Thaw will sue her for divorce on the grounds of infidelity and she accepts a smaller settlement. Evelyn and Younger Brother begin an affair as she prepares her return to the stage, while he assumes they will eventually marry. He leaves New York with their daughter and sells the flip book he created. Passing through the Lower East Side, Evelyn encounters street artist Tateh, who throws out his unfaithful wife. Thaw's lawyer Delmas bribes Evelyn with a million-dollar divorce settlement to keep silent about Thaw's mental instability and to testify that White abused her. Younger Brother witnesses White's murder and becomes obsessed with Evelyn. Ragtime pianist Coalhouse Walker arrives in search of Sarah, driving a new Ford Model T, and realizing he is the baby's father, announces his intention to marry Sarah. An African American baby is abandoned in their garden, and upon learning the police intend to charge the child's mother, Sarah, with child abandonment and attempted murder, Mother takes Sarah and her child into the home despite Father's objections. After learning of this, Nesbit's husband, millionaire industrialist Harry Kendall Thaw, becomes convinced White has corrupted her and publicly shoots him dead.Īn upper-class family resides in New Rochelle, New York, where Father owns a factory where his wife's Younger Brother makes fireworks.

Jackson, Ethan Phillips and John Ratzenberger.Īt the turn of the 20th century, architect Stanford White unveils a nude statue atop Madison Square Garden, modeled after former chorus girl Evelyn Nesbit. The film stars James Cagney, Mary Steenburgen, Howard Rollins, Brad Dourif, James Olson and Elizabeth McGovern, features the final film appearances of Cagney and Pat O'Brien, and features early appearances in small parts by Jeff Daniels, Fran Drescher, Samuel L. The film is set in and around turn-of-the-century New York City, New Rochelle, and Atlantic City, and includes fictionalized references to actual people and events of the time. Ragtime is a 1981 American drama film directed by Miloš Forman, based on the 1975 historical novel Ragtime by E.L.

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