A young black pianist becomes embroiled in the lives of an upper-class white family set among the racial tensions, infidelity, violence, and other nostalgic events in early 1900s New York City.
Mariclare Costello spent three weeks filming as Emma Goldman in a sequence that was cut from the film. Milos Forman wanted to keep her part in the film, but Producer Dino De Laurentiis thought it slowed the movie down. E.L. Doctorow, the novel's author, was brought in to break the tie. Doctorow agreed with De Laurentiis, and the footage was cut. The sequence is included as an extra on the DVD release.
P.C. O'Donnell:
Nobody's intimidating me, Mister. You just don't know what you're getting yourself into, and I'm trying to keep your nose clean. Now, would you be a good boy and just get along.?
Coalhouse Walker Jr.:
I want my car cleaned!
P.C. O'Donnell:
Clean it then, damn you! Clean it and go!
Coalhouse Walker Jr.:
I ...
P.C. O'Donnell:
...
When Sarah is in the back of the crowd at the train station, trying to listen to Vice President Fairbanks, a small 50-star American flag appears to the right of her. In 1904, the U.S. flag had 45 stars.
English
$151,351 22 November 1981
$14,920,781
$14,920,781