Overstuffed and misshapen adaptation of the E.L. Doctorow novel about the sloughing-off of Victorianism in America. A strong central plotline has been sought in the Doctorow mesh (or mess), and what has been found to that purpose throws you back to the "blaxploitation" pictures of the late Sixties, early Seventies. In its effort to find a focus, the movie fails to do justice not only to story elements it has seen fit to skip over completely (a common and irrelevant book reader's gripe), but also to those it felt somehow duty-bound to include (a very relevant moviegoer's gripe). A soft and sedentary James Cagney appears in his first role -- small but colorful -- in twenty years; with Mary Steenburgen, Brad Dourif, James Olson, Elizabeth McGovern, and Howard Rollins; directed by Milos Forman. (1981) — Duncan Shepherd
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