Customer Reviews: The quest to be better than a clown.May 3, 2002 Bruce P. Barten(Saint Paul, MN United States) I was particularly impressed by the constant reference to professors in this film. In the setting that Scott Joplin was coming from, where big money was looking for fun and the music was incidental, the guys who played the piano were called professors, and they called their competition a cutting contest. Scott Joplin's music was good enough to win a contest, but he did best when he teamed up with a young professor who could give it zest. Taj Mahal appears in this film as a musical clown in a series of performers on two pianos who duet rambunctiously. Whoever was playing when Scott Joplin hit a long modulation went down with the question, "What key are you in?" a fate which is similar to what most college professors in the humanities are sure to endure in light of the Law of Small Numbers as explained in Randall Collins' book, THE SOCIOLOGY OF PHILOSOPHIES/A GLOBAL THEORY OF INTELLECTUAL CHANGE. As the ending of this film makes clear, Scott Joplin beat the odds by achieving success in 1975, long after he died in 1917. There is some concern in this film about professors who are pianists that can't read or write sheet music, much as the concern in THE SOCIOLOGY OF PHILOSOPHIES is about intellectuals who can't get anyone to read their articles. Toward the end of the film, the effort to convince Scott Joplin that he could still be the life of the party, when playing that role has turned to a bitter performance, gives some indication of how sad the ending of this film is going to be. The music is authentic, but it may seem like bits and pieces to anyone who knows the originals well enough to expect the whole song whenever a familiar little ditty gets going. There are some real musicians in addition to Taj Mahal, and the videotape says this is a Motown production. I happen to like Taj Mahal enough to think that his performance is one of the best parts of this movie, but Art Carney, as a musical publisher and business man, is also excellent in representing the link between Scott Joplin and the monetary popularity contest that makes American society (usually depicted as the Saint Louis, Mo. John Philip Sousa lovers in this film) the exciting spectacle that it always strives to be.
Scott JoplinFebruary 26, 2001 BASILEAVES(Marshfield, MA) Probably one of the best depictions of Scott Joplin. Billy Dee Williams brings this musician to life. His music is only part of the story of this extraordinary man.
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