For a long time, it has been said, in our family (the Watzkes), especially in New Orleans, and in the New Orleans jazz/ragtime community, that this movie, and the 1911 Irving Berlin song that inspired it, were based on a real person, the New Orleans band-leader Alexander Constantin Watzke Jr. (also known as "Alex" or "King" Watzke), whose band, popular c. 1904-11 or later, actually was known as Alexander's Ragtime Band! He was in fact, the only known ragtime/jazz band leader of the time named Alexander! The movie itself was an awesome period piece, and the music was excellent! The previous reviewers have described it in so much detail, there's little we can add of relevance. The story line does closely parallel the real Alexander Watzke's story, in that too, he was the son of a wealthy merchant & politician (Alexander Sr.), and that Junior's decision to play ragtime (an African- American genre at the time), deeply scandalized his conservative New Orleans family,and he was considered a "black sheep" It is unclear why his name and the city were changed in the movie, but it is believed that may have been as a result of pressure from the family; Alexander Jr.'s final years and death are shrouded in controversy. Anyway, I heartily recommend this fine movie about my famous relation!