:Description:Sissy Spacek stars in this bittersweet drama about a young mother, her two sons and the mysterious benefactor who touches them all. Frustrated by her dead-end job as a telephone operator and divorced from her drunken second husband (Sam Shepard), Nita finds comfort and understanding in the arms of a passing sailor (Eric Roberts). When he leaves, Nita resolves to pick up her boys and start a new life. But first she must confront backstabbing townspeople and the violent Triplett brothers (William Sanderson and Tracey Walker) in this suspense-tinged story of being scared, being alone, being in love and being strong enough to face the truth.
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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
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I'm not quite sure what kind of movie this is trying to be...
`Raggedy Man' is a small film in approach and scope, yet there are moments that leave you with a lot to chew on so-to-speak. The problem I have with the film is that it doesn't seem to know what kind of film to really wants to be. It seems to throw everything at you, leaving you to discern for yourself how you want to take it. In parts it works very well, but together it tends to be rather uneven and a little preposterous.
The ending, it just irks me.
The film tells of Nita Longley, a middle aged mother of two living in rural Texas during World War II. Divorced from her philandering husband and working as a telephone operator, Nita is confined by the life she was dealt and struggles to find some sort of balance between living and dying in this small town. She's accosted by two creepy men and mistreated by her selfish boss, and coupling this with the raising of her two young boys is wearing on Nita. Then she meets Teddy, a young sailor who stumbles into her life in the middle of a storm. Her sons immediately grow attached to Teddy, who proves to be a father figure they've needed, and Nita too finds herself falling for this young man. News travels fast and the town is up in arms over Nita's apparent lifestyle choices, but in the end everything Nita does is for the benefit of her sons.
As a love story this movie works rather nicely, and I found myself intrigued by the relationship blossoming between Nita and Teddy. As a suspense driven thriller though, the film fails to really impress. I think maybe because it tries too hard in such a short time period. It shifts gears so drastically so suddenly, and this makes the final few minutes of the film feel out of place.
It becomes `Halloween'.
The acting is a saving grace for the lack of direction in the script, which is astonishing especially on the part of Spacek who has to juggle two films so-to-speak. She does so very well, capturing the naivety and graceful innocence of a romantic heroine as well as the fear and natural mothering instincts of a terrified victim. Eric Roberts shocked me, delivering a charming and delightful performance. William Sanderson and Tracy Walter deliver their performances with the right amount of edge to create believable villains.
Sam Shepard has a small role, and the most preposterous at that, and it's not like you can call what he does acting so I'll refrain from comment.
It has all the workings of a good film but winds up becoming nothing more than a halfway decent one. It has its moments and really the whole first half or so is really good, but the ending is just too over-the-top for me; and the final revelation, on the porch, is just ridiculous in my opinion. Spacek is stunning, that much is very true, but the film itself is not.
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Charming Nostalgia...
Raggedy Man is a poignant tale of a young mother's struggles during WWII, set against a backdrop of barren small-town life in Texas. Working as a telephone operator in a small house in which she also lives, the mother, played by Sissy Spacek, is also a divorced woman...which bears a stigma in those times. When a sailor on leave stops to use the telephone, and then stays over because of a storm, her life turns on a dime, and unexpected events transpire.
And hovering nearby is a twisted figure of a man, seen often in shadow, pushing a cart, his scarred face often turned away...His presence suggests something sinister. But things are not always as they seem...
Wonderful portrayals by the actors, which include Eric Roberts and Sam Shepard.
I had seen this movie several years ago, and then, after entering a discussion board about this movie, decided to order it. An enjoyable flick.
Rating: 
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Great 80s movie in made-for-tv version. Universal screws up again.
I got to see the second half of this movie on one of those free weekends when HBO tried to get people to subscribe by giving regular cable people access. I thought it was quite a moving tale of a mother raising 2 children in Texas. I kept looking for it to reappear somewhere, but never did. So I was excited to see that it came to DVD, but unfortunately it's being released by Universal (probably the worst in terms of quality of the disc, extras & quality of transfer) of the majors for DVD releases. No surprise then that this one misses the boat too. This dvd presents the edited (PG) for HBO (full screen), not an anamorphic (1.85) presentation of the original (rated R) theatrical release, which is a shame for a film that won 2 golden globes.
Rating: -
a lovely gem with fine acting
A nice little film from the early 80s, with a very young Henry Thomas as one of Sissy Spacek's two sons. A divorced woman struggles to survive loneliness and menacing men in rural Texas during WW2. Great work by Spacek and the director, her husband, Jack Fisk. Also watch for Eric Roberts as the man she falls for but cannot have, and for William Sanderson, the great character actor, as one of the two menacing men from town who come to terrorize her.
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Major underrated treasure
This movie is superb in every imaginable way: the photography, the fidelity to the WWII era in small-town America (I know: I grew up in the 40s in a Texas town just like this one with a telephone/telegraph office-in-a-home), flawless casting, fine writing, inspired directing, mesmerizing story and breathtakingly suspenseful--then achingly tender-- denouement. (Sissy and Eric will meet again, I have no doubt.)
This is one of the very few movies I've thought worth buying to watch again & again.
