Lontano dal passato

As a dyed in the wool Yankee I must confess to a certain weakness for things Southern. They seem to do everything larger than life down there, possessing a daring and a sense of style a million miles away from us hyper-rational northerners, who, though we won the Civil War, seem to have lost the culture war. Anyone ever heard of Yankee fried chicken? In the movies the South can lay claim to not only the most acclaimed movie of Hollywood's "golden age" (Gone With the Wind) to its credit, but a lot of fine little ones as well. Indeed, since the early sixties, around the time To Kill a Mockingbird, there has evolved a genre which for want of a better term one might call the Southern Art Film, which is generally a modest though not B picture with high artistic aspirations, featuring first rate actors playing believable, for the most part un-stereotyped characters (Tomorrow, Sounder, Conrack, The Great Santini, Driving Miss Daisy, The Apostle, to name just a few). Raggedy Man falls more or less into this category, as it tells its modest tale of an abandoned wife and a footloose sailor, their love, the time they spend together, how this affects her children. Not a very eventful film, its slow pace and fine acting saves it. The music, alternately jaunty and wistful is of the sort that has become a cliché, and I wish they hadn't used it. The actors are outstanding, however, with Sissy Spacek and especially Eric Roberts both in peak form. Roberts is an enigmatic presence, which works for this film. Almost too pretty to be credible at times (not his fault), his work here makes me wonder why he never became a major star. In any case, the movie is well worth catching for some very good moments and a story that pulls at the heartstrings, but in a gentle, uninsistant way, with an ending that's sad but not depressing.

The most glorious scene of the film - a lovely and loving sequence in which Sissy Spacek dances with her broom as she sweeps the house, singing along with the Andrews Sisters' "Rum and Coca-Cola" - has been brutally excised from the video - I assume due to rights restrictions -and it's enough to make you cry. That sweet, simple scene is one of those priceless film moments that will haunt you always - if you were lucky enough to see the film before it was raped. Still, even a ravaged "Raggedy Man" (inside joke) is a marvelous film - especially for the honesty in Spacek's and Eric Roberts' portrayals, the surprise redemption delivered at the end, and the charming presence of a pre-"E.T." Henry Thomas.

Sissy Spacek followed up her Oscar-winning performance in "Coal Miner's Daughter" with this similarly affecting work in this small-scale film. It's set in a small Texas town called Gregory in 1944. While the Second World War is going on, Nita (Spacek) is working hard to raise two young boys by herself. A divorced woman, Nita has a job as a telephone operator, but yearns for something more. A potential romance with nice-guy sailor Teddy (Eric Roberts), who currently is on a few days leave, takes things out of the ordinary for her. But the ultra-creepy redneck brothers Calvin and Arnold (top character actors William Sanderson ('Deadwood') and Tracey Walter ("Repo Man")) are determined to have their way with her, and since Teddy is not going to be around for long...

"Raggedy Man" is an utterly absorbing, if not great, slice of rural American life circa the 1940s. Debuting director Jack Fisk (Spacek's real-life husband) gives the proceedings some real heart and sensitivity as well as an authentic look. (Fisk is normally an art director and production designer for the movies.) Admittedly, the finale does get melodramatic and a little ugly, but overall the film does have some charm going for it. The characters hold your attention - protagonists and antagonists alike. There is some humour as well as drama, and a lovely Jerry Goldsmith soundtrack to add to the basic effectiveness of the presentation.

Sissy is the glue to hold all of this together, as she plays a strong and independent-minded woman with the guts to stand up to her cranky boss (who's played by the always amusing R.G. Armstrong, another top character actor). Roberts is extremely likeable, delivering one of his best performances. It really is too bad he never became a true A-list star. Henry Thomas of "E.T." fame and Carey Hollis Jr. make their film debuts as Nita's two boys. At first, the film would seem to be a real waste of writer / filmmaker / actor Sam Shepard (who plays mysterious, scar-faced character Bailey), but the part is paid off in the final portion of the picture. Adding flavour to the supporting cast are such familiar faces as Bill Thurman ("The Last Picture Show") as the Sheriff, Jessie Lee Fulton ("Don't Look in the Basement") as Miss Pud, and James N. Harrell ("The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2") as the ticket taker.

Overall, "Raggedy Man" is well worth seeing for any fan of the various cast members.

Seven out of 10.

"Raggedy Man" is not a perfect film. It has a lot of good things going for it, making the unnecessary sideroads seem unlikable with their constant insistence. But as a straightforward drama, it is only just short of wondrous. The cinematography is absolutely breathtaking. Ralf Bode makes this as stunning to look at as other great midwest dramas of the period like "The Stone Boy", "Tender Mercies" or "Country". The performances by the leads - Spacek, Roberts, and young Henry Thomas (in his first role before E.T.) - are all excellent. The main story itself is also believable, and the dramatic arc is well conceived by William D. Wittliff.

But as I mentioned, that's if "Raggedy Man" was a straightforward drama. Unfortunately, it isn't. Building up throughout the film, and culminating in a grandly ill-advised finale, it has aspirations of being some sort of domestic thriller. The reasons for this are beyond my comprehension. Perhaps someone wanted a little unneeded excitement interjected into the film? That's not something I'd generally be opposed to if it weren't so poorly put across. It's a similar mistake made in a film called "The River Rat", which insisted on turning a low key father-daughter drama into a adventure movie for kids.

I have to say, though, that in spite of its sometimes misguided nature, the overwhelmingly well made aspects shine through. The vast majority of "Raggedy Man" is emotionally raw, pure and understated. It holds a convincing humanity and purity of heart. And that means something in a film that's just a bit too schizophrenic for its own good. I recommend it.

Sissy Spacek has this kind of part down pat, so praise comes too matter-of-fact. I liked the 'Aw Shucks" charm of Eric Roberts as the sailor who receives a 'Dear John" telephone call, and once he disappeared from the film, a lot of its life fizzled away. It's a small film with limited exposition, so that the dinner scene with the boys substituting their long lost father for the departed Teddy seemed to come from almost nowhere. Then despite all of their wailing, they gladly fall in with Mom's desire to move to San Antonio. Then it is headlong into a scene that is part To Kill A Mockingbird and part Straw Dogs.

The problem with the script, and I suspect the screenwriter realized this, is that the Raggedy Man sails too close to Boo Radley, and so the plot must steer away from devices like having the boys be afraid of him. Yet he cannot disappear, so we have shots of him lurking about, or shots of his shop, lest we forget he is part of the story.

I think the film would have worked without him even being part of it, a small tale of a thwarted four day liberty if told from the sailor's point of view, or better, simply a tale of a four day honeymoon for the divorced women. But heaven forbid, there would have been little action. Somehow the ending violence robbed me of my memory of Sissy dancing with her broom while the Andrews Sisters sang.