L'homme dans l'ombre

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.

Sissy Spacek, in her first movie after her triumphant, Oscar-winning turn as Loretta Lynn in "Coal Miner's Daughter", excels once again as a single mother with two small boys working out of her home as a telephone operator in WWII America. Eric Roberts (in surely his best performance ever) is gentle and appealing as a sailor who takes a shine to Spacek and her kids, which causes gossipy tongues to wag back in town; Sam Shepherd is the mysterious title character who lives across the street and harbors a dark secret. Fine-looking movie has a strong sense of time and place, a fairly solid script and terrific players, but the tone of the film shifts in the melodramatic final act and the narrative gets all fouled up. This portion of the picture almost feels tacked-on, and as a result the conclusion is somewhat limp. Still a pretty good entertainment, and Spacek never hits a false note. *** from ****

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.

"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.

Go Rent This Movie! Really, it's a very good drama, set in what looks like South Central/Central Texas during WWII. Spacek and Roberts reach their thespian peaks in this film. It is a true classic with tones of despair and hopelessness, followed by love/passion and intestinal fortitude. Tremendous Realism, you'll push back the tears.