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Raggedy Man
A luminous performance by Sissy Spacek anchors 1981's Raggedy Man, which starts off as a sweetly nostalgic melodrama that eventually slides into an unexpectedly violent finale that sort of sours the warm story that we have seen until the final third.
The film is set in the fictional town of Gregory, Texas during WWII where Spacek plays Nita Longley, a divorced mother of two young boys who finds herself drifting into an affair with a charming young sailor on a four day leave (Eric Roberts), while being simultaneously stalked by a pair of drooling morons who believe divorced women are hot to trot and won't rest until they have their way with our heroine.
The screenplay starts off quite effectively as we are introduced to this fiercely independent woman struggling to do what's right for her and her boys. I like the fact that the film begins with Nita catching her husband cheating on her, but skips over the whole accusation/fight/separation/divorce part of the story and introduces Nita as a woman who has put her scummy ex in the rear view mirror and is starting over. Everything that happens with the sexy sailor rings true, including its eventual demise thanks to gossiping neighbors who won't let them be. What I couldn't handle were these two sexist idiots and their obsession with Nita just because she's divorced, leading to a rather ugly finale that we don't see coming.
The movie is handsomely mounted by director Jack Fisk, the real life of husband of Sissy Spacek, his first time in the director's chair after several years as a set decorator, cinematographer and art director. He lovingly creates the 1940;s for us, and perfectly establishes that small town atmosphere for Gregory Texas, where everybody knows what everybody else is doing.
Needless to say, Fisk gets a lovely performance from his wife, fresh off her Oscar-winning performance in Coal Miner's Daughter whose performance makes this film worth watching by itself. Eric Roberts is sex on legs as the young sailor and William Sanderson and one of my fave veterans Tracey Walter make the most of their roles as the slimy sex maniacs. And that is Henry Thomas in his feature film debut, playing Spacek's elder son, whose next film role would be playing Elliott in ET The Extra Terrestrial. Fans of Ms. Spacek will not be disappointed.
A luminous performance by Sissy Spacek anchors 1981's Raggedy Man, which starts off as a sweetly nostalgic melodrama that eventually slides into an unexpectedly violent finale that sort of sours the warm story that we have seen until the final third.
The film is set in the fictional town of Gregory, Texas during WWII where Spacek plays Nita Longley, a divorced mother of two young boys who finds herself drifting into an affair with a charming young sailor on a four day leave (Eric Roberts), while being simultaneously stalked by a pair of drooling morons who believe divorced women are hot to trot and won't rest until they have their way with our heroine.
The screenplay starts off quite effectively as we are introduced to this fiercely independent woman struggling to do what's right for her and her boys. I like the fact that the film begins with Nita catching her husband cheating on her, but skips over the whole accusation/fight/separation/divorce part of the story and introduces Nita as a woman who has put her scummy ex in the rear view mirror and is starting over. Everything that happens with the sexy sailor rings true, including its eventual demise thanks to gossiping neighbors who won't let them be. What I couldn't handle were these two sexist idiots and their obsession with Nita just because she's divorced, leading to a rather ugly finale that we don't see coming.
The movie is handsomely mounted by director Jack Fisk, the real life of husband of Sissy Spacek, his first time in the director's chair after several years as a set decorator, cinematographer and art director. He lovingly creates the 1940;s for us, and perfectly establishes that small town atmosphere for Gregory Texas, where everybody knows what everybody else is doing.
Needless to say, Fisk gets a lovely performance from his wife, fresh off her Oscar-winning performance in Coal Miner's Daughter whose performance makes this film worth watching by itself. Eric Roberts is sex on legs as the young sailor and William Sanderson and one of my fave veterans Tracey Walter make the most of their roles as the slimy sex maniacs. And that is Henry Thomas in his feature film debut, playing Spacek's elder son, whose next film role would be playing Elliott in ET The Extra Terrestrial. Fans of Ms. Spacek will not be disappointed.