Raggedy Man (1981)

Set in 1944 Texas, a divorced woman (Sissy Spacek) raising two young sons (Henry Thomas, Carey Hollis) in a small town finds herself the object of gossip when she befriends a sailor (Eric Roberts) on a three day leave. Based on the novel by William D. Witliff and Sara Clark and directed by Jack Fisk. This lovely tale of a single mother struggling to raise her children on a paltry salary as a phone operator gets it right. Jack Fisk is primarily known as a production designer on films like BADLANDS, CARRIE, THE MASTER among many others and RAGGEDY MAN was his first film as a director (he would go on to direct only three other films). He is also the husband of Sissy Spacek. Fisk perfectly captures small town rural life and the period atmosphere is spot on. No surprise, Spacek easily embodies the frustration of a woman who feels trapped in an unforgiving town with no future in it for her or her boys. As the sailor, Roberts is both tender and charming and his performance reminds us what a subtle actor he was before he got typecast as extreme whack jobs (STAR 80, POPE OF GREENWICH VILLAGE). The film's shift in tone in the last 15 minutes from rural drama to lady in peril thriller is rather disorienting. Even Jerry Goldsmith's score goes from Americana to ALIEN like scoring but it does have a payoff. With Sam Shepard, R.G. Armstrong, William Sanderson and Tracey Walter.