| Raggedy Man | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Jack Fisk |
| Produced by | Terry Nelson Burt Weissbourd William D. Wittliff |
| Written by | William D. Wittliff |
| Starring | Sissy Spacek Eric Roberts Sam Shepard |
| Music by | Jerry Goldsmith |
| Cinematography | Ralf Bode |
| Editing by | Edward Warschilka |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
| Release date(s) | 1981 |
| Running time | 94 min. |
| Country | U.S.A. |
| Language | English |
Raggedy Man is a 1981 film starring Sam Shepard and Sissy Spacek. It was filmed in Lockhart, Texas. The story is about people in the small Texas town of Gregory during World War II.
Sissy Spacek plays a divorced mother of two boys who tries to go it alone in mid-1940s Texas small town. Shunned by the "respectable" townsfolk because of her marital breakup, Spacek must endure the unwanted attentions of every man in the community. Being the switchboard operator, she is not allowed to leave her "home", thus adding to her lonliness and her vulnerability. Enter Eric Roberts, a young sailor who becomes both friend and protector to Spacek and her sons. He is kind hearted and grows close to the boys and Spacek. Once Roberts is called to active duty, however, Spacek is supposedly left at the mercy of the menacing Triplett brothers who torment Spacek and her sons. The title refers to a "raggedy man"-a ragpicker, played by Sam Shepard, who seems to keep a careful watch on the house, Spacek and the boys. His intentions are frightening at first, but when the Triplett brothers show up to cause harm to Spacek and her boys, he moves his broken body quickly to help them and ends up saving them. At the end of the film, Spacek buys three bus tickets for San Antonio, quits her job, and boards the bus with her two sons.
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Raggedy Man is the title of a novel by William D. Wittliff and Sara Clark, published in 1979, on which the movie of the same title is based.
The Raggedy Man is also the name of a poem written in 1890 by James Whitcomb Riley. (See Wikisource article.)
Tina Turner also referred to Mel Gibson's Mad Max as Raggedy Man in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.
In the television series Doctor Who, the character Amy Pond refers to The Doctor as her "raggedy Doctor", and in the episode The Big Bang, she remembers The Doctor calling out "Raggedy Man I remember you and you are late for my wedding!"