The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 69, No. 8, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 1, 1981 Page: 9 of 16
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Cinema
Spacek's raggedy hero
Raggedy Man
Screenplay by William Wittliff
Directed by Jack Fisk
I've even been to Gregory,
Texas. It's a little town in the farm
country of South Texas not too far
from Corpus Christi. It's not an
exciting place, but it's pretty
typical of the small towns in Texas
that only seem to differ in whether
it's cows or the crops that are
harvested every year. They exist
almost without any spatial or
temporal connections.
Raggedy Man is about Gregory,
Texas in 1944 (that's during the
war, we are constantly reminded,
when people have to sacrifice for
"the boys overseas"), and it's about
life in any small town in America.
It's also about loneliness,
alienation, motherhood, love, and
fear. It's a formula that has
produced many a movie.
Sissy Spacek is a down-home
Country girl struggling to get by.
It's a stock role in which Spacek is
finding herself cast more and more
often as her career develops (which
she'll try to get out of now if she's
smart).
Together, those two formulas
could have produced a very
predictable and a very boring film.
But Raggedy Man, though
predictable, is not boring. Director
Jack Fisk manages to use the
oppressive-small-town clichd to
tell two connected stories rather
nicely.
First, there's the love story.
Harried telephone operator and
divorced mother of two boys lives
in house that doubles as office of
the phone company. She would
like to spend more time with the
kids, but the job takes up all her
time and she is tied to it by the war.
One rainy night, a sailor (Eric
Roberts) stops to place long-
distance phone call, only to
discover girl friend has gotten
married. Sailor befriends boys of
harried telephone* operator and
thus befriends harried telephone
operator. The town, of course,
doesn't understand.
Then there's the suspense story.
Divorced mother of two lives alone
in a house. Two ex-convicts think
divorced mother of two is pretty
and, well, we all know about those
"experienced women." Then
there's the disfigured man, the
raggedy man (Sam Shepard, who,
though he has star billing, never
speaks a word), who lurks in the
background, always watching
divorced mother of two. The town,
of course, never realizes what's
going on.
Though neither plotiine is going
to win any awards for originality,
they are developed with unusual
sensitivity. Fisk is able to convey
both the romance of the love affair
and the tension of a horror film
convincingly. The effect of that
love and terror and nostalgia is
very reminiscent of, say, To Kill a
Mockingbird (though the two are
thematically very different).
But the plots don't really work
together very well. We almost get a
sense that we're watching two
movies. The love story is
bookended by the elements of the
suspense, but they hardly
intertwine. And neither ends
neatly tie up (although that
doesn't bother me too much; after
all, life is really like that).
Nevertheless, the two plotlines
show Spacek's versatility and
ability as an actress by making a
potentially schizophrenic
character coherent. She creates a
remarkably strong character, who,
despite her physical frailty, despite
the constant pressures of her job,
despite the alienation she feels
from the narrow-minded society
around her, and despite the
difficulties of raising her two boys,
can still face up to the world and
make a life for herself. She
survives. And that's as heroic as
any battlefield victory.
— Richard Dees
This Week/ by Eden Harrington
Festivals
Texas Renaissance Festival T he f estival opens this
weekend and runs for the next six weeks. The
grounds have been extended this year to include
Sherwood Forest and many ncv. booths T here are
food, crafts, jousts, pageantry, arid much cleaner air
at the fair. 9 a.m. to dark. Sa turd a-, and Sunday,
356-2178.
Texas Renaissance Festival.
Oktoberfests. Two Houston festivals celebrate this
German tradition of fun, music, dancing and food.
(1) Astroworld's Oktoberfest is each Saturday and
Sunday through October 25. Gates open 10 a.m.
Regular park admission is $11.50. Oktoberfest is
$6.50. For information, call 748-1234. (2) Bavarian
Garden's annual Oktoberfest continues each Friday-
Sunday through October 31. Activities begin at 5
p.m. Friday and Saturday, and noon Sunday.
Admission is $4 for adults, $2 for children. Call 861-
6300.
Theatre
One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest. Dale
Wasserman's dramatization of Ken Kesey's novel
depicting the clash between a rowdy inmate and an
authoritarian nurse in a mental asylum. 8 p.m.
Thursdays-Saturdays, 2:30 p.m. Sundays through
October 18. College of the Mainland Community
Theatre, 8001 Palmer Highway, Texas Citv. 938-
1211, ext. 345.
Keep Your Chins Up: A New Wrinkle on Aging.
This show takes a peek at the process of aging
through the zany vision the The Comedy Workshop.
Following the show, the cast does improvisations
based on audience suggestions. Tickets are $4
reservations are necessary. Performances are at 8:30
p.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdavs, and Thursdays.
Call 524-7333.
Films
Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears. An unusually
warm and perceptive portrait of a woman growing
out of girlhood into a wise, human maturity, this
film is both a brilliant character study and a deeply
felt journey of the human spirit to ultimate triumph.
This is the Houston premiere of the celebrated
Soviet winner of this year's Academy Award for Best
foreign Language Picture. (Saturday and Sunday at
130 and 4:15), 7:00, 9:45. River Oaks Theater.
October 2-8.
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town. The first of the big social
comedies of the 30s, directed by Capra,
demonstrating the victory of small town innocence
over big city sophistication. Gary Cooper was
perfectly cast as the naive hero who inherits a
fortune and sets New York on its heels by his
honesty. Media Center, October 4, 7:30 p.m.
Music
Ruben Gonzalez. Violinist Ruben Gonzalez has
returned from Argentina to the United States to
hold the dual position of concertmaster of the
Houston Symphony and .Starling Professor at Rice
Shepherd1 School of Music. He will perform in
Hamman hall at 8:00 p.m. on October 4. Free.
contact Charlotte Jones at 527-4933 for more
information.
Houston Symphony. The Winter Series concerts
open in Jones Hall on October 3,4 and 5 with
Maestro Bergel conducting an all-Brahms program.
Soloist Barbara McAlister will appear for the Alto
Rhapsody. Other works include Schicksalslied,
Naenie and the Symphony No. / in C minor. Call
224-4240 for further information.
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The Rice Thresher, October 1, 1981, page 9
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Davies, Bruce. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 69, No. 8, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 1, 1981, newspaper, October 1, 1981; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245480/m1/9/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.