Raggedy Man

Spacek's extraordinary ability to portray a specific kind of American innocence gives life to a fairly ordinary plot about a frustrated 1940s rural telephonist - the mother of two children - who becomes involved with a passing sailor. Eventually the film erupts into small-town violence, but it is essentially a period piece directed with quiet impressiveness by Spacek's husband, former art director Fisk, who has extracted good performances from all of the principals (including Thomas as one of the kids, soon to appear as the boy in E.T.). Spacek herself is given free rein, and turns in all that you'd expect and more, including a number of marvellous little insights from her own Texas childhood. Something as slight as this could never have got off the ground without her, but she makes you glad it did.