Raggedy Man is a 1981 American drama film based on William D. Wittliff and Sara Clark's 1979 novel, and directed by Jack Fisk.

[1] It follows a divorced mother and telephone switchboard operator (Sissy Spacek) living with her two sons in a small town during World War II.

Nita is a divorced mother of two boys and a World War II switchboard operator working for a telephone company in Gregory, Texas, having split from her unfaithful husband, Harry senior, four years prior.

One night, Teddy Roebuck, a US Navy sailor on leave, arrives at Nita’s doorstep in need of a pay phone so he can contact his fiancée.

When Nita mentions having seen the facially disfigured raggedy man near her house, the sheriff explains it is a harmless drifter named Bailey, who has been mowing lawns the past couple of years.

When Rigby again rejects her job transfer, Nita buys one-way bus tickets to San Antonio.

[3] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 61 out of 100, based on 9 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

[4] In his review which awarded the film 3 and 1/2 stars, critic Roger Ebert opined that while the melodramatic ending and reveal was unnecessary, the “surface events of small-town life are wonderfully observed”.