Raggedy Man is a 1981 American drama film based on William D. Wittliff and Sara Clark's 1979 novel, and directed by Jack Fisk. It follows a divorced mother and telephone switchboard operator (Sissy Spacek) living with her two sons in a small town during World War II. The film was Spacek’s first film after her Academy Award-winning performance in Coal Miner’s Daughter, and was also her first film to be directed by her husband. For this role, Spacek received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama. This was the directorial debut for Fisk, and the film debut for Henry Thomas, who next starred in his breakout role of Elliott Taylor for the film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982).

Plot

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. The sole operator for the small town, Nita is on-call day and night. She petitions her boss Mr. Rigby for a secretarial job with regular working hours, but Rigby tells her that because of wartime her job is “frozen” and that everyone has to make sacrifices.