Posted: Thu., Dec. 31, 1987, 11:00pm PT

The Raggedy Rawney

(UK)

By Variety Staff

HandMade. Director Bob Hoskins; Producer Bob Weis; Screenplay Bob Hoskins, Nicole De Wilde; Camera Frank Tidy; Editor Alan Jones; Music Michael Kamen; Art Director Jiri Matolin

Bob Hoskins Dexter Fletcher Zoe Nathanson Dave Hill Ian Dury Zoe Wanamaker

Bob Hoskins brings to the screen an intriguing and particularly insightful perspective on the horrors suffered by the innocent amidst warfare.

Heading an ensemble cast as Darky, Hoskins plays the gritty leader of a gypsy-like band of refugees on the run from a war purposely set in an unspecified period somewhere in Europe.

A young soldier named Tom (Dexter Fletcher) deserts after an attack on his unit sends him into a panic.

By the time he catches up with Darky, et al, Tom is deemed to be a 'rawney' - a person who is half-mad and half-magic. The film then opens its direct passageway into this closed community of near medieval attitudes, with fears of evil spirits and the unknown.

(Color) Available on VHS. Extract of a review from 1988. Running time: 102 MIN.