When the film begins, Bubba (Larry Drake) is playing with a neighbor girl. She's young and he's a mentally challenged adult. Well, for some odd reason, several of the locals hate Bubba and Otis (Charles Durning) enjoys stirring up hatred against the man. Soon after this little scene, the girl is attacked by a vicious dog and Bubba saves her and brings her home to her mother. He's hysterical and soon all sorts of crazy rumors start that HE attacked the kid and killed her. But she's only slightly hurt and before long, folks are running about town looking for Bubba. Otis' little group is primed for a hanging...all due to Otis' drumming it into their dumb minds that Bubba is a danger to them all! As for Bubba, he hides in a most unusual fashion...pretending to be the scarecrow on his mother's farm! The evil quartet soon find him and don't give him a chance to surrender and shoot him 21 times!! Amazingly, the local judge refuses to indict them for murder!! So, it seems that the four scum-bags have gotten away with it.Soon after this incident, a scarecrow appears on one of the four men's land...and within a short time, he's dead...supposedly by accident. And, soon after that, the same thing happens again. At this point, Otis isn't about to take any chances and begins killing off anyone who could possibly be behind the two deaths. What's next? See this cool made for TV horror movie.Overall, this is a very well made and highly entertaining film...far better than the norm for such a picture. The acting, writing and scare factor are all there...and the film is well worth your time.Interestingly, a few years after this film was made, Larry Drake went on to become a regular on "LA Law" playing another mentally challenged man. I am pretty sure this film must have helped him land this role.

***SPOILERS*** Much like the story & movie "Of Mice and Men" in this case it's the simple minded but sweet Bubba Ritter, Larry Drake, who tries to keep his 9 year old friend & playmate Mary-Lee, Tonya Crowe, from going into the Raincross family's backyard who's then savagely attacked and mauled by their dog BoBo and left for dead. With the towns letter-carrier or mailman Otis P. Hazelrigg, Charles Durning, rustling up a posse to exact justice Bubba takes off fearing for his life. Bubba hiding in a scarecrow outfit is tracked down and blasted to pieces by Otis and three of his appointed deputies Harless Skeeter & Philby, Lane Smith Robert F. Lyons & Claud Earl Jones, while offering up no resistance. The trouble for Otis & friends is that it turns out that Bubba in fact saved little Mary-Lee's life and she fully recovered, after receiving a set of rabies shots, from BoBo's vicious attack.Found innocent in Bubba's death by Otis planting a pitchfork on his dead body to proved he was shot, 21 times no less, in self defense it's Bubba's grieving mom Mrs. Ritter, Jocelyn Brando, who predicts that her son's killers will end up getting theirs saying "Theirs other justice in the world besides the law". And sure enough as the movie progresses her prediction,despite not living long enough to see it happen, turns out to be shockingly true. All four of Bubba's killers with Otis saved for last end up getting it-killed-and getting it good from what seems to be the dead Otis Ritter! ****SPOILERS*** A tale of revenge as well as justice in that those who ends up paying with their lives weren't rally all that bad but as a mindless lynch mob let their emotions take full control of them. Otis for his part went even farther then just leading the lynch mob by going out of his way and murdering both Mrs. Ritter as well as his guilt ridden friend Harless, who was about to crack, from keeping him talking. Driven out of his mind and running for his life chased by a driver-less tractor Otis ends up getting it through the guts by the very pitchfork that he planted on Bubba with what seems like a back from the dead Bubba, dressed as a scarecrow, being the one sticking it to him!

Most made-for-TV movies such as IT are missing a good plot like their books had, or just aren't very good. Dark Night of the Scarecrow is amazing for its time and budget, not only horrific but also pointing out the prejudice towards mentally challenged individuals. In a small farming community lives Bubba Ritter, a mentally challenged 36 year old man who is kind and enjoys playing with the town kids. He is the scapegoat for the men in town, especially the postman Otis, who is secretly a pedophile and tries to make his friends assume Bubba is a child molester. Bubba rescues Marylee, a little girl, from an attack dog, and ends up getting shot at by the men, who think he molested and beat her. When they learn that he actually saved her life, they win their trial and vow never to speak of the ordeal again. Bubba's mother is devastated over the loss of her son; she gets a visit from Marylee who has no idea Bubba is dead. Mrs. Ritter doesn't have the heart to break the news; she just says, "he's gone where they can't hurt him no more". It isn't until a scarecrow appears and men begin to be murdered that people question their wrongdoings... It's both a sad and beautiful story of friendship; Bubba dies after saving Marylee and still continues to protect her from the molesting postman even after his death. It's also a very eerie horror story, the death in the wood chopper is quite disturbing, as are the others. The acting of all the characters is very good, especially Bubba's mom and the postman. It was directed by the author of the novel Audrey Rose, which was also made into a movie very popular in the late Seventies. I highly suggest you watch Dark Night of the Scarecrow, it's worth it!

Here's a blast from the past! I remember seeing this film as a kid (around eight or ten) and everyone talking about it the next day in school. Three memories of this film: Bubba getting rather nastily executed by firing squad, the scene in the grain silo, and the end shot (which I won't spoil for you). It was on television last night so I thought I'd give it a go again, and see if it's still as scary as it was back then. It wasn't, but then again about thirty years have passed. What you do have however is a fairly solid supernatural thriller with a few scarecrow chills thrown in for good measure (but it could have done with more to be honest). What makes it still enjoyable is Charles Durning's performance as the evil postman who'll do anything to cover for his crime, that crime being the killing of mentally handicapped Bubba, who was mistakingly blamed for the mauling of his child friend, Mary Lee. Durning and his three cronies get literally get away with murder (they shoot Bubba to death while he's hiding inside a scarecrow), but they all get warned by Bubba's mother that there are other types of justice. Soon, things get all creepy when Mary Lee starts claiming that Bubba isn't dead, and a scarecrow turns up in one of the guy's fields. You know what that means – Scarecrow vengeance!I'll say no more about the plot but after all these years I was still impressed by the whole mood of the film. Durning helps greatly as he generally lies, cheats, and even kills to protect himself while Bubba generally gets his own back. The film centres mostly on Durning, however, as we get to see him try and find out who's messing with his head. Although lacking in gore (being a TV film) and slightly slow to get going, there's plenty to recommend here. It certainly stuck in my head as an impressionable young kid. Good stuff.