Dark Night of the Scarecrow (1981)

Dark Night of the Scarecrow is a 1981 American made for television horror film directed by Frank De Felitta starring Larry Drake and Charles Durning. It aired on CBS.

Plot
In the Deep South Charles Elliot "Bubba" Ritter, a large but gentle mentally challenged man, befriends a girl called Marylee Williams.

Several townspeople don´t like that and, abusing the situation when he became a crime suspect, this group of townspeople under the leadership of Otis P. Hazelring lynch him and make it appear as though he died resisting the authority. They kill him by catching him, tying him like a scarecrow and then shoot him. Then they place a weapon in his hand to make it believable. Otis didn´t commit the crime.

They get away with it because of lack of proof and because Otis lied on the stand to protect himself and the others, but a scarecrow appears later and begins to kill them one by one.

Cast

 * Charles Durning as Otis P. Hazelrigg
 * Robert F. Lyons as Skeeter Norris
 * Claude Earl Jones as Philby
 * Lane Smith as Harless Hocker
 * Tonya Crowe as Marylee Williams
 * Larry Drake as Bubba Ritter
 * Jocelyn Brando as Mrs. Ritter
 * Tom Taylor as D.A. Sam Willock
 * Richard McKenzie as Judge Henry