Big Bad Mama (1974)

Powerful

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

This is one of those films, where you kick yourself for listening to critics who, at the time, trashed this film. Finally saw it and while it is, as some suggest, "trashy," this is one of the most entertaining films I've seen in quite some time.I've always admired the talent of Mr Corman and his production of BBM is, for me, one of the highlights of his career. I've no illusions that his fans will suggest otherwise however this is a film that grabs you by the lapels, if one has lapels that is, and doesn't let go! Steve Carver takes a VERY low budget and gets the maximum out of it, there are some performances in this movie that will demonstrate the talents of some of your favorite actors that other, more popular and acclaimed films will NOT. As someone who is NOT a Tom Skerrit fan I've got to admit he was the standout actor in this, (I refuse to refer to actresses as 'actors', he really is a talented man. However the standout is the truly gorgeous Angie Dickinson, I knew she could act, I just never realized just how beautiful and sexy she really is, until this film. She singlehandedly transcends the material and thereby lifts BBM out of "trash" into a slam-bang adventure/crime/sex romp that is stunning. The supporting cast is excellent, however outside of 'Succubus' I've not quite gotten the appeal of William Shatner, at least in any serious sense. think we all realize how much talent got early starts in Corman films and I think you will also enjoy noting those who went on to do excellent work in other films and especially TV, such as Michael Talbott of "Miami Vice" TV series.After watching this film I felt rather upbeat, BBM is the sort of fun film that we used to see more of, sans all that CGI and other expensive and often tawdry special effects, good entertainment that takes one out of the humdrum and into a place where ordinary belief is suspended and one is cheering for the heroes, albeit not the nicest heroes/heroines, wink.One can only wonder if there is a Director's cut somewhere as this is rated 'R', Angie Dickinson, Wow! Did I mention Wow?

In the Depression era Wilma McClatchie (Angie Dicksinson) and her two daughters--Billy Jean (Susan Sennett) and Polly (Robbie Lee)--became robbers to make a living. They are joined by bank robber Fred Diller (Tom Skerrit) and con man William Baxter (William Shatner--yes THAT William Shatner). Wilma has sex with both Fred and William and her daughters go after Fred also!Stupid and sometimes dull. The plot is virtually nonexistent, the dialogue is terrible and (since this is a Roger Corman film) it was made on NO budget (and it shows). Still it has frequent pointless car chases and crashes; plenty of female nudity (Dickinson has nude sex scenes with Skerritt AND Shatner); Corman regular Dick Miller as a policeman and plenty of bloody shootouts. Despite all this going on the movie comes to a screeching halt for dull dialogue stretches which are far too frequent. Sennett and Lee are terrible actors, Shatner and Skerritt are OK but Dickinson is great. She gives her role her all and looks very good nude (especially considering she was over 40). Stupid, bloody and dull but works pretty good on a no-think level. I give it a 5.

Well, it's clearly a ripoff of Bonny and Clyde, from the old 1930s square-sided cars (often rolling over) and the chattering Tommy guns spraying lead all over the place and the rollicking getaways and the brazen self-promotion during the robberies to the hokey banjo music that accompanies everything.I enjoyed the splendid performances of Angie Dickenson as a thoroughly unbelievable redneck Mamma of two pretty girls, given to industrial-strength language, and Tom Skerritt, miscast as a footloose no-goodnik, and the hammy William Shattner as a Louisville aristocrat who prefers mint juleps and a gentleman's game of poker to loud noises. Dick Miller's presence is always welcome. His chin simply juts. Angie Dickinson is marvelous. She looks just fine, especially with no clothes on. The sinewy, supple type, you know. Skerritt and Schatner both get chances to savor her indisputable charms. The young girls are splendid too. Skerritt gets a crack at both of them -- at the same time. Kids: Please leave the room for a moment. Thank you. I said THANK YOU. Now, Mom and Dad, this business of having a threesome is known in cosmopolitan circles as a menage a trois, sometimes misspelled by the less sophisticated as menage a twot. Okay? Right. Boys and girls, you can COME IN now.I kind of liked it. It's unpretentious garbage. It's made for the drive-ins and must have been lots of undemanding fun for an undemanding audience. A lot of people get shot up between the nudity and the vulgar exchanges. It follows that the bandit leaders must themselves be extinguished, and so they are, by gunshot. The men die instantly, perforated by a thousand bullets. Angie Dickenson dies gently, with a wan smile on her face, only a trickle of Technicolor number 9 red down her delicate arm betraying the presence of the fatal wound. But they're free, thrumming along a dusty road in a convertible, and Big Bad Mamma has saved her two young offspring for better things than a life of crime.Frankly, I don't see much ahead of the two little lambs, although who knows? The blond has an attractive face and saucy figure and one can imagine her as the illicit, pampered pet of some millionaire rock star from New York or Georgia -- that is until the house collapses around them. The pregnant younger daughter, a retard by any metric, who insists on toting around her teddy bear, is a different story. She's made for a career in politics.

I was so enjoying this film. I had rented two films, both from the seventies, one a big budget comedy and then this low budget Corman show. I hated the big budget and loved this one, until the political demon started barking up the plot's far-left sleeve. The heart on the sleeve, that is. I mean, we all enjoy watching films when the rich are being taken from, and the poor get to steal it. That's the basis of all crime movies and why we like them; and why we root for the bad guys so much. But this movie actually mentions such things, and they are mentioned by the "filthy rich", and you can tell when certain lines are uttered, they're in it for a reason other than dialog/conversation. In one scene a rich guy at a party mentions about how bad taxes are because they "tax the rich" (as if the rich are the only ones taxed), in another a guy gives a speech about how bad socialism is: both characters are filthy disgusting villainous types and are made to look stupid. And in the end, or towards the end of the film, a rich girl with an inheritance is kidnapped by the main characters who'd been having a blast robbing banks before, and from that point the movie goes from a fun romp into a mean spirited film with social envy written all over it. Oh well. For an hour I had fun. Till it all started getting see-through. And then, I saw through. As usual. Pity too. I love watching movies. I just wish they'd all keep their agenda to themselves or else better obscured so that we can all enjoy ourselves, not just those in the blue states.