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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Better than it ought to be, September 1, 2004
I consider myself well schooled in low budget schlock from various film genres. Watching cheesy films is an acquired taste, one not easily cultivated overnight. Even with some knowledge about who makes these types of films under my belt, I still stumble over major contributors to the clunker movie catalogue and wonder why I haven't spent time with these delicacies before now. Roger Corman is my latest discovery. I admit I have heard of Corman before in reference to the spate of Vincent Price horror classics that emerged in the 1960s, along with a few other films he made over the course of his career, but until now I never saw many of them. This guy is a giant of the low budget film, producing or directing some 500 plus movies in the last forty years. He's still going strong as far as I know, and never limits his output to one particular genre; he's made westerns, horror, action, drama, and science fiction films with seeming ease. Moreover, according to the bio on this DVD, Corman helped launch the careers of numerous Hollywood bigwigs. If "Big Bad Mama" is any indication, I will continue to spend a lot of time with this filmmaker's projects in the near future.
"Big Bad Mama" is a sort of feminist reinterpretation of those movies about Depression era highway outlaws; it's "Bonny and Clyde" with lipstick and long tresses. Angie Dickinson plays Wilma McClatchie, a mule headed, dirt poor Texas woman with a temper and a desire to better her conditions. Life hasn't been easy for Wilma, not with two young daughters to raise in a ramshackle cabin out in the sticks. What's a woman to do during these tough times? Why, strike up a relationship with local bootlegger Barney (Noble Willingham), of course! But when the wedding ceremony of one of Wilma's daughters goes horribly awry, and Barney perishes in a shootout, Wilma is left holding several unpleasant bags. The Feds involved in bringing down Barney, led by Bonney (Richard Smith), now set their sights on Wilma and her kids. Unfortunately, McClatchie plays right into their hands by taking over Barney's illicit liquor operation. At some point, Wilma decides she's had enough of being poor and decides to hit the road in search of ill-gotten gains. She takes her two lascivious daughters, Polly (Robbie Lee) and Billy Jean (Susan Sennett), along for the ride. And why not? If you're going to embark on a crime spree, you may as well make it a family affair.
Problem is, Wilma cannot escape the lure of sleazy, good for nothing men. She first hooks up with wanted criminal Fred Diller (Tom Skerritt), and quickly consummates their partnership the old fashioned way. Then conman extraordinaire William Baxter (William Shatner) enters the picture, and Wilma brings him into the fold as well. The resulting jealousy between Diller and Baxter, along with a most unusual relationship struck up between Diller and Wilma's daughters, will certainly lead to dangerous tensions within the gang. Despite these internal stresses, Wilma continues to plot the next big score. The gang finally stumbles upon the perfect scheme; they will infiltrate a soiree thrown by a bunch of rich folks and kidnap one of them. McClatchie and her compatriots succeed in abducting Jane Kingston (Joan Prather), but the plan fouls up when Diller decides to get up close and personal with the hapless heiress. Then Baxter pulls a fast one. Then the cops and the G-men close in. Cue gunfire and crashing cars. Roll credits. Who will live and who will perish? Surprisingly, you'll actually care about the answer to that question while watching "Big Bad Mama."
I've seen several Corman classics now, and "Big Bad Mama" ranks as one of the better ones. First, you've got a solid cast filling all the main roles. Dickinson not only looks fantastic, but she believably portrays a poor woman looking out for her own with nothing to lose. Tom Skerritt, an actor I've never liked in anything, actually manages to avoid annoying me as the murderous and jealous Fred Diller. As for Shatner, well, he's probably at his most restrained here in a role requiring him to talk softly in oily tones. I got a kick out of the daughters. Both of them are so far over the top that you can't help but laugh at their antics. Be sure and keep an eye open for their dancing routine at the local veteran's get together. Is anyone as dense as these two airheads? Guess so. Thankfully, the performances unfold against the second important element that makes "Big Bad Mama" a lot of fun, namely the film's great atmosphere. While I imagine plenty of anachronisms plague the movie, I thought the 1930s props looked way better than I expected to see in a low budget picture. Finally, you really do get an opportunity to see Angie Dickinson take a few risks, so to speak, but you'll miss it if you blink. Considering what the actress had to do in the role, I'm surprised she took the part when she was still a player in Hollywood.
The DVD is standard a standard Roger Corman release. You get the obligatory short interview with Leonard Maltin, and a bunch of trailers. A sequel to "Big Bad Mama," unoriginally entitled "Big Bad Mama II," came out roughly ten years later. While I haven't seen the sequel, which apparently once again stars Angie Dickinson, I can say that the first film is a lot of fun. Great performances, bountiful skin, a sleazy attitude, and wonderfully realistic atmosphere makes this Corman classic a must see for B movie fans.
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Prosperity was just around the corner...at the nearest bank!, December 17, 2005
Big business can make for strange bedfellows as is the case here, with the recently re-released film Big Bad Mama (1974). Seems not too long ago The Walt Disney Corporation, through their Buena Vista Home Entertainment group, acquired the rights to release onto DVD some 400 Roger Corman films, including this one...if you're not familiar with Roger Corman, he probably the single, largest producer of low-budget exploitation films in the last 50 years, features someone generally wouldn't associate with the Walt Disney image. Produced by Corman, co-written by William W. Norton (White Lightning, I Dismember Mama) and Frances Doel (Deathsport, DinoCroc), and directed by Steve Carver (Lone Wolf McQuade), the film stars Angie Dickinson, who first made an impression on me as Sgt. Suzanne "Pepper" Anderson in the mid to late 1970s television series "Police Woman". Also appearing is William `The Shat' Shatner ("Star Trek", Kingdom of the Spiders), Tom Skerritt (MASH, Alien), Susan Sennett (The Candy Snatchers), Robbie Lee (Switchblade Sisters), Noble Willingham (The Last Picture Show), Dick Miller (X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes), Tom Signorelli (The Cotton Club), Royal Dano (Killer Klowns from Outer Space), William O'Connell (Every Which Way But Loose), and Joan Prather, whom some may remember from the television series "Eight Is Enough", as Janet McArthur Bradford.
The movie, set in the depression era south, begins as we see three women, one older, two younger, heading to church. Seems recent widower Wilma McClatchie (Dickinson) is taking her two daughters, Billy Jean (Sennett) and Polly (Lee) to the church as Polly done got herself engaged to a dirt farmer. The trio arrives, met by skeezy Uncle Barney (Willingham), a bootlegger by trade, shortly followed by the groom, showing up on the back of a truck...I must say, he's quite the prize pig...anyway, Wilma seems unhappy with her youngest daughter's choice in men, and promptly puts the kibosh on the affair in the middle of the nuptials, as she decides she wants better for her girls. A good, old fashioned ruckus ensues, and the three women, along with Uncle Barney, skedaddle...right into a trap set by a lawman named Bonney (Miller), who's been chasing Barney the bootlegger for some time. There's a car chase, and Barney ends up with a terminal case of lead poisoning, to which Wilma decides to take over the business, thus beginning her life of crime. After the bottom falls out of her moonshine business (thanks to a corrupt local sheriff), Wilma and her girls, who are about as ripe as Georgia peaches, fleece a crooked preacher, and then get tangled up with a bank robbery, eventually taking on one of the robbers, named Fred Diller (Skerritt), as a partner, in more ways than one, if you know what I mean...homina, homina...Wilma, deciding it wise never to pull the same caper more than once, decides their next score will be a race track, where they meet Captain Kirk...er, I mean William J. Baxter (Shatner), an upper-class hustler, resulting in another partnership, along with more of Ms. Dickenson doffing her clothes...set phasers on stunning! Anyhoo, the group makes their way west, to California, with Sheriff Bonney hot on their heels, and Wilma comes up with one last big score, involving kidnapping a comely, yet snooty, heiress (Prather) and ransoming her off for a million bucks...but jealousies threaten to tear the group apart, along with their ever increasing notoriety.
I've seen plenty of exploitation films in my time, but few do them as well as Roger Corman. That's not to say his touch is always gold, but he usually manages to finagle more than most of out so very little. I think the one aspect about this production that elevates it to the upper echelons within the B movie realm is the strong and capable cast, especially Ms. Dickenson, who, in her forties at the time, looked better than the females half her age appearing in this film, and that's not to say they were hard on the eyes (the actress playing Polly seemed to have the most difficult time keeping her top on). She provided an exceptionally strong, intelligent, determined female character, one who knew what she wanted, and knew how to get it...overall I really enjoyed this gangster drama with a feminine twist. Director Carver keeps story moving along well, which included predictable twists, exciting car chase and gunplay sequences, along with a whole lot of freaky deaky...check out the scenes where Tom Skerritt's character, after getting replaced as Wilma's bed warmer by The Shat's character, hooks up with her daughters, in a creepy. Southern fried threesome. And then there's the scene near the end when Skerrit's character is seduced by the kidnapped heiress (in an attempt by her to escape), and The Shat creepily watches on from the doorway...but never fear, The Shat does get his groove on in one, particularly revealing scene with Ms. Dickenson...thankfully, for myself at least, his nekkidness is covered up by her nekidness (actually, Ms. Dickenson has about three or four gratuitous nekkid scenes, if you're looking for that kind of thing). As far as the acting goes, its better than I expected, given the amount of experience in the cast, both in recognizable actors and character actors. And how could you not like a script that features lines like this? "Uncle Barney...was you trying to feel up my Mama?" Oh Uncle Barney...whotta sleaze...the story is decent enough, as there seemed to be attempts to flesh out the various relationships, but it never really went to far which was good because that really wasn't something I was looking for in a movie like this...another aspect I really liked was the ending, as I thought it a great way to wrap things up.
The fullscreen (1.33:1) picture on this DVD release looks decent, but does show some signs of age. I'm betting the quality here is the same as the previous DVD release, so if you own that, and that's all you care about, there probably isn't much reason to be sucked in by this `Special Edition' release. The Dolby Digital 2.0 audio is decent enough, with no complaints. As far as extras, there is a featurette titled `Mama Knows Best: A Retrospective' (14:38), that includes Corman, Dickenson, The Shat, and a number of people involved with the film discussing their experiences, all looking quite old and crusty. Also included is a commentary track with Corman and Dickenson, and a rough, original theatrical trailer.
Cookieman108
By the way, the film apparently did well enough to warrant a sequel titled Big Bad Mama II (1987), featuring Ms. Dickenson. I haven't seen it, and doubt I will as the DVD, which is currently out of print, seems to be a bit over priced...love them gougers...maybe Disney will re-release it, too...
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Campy Fun, December 30, 2005
From the retrospective included on the disc you get the impression that star Angie Dickinson thought she was making high art. I'm not so sure Roger Corman thought so. The film seems to have a split personality. Stars Dickinson, Tom Skerritt, and William Shatner play their characters pretty straight to the vest. The script, however, suggests a parody of "Bonnie and Clyde" with alot of comic violence and gunplay and humorously gratuitous nudity. I did enjoy the contributions of the young actresses playing Dickinson's daughters, Susan Sennett and Robbie Lee. I purchased this film expecting some trashy fun and it did deliver the goods.
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