Big Bad Mama (1974)

Director:

Steve Carver

Writers:

William W. Norton (written by) and
Frances Doel (written by)

Release Date:

29 January 1976 (Norway)

Genre:

Action | Crime

Tagline:

Men, Money And Moonshine: When It Comes To Vice, Mama Knows Best.

Plot:

Mama and daughters get forced by circumstances into bootlegging and bank robbing, and travel across the country trailed by the law.

Plot Keywords:

Female Nudity | Outlaw | Blue Panties | B Movie | Lesbianism

Cast

Angie Dickinson	...	Wilma McClatchie
William Shatner	...	William J. Baxter
Tom Skerritt	...	Fred Diller
Susan Sennett	...	Billy Jean
Robbie Lee	...	Polly
Noble Willingham	...	Uncle Barney
Dick Miller	...	Bonney
Tom Signorelli	...	Dodds
Joan Prather	...	Jane Kingston
Royal Dano	...	Reverend Johnson
William O'Connell	...	Crusade Preacher
John Wheeler	...	Lawyer
Ralph James	...	Sheriff
Sally Kirkland	...	Barney's Woman
Wally K. Berns	...	Legionnaire (as Wally Berns)

Runtime:

83 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:R | UK:18 (video rating) | UK:X (original rating) | France:-12 | Finland:K-18 | Norway:18 | Sweden:15 | USA:R | Netherlands:16 | Iceland:16

Company:

Hit Woman Productions Inc.

Trivia:

Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead performed most of the guitar and banjo music in the movie.

Quotes:

Jane Kingston: [Jane is tied up and Fred proceeds to grope her]
Jane Kingston: What are you doing?
Fred Diller: I just, uh, never felt the titties of a millionaire before.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession (2004) (TV)

The archetypal 70s Roger Corman drive-in movie

Big Bad Mama is the archetypal Roger Corman 70s b-movie, with the monsters and sci-fi of the 50s and 60s replaced by plentiful low-budget action, tongue-in-cheek humor and mandatory nudity from almost every actress in the cast in a fast-moving Depression-era backroads gangster flick. Angie Dickinson is the Ma Barker figure trying' to do right by her two gals, stumbling her way from bootlegging to armed robbery to kidnapping with the aid of Tom Skerritt's bank robber and William Shatner's Southern conman (unfortunately the mandatory nudity rule also applies to him, though we are spared the sight of the captain's log). While not as smart as John Sayles' and Jonathan Demme's Corman flicks there are occasional nods to history – not least the resistance of hypocritical establishment figures and the Big Rich to the New Deal, leaving the poor to fend for themselves as best they can – and some mildly anarchic sight gags (watch out for the cripple 'healed' by William O'Connell's phoney preacher) but mostly this has few aspirations beyond throwing in as many shootouts, car chases and nude scenes from Ms Dickinson as it can in its 83 running time.