Big Bad Mama

Plot synopsis:
In Texas in 1932, after stopping her youngest daughter's wedding, Wilma McClatchie (Dickinson) takes over her late lover's bootlegging business, but gets caught while doing the delivery route with her two daughters. After handing over all her money and her ring to the sheriff, they are let go and she begins her crime spree.
While Wilma is at a bank trying to cash a fake check, the bank is held up by Fred Diller (Skerritt) and his gang. In the melee, Wilma and her daughters, Polly (Robbie Lee) and Billy Jean (Susan Sennett), grab some money bags from behind the counter and escape, but not before Diller gets in their automobile and leaves with them. Afterwards, they decide to pair up, and Diller and Wilma also become lovers.
During a subsequent con, Wilma meets the refined yet dishonest gambler William J. Baxter (Shatner) and falls for him. He joins the group and becomes Wilma's lover, much to the chagrin of Diller. The gang proceeds with several more heists, each time getting more money. Eventually, they kidnap the daughter of a millionaire in hopes of getting rich off the ransom. When the ransom is paid, federal agents who had been tracking them arrive with the police.
Baxter is captured, but Wilma, Polly, and Billy Jean escape with the suitcase full of money, and Diller stays behind, providing cover with his Tommy gun. As the three women drive off, the mortally wounded Wilma's bloodied left arm is seen hanging down on the left side of the car.

Tags: neo noir, romantic, satire, depressing, violence

Review:
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.
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.
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.
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!
Again, BIG BAD MAMA may not be Oscar caliber but it is a very entertaining film and will keep your attention and interest throughout the entire film; get in on DVD today!.
Crashing cars, splatter guns, sex and nudity—whatever else about Roger Corman, he never made a boring movie, and this one seldom lets up.
I watched and was pleasantly surprised to see that it was still interesting and Angie Dickinson at 43, was better looking then most of today's young starlets.
All in all it was a good for it's time and if you are in your 40s like me, it will make you remember when cheesy movies were truly cheesy.
Hard times was at its worst, especially for Wilma(Angle Dickinson) and her two daughters BilliyJean(Susan Sennett) and Polly(Robbie Lee).
They come across Wilma's bootlegging lover(Noble Willingham) at a church to attend Polly's wedding which never takes place because Mama objects the man and his family.
"Big Bad Mama" packs a lot in this movie: Laughs, drama, romance, even gunfire.
Big Bad Mama (1974) *** (out of 4) Angie Dickinson got the role of her career playing the title character, a Texas mother of two teenage girls (Susan Sennett, Robbie Lee) who grows tired of being poor and decides to turn to robbery.
Along the way she picks up a couple different men (William Shatner, Tom Skerritt) as they head towards California to make it rich.
If you're easily offended then this might not be the movie for you but if you like sex, bloody violence, nudity, threesomes with sisters, robberies and just about every other sinful thing in the world then BIG BAD MAMA is just the film for you.
I don't think there's any question that this here is one of the greatest drive-in movies ever made and from the opening dialogue where Dickinson is wondering why her "angels" turned out so "wrong" the film just delivers one great thing after another.
It's very clear that the writers, the director and producer Roger Corman wanted to throw just about everything into this film that they possibly could.
One of the big selling points in having someone like Dickinson appear in a movie like this and her presence certainly adds a lot.
Those expecting great performances are going to be disappointed but I think both actresses delivered just what the film needed in terms of good humor.
Shatner and Skerritt are both very entertaining in their roles and Corman regular Dick Miller plays a nice part as well.
BIG BAD MAMA didn't win any Oscars when it was released but all these years later the charm is still there and it certainly deserves its reputation as one of the best drive-in flicks of the era..
Imagine Bonnie and Clyde without Clyde and with more of a trashy B-movie style to it, and you've got an idea of what Big Bad Mama is like.
With Roger Corman on producing duty, you've to expect some silly trashy fun, and this film delivers that in droves as it's clear that nobody cared about making a credible film, which is usually good news for entertainment value.
Angie Dickinson takes the lead role and makes good of it, as she carries the film with her engaging and enthusiastic performance.
The film focuses on Dickinson's character Wilma, who decides to go into bootlegging when her lover is killed.
Along with her two daughters, Wilma travels across the country and eventually meets a bank robber named Fred, and the pair decides to put their relative talents to good use in order to 'earn' themselves some money.
The support cast is good, with the likes of William Shatner, Dick Miller and Tom Skerritt being put to good use, while lesser known performers such as Robbie Lee and Susan Sennett also giving entertaining turns.
This does leave it feeling more than a little bit empty, but in a film where bank robberies, sex scenes, car chases and more feature heavily, this isn't a big problem.
Angie Dickinson stars in the title role as tough, but sexy matriarch, Wilma McClatchie, attempting to keep her family together during the Depression.
She initially tries to continue with Barney's bootlegging business with the help of her uncontrollable daughters Billy Jean (Susan Sennett) and Polly (Robbie Lee of 'Switchblade Sisters' fame).
A chance encounter with a bank robber, Diller (Tom Skerritt), causes a career rethink, and when the fugitives meet charming con man Baxter (William Shatner), the gang is complete.
Roger Corman reaffirms himself as one of America's coolest directors with the trashy-but-great "Big Bad Mama".
Along the way, crook Fred Diller (Tom Skerritt) and gentleman William Baxter (William Shatner) join up with them, while snide lawman Bonney (Dick Miller) chases them.
Well people I don't think it gets any better than this, Big Bad Mama had it all!
Although I would not recommend that kids watch this, this is a fun low-budget movie for those of you in the mood for something, let's say, trashy.
Low budget trash means that you're supposed to say that you hate it no matter how entertaining it is.High budget trash means that it is socially acceptable to like it and if it has an OK budget and is pretentious enough you can call it "art house" and pretend that watching it makes you cultured.This is just trash, but it is totally entertaining trash, especially when half the acting is praiseworthy and high caliber...and the other half is B-Movie crap.
A Trashy Roger Corman Film.
Mama (Angie Dickinson) and daughters get forced by circumstances into bootlegging and bank robbing, and travel across the country trailed by the law.According to director Steve Carver, Angie Dickinson allowed the crew to remain on set during the filming of her sex scene with Tom Skerritt, but William Shatner asked for all nonessential crew to be removed during his sex scene with Dickinson.
This exhilarating, fast-paced and typically 70s exploitation- adventure ranks as one of the most popular Roger Corman productions among his fans & admirers, and righteously so I daresay, because "Big Bad Mama" guarantees wild and unscrupulous entertainment from the very first opening seconds until (and included) the closing credits.
During the Great Depression era, in Texas, Wilma's cute but naive teenage daughter Polly is about to get married to a dumb farmer with an even dumber family.
Thanks to her pretty face and luscious curves, Wilma can easily persuade every man to do what she wants, and her young daughters Billy Jean and Polly inherited those same talents!
Roger Corman and director Steve Carver demonstrate that they are perfectly in touch with their B-movie loving audiences, as they extensively deliver what the crowd wants to see.
"Big Bad Mama" is clearly inspired by "Bonny and Clyde", as well as several other gangster epics of the late 60s/early 70s, but without the boring romances and numerous speeches/dialogues.
Angie Dickinson terrifically leads the delightful ensemble cast that also features impressive names like William Shatner and Tom Skerrit (albeit before their major breakthroughs) and, of course, Roger Corman favorite Dick Miller.
Angie Dickinson as a kickass bankrobber, her nubile daughters and the men they charm into their beds (Tom Skerritt and William Shatner).
Add in an array f nude scenes and gunfire and that's "Big Bad Mama".
I've heard good things about this movie - mostly the trashy fun and the magnetism of its star - and for me it was consistently amusing; mostly head-scratching.
That, plus a ton of GDs, mostly said by Angie Dickinson, make this a despicable, extremely bigoted film.Dickinson, and this era when movie makers had just gotten their freedom to spew all this bias, are about as low at it gets and sleazy with a capital "S." It isn't just the hatred and the sleaze and gratuitous nudity in here, it's just the pathetic immaturity of Hollywood during this period.Of course, it's more than just anti-religious bias.
The first Big Bad Mama is a favorite of collectors of celebrity nude scenes - Angie Dickinson has couple - and it's not a bad movie for what it is.
The story is nothing special - Depression era criminals plot a kidnapping which goes predictably bad - but the low budget was well used, the production looks decent enough and Angie, Tom Skerritt and Bill Shatner all contribute solid perfs with little help from a largely illiterate script.
Angie looks good and seems to be enjoying herself in a rare bad girl role, and there are enough car chases and shoot-outs to keep the viewer from falling asleep, but don't look for too much in the way of originality here..
Depression-era Texas widow with two sex-happy daughters plans to rob and swindle her way to California, picking up a two-bit gangster and a penniless con-man on the journey west.
Some of the hillbilly dialogue, as well as an early sequence where Mama tries door-to-door moonshining, is very funny (perhaps due to the script contributions of the estimable William Norton); otherwise, there isn't much to this narrative apart from the embarrassing overtures to "Bonnie & Clyde" and Angie Dickinson's intermittent nude scenes.
I met director Steve Carver when he came to town to shoot "Lone Wolf McQuade," and I'm something of a fan, but even with screenwriter Bill Norton aboard, this lacks the wit and cool characters that enliven his Chuck Norris movies or even "Steel." Dialog is particularly lacking, in some scenes even leaving Tom Skerritt with nothing to do but mutter incoherently, or a game Shatner mugging as if he's about to say something but either gets cut off or thinks better of it.
The two actors do their best, Skerritt all steely-eyed intensity and Shatner oozing lily-livered Southern charm, as do Royal Dano as a flustered preacher and a shockingly young-looking Noble Willingham as a lecherous bootlegging "uncle." As for the actresses, they certainly deliver the goods, and frequently, especially Angie Dickinson.
Along the way, much blood, clothing and inhibitions will be shed.Considering the budget and shooting time, the action is boisterous enough but haphazard and disjointed, with a lot of repetitive car chases featuring Dick Miller and a sidekick (representing the entirety of the FBI) in hot pursuit, miraculously always one step behind our anti-heroine and her mob.
Even if you know that the Hollywood hills don't actually look a lot like East Texas (the geography of where our characters are supposed to be at any moment in the plot isn't always made abundantly clear), the small-town locations and antique cars do an impressive job of keeping the movie in its Depression-era period.Look quickly for second-unit director Paul Bartel as a party guest, following in the footsteps of Francis Coppola in "The Young Racers.".
Trashy Fun. Wilma McClatchie (Angie Dickinson) wants more for her two daughters than depression era Texas can provide.
Angie Dickinson, William Shatner, Tom Skerritt, and Dick Miller are wonderfully cast.
Good, sexy, trashy 30's Depression-era set 70's drive-in exploitation fun.
Tough and gutsy Texas widow Wilma McClatchie (a splendidly brassy'n'sassy Angie Dickinson, looking mighty fine in her early 40's and frequently out of her wardrobe) and her two equally feisty hottie daughters -- the sexually precocious Billie Jean (adorable blonde sprite Susan Sennett of "The Candy Snatchers") and dim-witted Polly (pretty brunette cutie Robbie Lee of "Switchblade Sisters") -- embark on a wild'n'rowdy crime spree in 30's Depression-era America in order to escape hard times.
Directed with tremendously rambunctious gusto by Steve ("An Eye for An Eye") Carver, jam-packed with a pleasing plenitude of car chases, shoot outs, cuss words and tasty gratuitous nudity (even Sally Kirkland as a local harlot and Joan Prather as a snotty heiress the gang abducts doff their duds and bare their beautiful bodies), further enlivened by a ceaseless forward-ho quick pace, a rousing hillbilly bluegrass score by David Grisman, a cheerfully irreverent tone, and nifty supporting turns by Royal Dano as a profanity-spewing preacher and the always terrific Dick Miller as huffy fed Bonney (a sly homage to "Bonnie and Clyde," methinks), "Big Bad Mama" supplies a handy helping of joyous down-home trashy entertainment that's a true treat to watch..
BIG BAD MAMA is an outrageously cheesy 1930s-era crime comedy from producer Roger Corman; think of it as an over-the-top riff on BONNIE & CLYDE and you'll be right.
Other notable additions to the cast include Dick Miller as a dedicated lawman, Tom Skerritt as a wildman, and the great William Shatner as a shady character who falls in with the outlaws.
The film is very much an exploitation picture, with a simple plot, lots of action and movement, and plenty of nudity from the female cast members.
"Wilma McClatchie" (Angie Dickinson) is a single parent trying to raise two teenage daughters named "Billy Jean" (Susan Sennett) and "Polly" (Robbie Lee) during the Great Depression.
One thing leads to another and soon Wilma, her daughters and two men, "Fred Diller" (Tom Skerritt) and "William J.
Anyway, I liked the performances of Angie Dickinson, William Shatner and Tom Skerritt but I thought the nudity and sex were a bit too plentiful and were more raunchy than actually sexy.
The film is about 'Mama' (Angie Dickenson) and her two rotten daughters.
And yet, despite being trashy and wicked to the bone, Mama declares that they are a nice family and refers to her white-trash daughters as "my little girls"--even when they strip in public or sleep around with practically anyone or anything.
In a genuinely funny scene (one of the few in the film), during their first robbery, another gang also tries to rob the bank at the same time!
Just a bit later, Mama meets up with William Shatner--and almost immediately jumps into the sack with him.
Despite also living during the 1930s, this WON'T be mistaken for "The Waltons"!In addition to this sick group are two Federal agents--one of which is a perennial actor in Corman films, Dick Miller ("Bucket of Blood" and "Little Shop of Horrors").
It is especially recommended for people who consider "The Dukes of Hazard" and "Jackass" and "Flesh Gordon" to be fine family entertainment.So, despite being 100% trashy, is the film worth seeing?
You KNOW this is so when William Shatner's performance is the most subtle and understated in the entire film!!
I had rented two films, both from the seventies, one a big budget comedy and then this low budget Corman show.
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.
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.
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.
Sennett and Lee are terrible actors, Shatner and Skerritt are OK but Dickinson is great.
I have always accepted the latter position, so after re-watching Big Bad Mama I am happy to report that, although it is a movie in rank bad taste which deserves only a low IMDb rating, it provides a hilarious and very enjoyable viewing experience.
I am now on the lookout for its successor "Big Bad Mama 2 " which I have never seen.Its failures are largely in content, it makes fun of every serious concern it can look at during a relatively short running time of just over 80 min (ideal for cramming onto an 80 min VCD disk).
This film earns one star for excellent photography, including some extremely enjoyable shots of many delightful 1930 era vehicles, another for Roger Corman's usual impeccable direction - it is incredible how many different genres of film he has made that deserve this comment, and a third for its very acceptable acting - far above what I remember as the standard I used to expect from B movies, especially those seen in Drive-in theatres.