This article is missing information about the film's reception.(June 2015) |
Big Bad Mama | |
---|---|
Directed by | Steve Carver |
Written by | William Norton Frances Doel |
Produced by | Roger Corman |
Starring | Angie Dickinson William Shatner Tom Skerritt Susan Sennett Robbie Lee |
Cinematography | Bruce Logan |
Edited by | Tina Hirsch |
Music by | David Grisman |
Distributed by | New World Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 83 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $400,000 [1] or $750,000 [2] |
Box office | $4 million [3] |
Big Bad Mama is a 1974 American action-crime-sexploitation comedy movie produced by Roger Corman, starring Angie Dickinson, William Shatner, and Tom Skerritt, with Susan Sennett and Robbie Lee. This movie is about a mother, Wilma (played by Dickinson), and her two daughters, Polly (Robbie Lee) and Billie Jean (Susan Sennett), who go on a crime spree. After the mother unexpectedly falls in love with a bank robber it all ends, with tragic consequences. Big Bad Mama became a cult hit [4] and was followed by a sequel, Big Bad Mama II , in 1987.
In Texas in 1932, after stopping her youngest daughter's wedding, Wilma McClatchie 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 and his gang. In the melee, Wilma and her daughters, Polly and Billie Jean, 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 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 Billie Jean escape with the suitcase full of money, and Diller stays behind, providing cover with his Tommy gun, which he uses to kill the handcuffed Baxter, who had been working as an informant with the agents. 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.
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The film is a loose follow-up to 1970's Bloody Mama , which starred Shelley Winters in the title role. That film was produced and directed by Roger Corman, who produced Big Bad Mama. Big Bad Mama is not a sequel (as Mama died in the original) or a remake. However, the core themes of a criminally active mother who shoots a tommy gun, has a strong sexual appetite, and is questioningly close to her grown children - two young ladies in this film, four adult men in the previous one - are repeated.
The film features a number of nude scenes by the three principal actresses, several of which are with the two principal actors. 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. [5]
Much of the bluegrass music for this film was written by David Grisman. It was played by the Great American Music Band, and recorded and mixed by Bill Wolf. [6]
On December 7, 2010, Shout! Factory released the title on DVD, packaged as a double feature with Big Bad Mama II as part of the Roger Corman's Cult Classics collection. [7]
On March 30, 2016, Shout! Factory released Big Bad Mama on Blu-ray as a solo release. This Blu-ray is a BD/MOD (Blu-ray disc, manufactured on demand) release. It was announced on the Home Theater Forum, UHD Blu-ray/Blu-ray Forum. [8]
Roger William Corman was an American film director, producer, and actor. Known under various monikers such as "The Pope of Pop Cinema", "The Spiritual Godfather of the New Hollywood", and "The King of Cult", he was known as a trailblazer in the world of independent film.
Angie Dickinson is an American retired actress. She began her career on television, appearing in many anthology series during the 1950s, before gaining her breakthrough role in Gun the Man Down (1956) with James Arness and the Western film Rio Bravo (1959) with John Wayne and Dean Martin, for which she received the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year.
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Bloody Mama is a 1970 American exploitation crime film directed by Roger Corman, and starring Shelley Winters in the title role, with Bruce Dern, Don Stroud, Robert Walden, Alex Nicol and Robert De Niro in supporting roles. It was very loosely based on the real story of Ma Barker, who is depicted as a corrupt, mentally-disturbed mother who encourages and organizes the criminality of her four adult sons in Depression-era southern United States.
Hollywood Boulevard is a 1976 American satirical exploitation film directed by Allan Arkush and Joe Dante, and starring Candice Rialson, Paul Bartel, and Mary Woronov. It follows an aspiring actress who has just arrived in Los Angeles, only to be hired by a reckless B movie film studio where she bears witness to a series of gruesome and fatal on-set accidents. The film blends elements of the comedy, thriller, and slasher film genres.
Visiting Hours is a 1982 Canadian psychological slasher film directed by Jean-Claude Lord and starring Lee Grant, Michael Ironside, Linda Purl, William Shatner and Lenore Zann. The plot focuses on a feminist journalist who becomes the target of a serial killer, who follows her to the hospital after attacking her in her home.
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The Lady in Red is a 1979 American crime drama film directed by Lewis Teague and starring Pamela Sue Martin and Robert Conrad. It is an early writing effort of John Sayles who became better known as a director in the 1980s and 1990s.
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Steve Carver was an American film director, producer, and photographer.
William Wallace "Bill" Norton, Jr. was an American screenwriter particularly notable for his collaborations with Burt Reynolds Later in life, he was convicted of gun running in France when he tried to send arms from the United States to the Irish National Liberation Army in Northern Ireland. After being released from prison, he moved to Nicaragua, where he shot and killed an intruder in his Managua home. He later spent a year living in Cuba but became disillusioned with Communism and was reportedly smuggled from Mexico into the U.S. by his ex-wife.
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