Crazy Mama | |
---|---|
Directed by | Jonathan Demme |
Screenplay by | Robert Thom |
Story by | Frances Doel |
Produced by | Julie Corman |
Starring | Cloris Leachman Stuart Whitman Ann Sothern Linda Purl Jim Backus Donny Most |
Cinematography | Bruce Logan |
Edited by | Allan Holzman Lewis Teague |
Music by | Snotty Scotty and The Hankies |
Distributed by | New World Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 83 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $2.3 million [1] |
Box office | $2.3 million (United States and Canada rental) [2] [3] |
Crazy Mama is a 1975 American action comedy film, directed by Jonathan Demme, produced by Julie Corman and starring Cloris Leachman. It marked the film debuts of Bill Paxton and Dennis Quaid.
The film focuses on a beauty parlor owner and her family, who lose their belongings to repossession. The trio of women soon start a crime spree. Their confrontation with law enforcement officers ends in a shootout.
In 1958 Long Beach, California, Melba Stokes is a beauty salon owner, living with her mother Sheba and daughter Cheryl. They flee when landlord Mr. Albertson comes to demand the back rent and repossess their belongings.
On the road, heading back to Arkansas to reclaim the family farm, the Stokes women begin a crime spree. They rob a gas station first, then head for Las Vegas. In pursuit of pregnant Cheryl is her boyfriend, Shawn, while Melba meets up with a runaway Texas sheriff, Jim Bob Trotter. Further battles with the law along the way eventually lead to a shootout in which Jim Bob and others are killed. Melba is left alone, on the lam, but begins life again in a new town with a new look.
Roger Corman had enjoyed success making films about female gangsters with Bloody Mama and Big Bad Mama and wanted another one. The film was announced as Big Bad Mama II, then The American Dream before ultimately being known as Crazy Mama. [1]
The original director was Shirley Clarke but she was fired ten days prior to filming. Roger Corman had presold the film to exhibitors and the cast and start date was set. He called in Jonathan Demme, who had made Caged Heat for Corman and was also preparing Fighting Mad for him, and offered Demme the job of directing. [4] Demme refused but Corman told him he had to if he wanted to make Fighting Mad. Demme agreed if his wife could direct second unit.
Demme said he told Corman, "I want to help you out, but I know this is going to end poorly... you can't jump in this fast on a movie, make it in three weeks, and then have two weeks for the editing, mix it in one day and hope for a good picture. It's going to be a mess, you're going to perceive it as a mess, you're going to get mad at me." But Corman insisted they proceed. [5]
Demme said "all the actors hated the script - with good reason: it was lousy. It had a couple of good scenes in it, but it left a lot to be desired. It was one of those awful situations where you're trying to write it while you're shooting it. It also got shot too fast." [5]
Demme did make some changes to the script. In the original draft the movie ended with all the leads being killed. Demme did not like that so he changed it so that everyone escaped, except for the character played by Ann Sothern as Demme disliked Sothern. Corman disliked this change, feeling that there was no ending. Demme then shot an alternative ending with the family running a burger stand in Miami in 1959. [1]
Producer Julie Corman gave birth to her first child during production. Demme recalled " We were shooting a big gunfight/car crash scene and we had an ambulance standing by, and Julie went into labor. And our ambulance left with the producer being rushed to hospital to give birth.” [4]
Bill Paxton was a set dresser on the film and had his first speaking role in the movie. [4]
Demme later said "Roger was furious at me" for changing the ending. "He thought I had totally ruined the movie, that this would be the first Mama film to lose money because it hadn't delivered all the elements. He was right, incidentally, it was the first to not make money, and he cancelled Fighting Mad." [6] Demme protested this saying it was unfair since he had warned Corman that. Crazy Mama "might end in tears." Corman agreed and made Fighting Mad." [4]
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 92% of 12 reviews are positive, and the average rating is 6.5/10. [7]
On December 17, 2010, Shout! Factory released the title on DVD, packaged as a double feature with The Lady In Red , as part of the Roger Corman Cult Classics collection. [8]
Robert Jonathan Demme was an American filmmaker, whose career directing, producing, and screenwriting spanned more than 30 years and 70 feature films, documentaries, and television productions. He was an Academy Award and a Directors Guild of America Award winner, and received nominations for a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, and three Independent Spirit Awards.
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.
Cloris Leachman was an American actress and comedienne whose career spanned nearly eight decades. She won many accolades, including eight Primetime Emmy Awards from 22 nominations, making her the most nominated and, along with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, most awarded performer in Emmy history. Leachman also won an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and a Golden Globe Award. In her early career, she was known for her versatility. Another unique trait of Leachman's acting style was her distinctive physicality, where she used props to accentuate and express her roles' characterizations.
Boxcar Bertha is a 1972 American romantic crime drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and produced by Roger Corman, from a screenplay by Joyce H. Corrington and John William Corrington. Made on a low budget, the film is a loose adaptation of Sister of the Road, a pseudo-autobiographical account of the fictional character Bertha Thompson. It was Scorsese's second feature film.
Now and Then is a 1995 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by Lesli Linka Glatter and written by I. Marlene King. The film stars Christina Ricci, Thora Birch, Gaby Hoffmann, Ashleigh Aston Moore, Melanie Griffith, Demi Moore, Rosie O'Donnell, and Rita Wilson. Its plot follows four women who recount a pivotal summer they shared together as adolescents in 1970.
Caged Heat is a 1974 women in prison film. It was written and directed by Jonathan Demme for New World Pictures, headed by Roger Corman. The film stars Juanita Brown, Roberta Collins, Erica Gavin, Ella Reid, Rainbeaux Smith, and Barbara Steele. John Cale wrote and performed its soundtrack music, which features the guitar playing of Mike Bloomfield.
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, and her two daughters, Polly and Billie Jean, 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 and was followed by a sequel, Big Bad Mama II, in 1987.
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.
The Wasp Woman is a 1959 American independent science-fiction horror film produced and directed by Roger Corman. Filmed in black-and-white, it stars Susan Cabot, Anthony Eisley, Michael Mark, and Barboura Morris. The film was originally released by Filmgroup as a double feature with Beast from Haunted Cave. To pad out the film's running time when it was released to television two years later, a new prologue was added by director Jack Hill.
It Happened One Christmas is a 1977 American made-for-television Christmas fantasy-comedy-drama film directed by Donald Wrye, starring Marlo Thomas, Wayne Rogers, Orson Welles, and Cloris Leachman. It originally premiered as The ABC Sunday Night Movie on December 11, 1977.
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.
Fighting Mad is a 1976 American action film directed by Jonathan Demme, about an Arkansas farmer played by Peter Fonda who uses Guerrilla tactics against corrupt land developers attempting to evict his family and his neighbors in order to stripmine their land.
George Englund was an American film editor, director, producer, and actor.
How to Save a Marriage and Ruin Your Life is a 1968 American comedy romance film directed by Fielder Cook. It stars Dean Martin, Stella Stevens and husband and wife Eli Wallach and Anne Jackson.
Julie Ann Corman is an American film producer. She is the widow of film producer and director Roger Corman.
The Wasp Woman is a 1995 television body horror film directed by Jim Wynorski and starring Jennifer Rubin, and Doug Wert. It is a remake of the 1959 film of the same name, which was produced and directed by Roger Corman. The film first aired on the Showtime Network in 1995.
Angels Hard as They Come is a 1971 biker film directed by Joe Viola and starring Scott Glenn, Charles Dierkop, Gilda Texter, James Iglehart, and Gary Busey. It was co-written and produced by Jonathan Demme.
Screwballs is a 1983 Canadian teen sex comedy film that was inspired by the success of Porky's.
Joseph Andrew Viola was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer.
Big Bad Mama II is a 1987 American action–crime–sexploitation comedy film produced by Roger Corman, directed by Jim Wynorski, starring Angie Dickinson, Robert Culp, Danielle Brisebois and Julie McCullough. While it has been identified as a sequel to Big Bad Mama (1974), it is more accurately described as a reboot, as the film exists on a parallel plane with its predecessor.