I remember reading about Big Bad Mama in one of those "magazines" in my father's grocery store when I was a kid. There was an article showcasing some explicit scenes featuring Angie Dickinson and William Shatner that didn't appear in the final cut. It took many more years before I actually saw the film.
This is your typical drive-in movie from the 1970s; I probably saw it for the first time on the old Drive-In Classics channel here in Canada. It's pretty much a clone of Arthur Penn and Warren Beatty's classic Bonnie & Clyde but instead of 4 future Oscar winners, a great script and multi-faceted characters we get nudity, one-dimensional characters and insipid dialogue. However, much like The Asylum in the present day you can't help but admire what Roger Corman was doing in his day. He wasn't trying to win Oscars or impress critics. He was giving his loyal fanbase what they wanted.
Wilma McClatchie (Angie Dickinson) and her two very, very nubile daughters Billy Jean (Susan Sennett) and Polly (Robbie Lee) go from East Texas to California robbing banks and causing mayhem. They are joined by Fred Diller (Tom Skerritt), a fellow bank robber who was trying to rob the same establishment as the ladies and William J. Baxter (William Shatner), a dishonest gambler. Their goal is to make a million dollars and never have to deal with being poor again.
Dickinson portrays Wilma as a devoted mother who only wants the best for her two daughters but doesn't seem to care that they're out of control. She is pretty stoic at all times. Billy Jean and Polly are two fey party girls just looking to booze, smoke and get it on. They are constantly on a caffeine high. Diller is a weak-minded man who does Wilma's bidding without question and later gets Polly pregnant. Poor Shatner is relegated to playing some huckster that the film could have done without. He's high-maintenance and feels like he got himself into something he didn't want to be a part of.
Lots of skin and debauchery to be found here as Dickinson, Sennett and Lee certainly were not shy about shedding their clothes. It's also a violent film but the shootouts are seemingly more comical slapstick than, say, what you would see in The Wild Bunch.
In the end, it's another fun and raunchy Corman production for those who just want to see a quick and violent flicker that isn't afraid of the censors. If you're looking for pedal-to-the-metal sex and violence, Big Bad Mama delivers.
This is your typical drive-in movie from the 1970s; I probably saw it for the first time on the old Drive-In Classics channel here in Canada. It's pretty much a clone of Arthur Penn and Warren Beatty's classic Bonnie & Clyde but instead of 4 future Oscar winners, a great script and multi-faceted characters we get nudity, one-dimensional characters and insipid dialogue. However, much like The Asylum in the present day you can't help but admire what Roger Corman was doing in his day. He wasn't trying to win Oscars or impress critics. He was giving his loyal fanbase what they wanted.
Wilma McClatchie (Angie Dickinson) and her two very, very nubile daughters Billy Jean (Susan Sennett) and Polly (Robbie Lee) go from East Texas to California robbing banks and causing mayhem. They are joined by Fred Diller (Tom Skerritt), a fellow bank robber who was trying to rob the same establishment as the ladies and William J. Baxter (William Shatner), a dishonest gambler. Their goal is to make a million dollars and never have to deal with being poor again.
Dickinson portrays Wilma as a devoted mother who only wants the best for her two daughters but doesn't seem to care that they're out of control. She is pretty stoic at all times. Billy Jean and Polly are two fey party girls just looking to booze, smoke and get it on. They are constantly on a caffeine high. Diller is a weak-minded man who does Wilma's bidding without question and later gets Polly pregnant. Poor Shatner is relegated to playing some huckster that the film could have done without. He's high-maintenance and feels like he got himself into something he didn't want to be a part of.
Lots of skin and debauchery to be found here as Dickinson, Sennett and Lee certainly were not shy about shedding their clothes. It's also a violent film but the shootouts are seemingly more comical slapstick than, say, what you would see in The Wild Bunch.
In the end, it's another fun and raunchy Corman production for those who just want to see a quick and violent flicker that isn't afraid of the censors. If you're looking for pedal-to-the-metal sex and violence, Big Bad Mama delivers.