Super Nanas

This movie is definitely one of the standouts when discussing 70s sexploitation...a very entertaining 30s rural gangster film; sex and violence at its best. Accept the film as trashy fun and you'll be fine.

This is one of those films, where you kick yourself for listening to critics who, at the time, trashed this film. 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. I've no illusions that his fans will suggest otherwise however this is a film that grabs you by the lapels, if one has lapels that is, and doesn't let go! 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. As someone who is NOT a Tom Skerrit fan I've got to admit he was the standout actor in this, (I refuse to refer to actresses as 'actors', he really is a talented man. 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. She singlehandedly transcends the material and thereby lifts BBM out of "trash" into a slam-bang adventure/crime/sex romp that is stunning. The supporting cast is excellent, however outside of 'Succubus' I've not quite gotten the appeal of William Shatner, at least in any serious sense. 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! Did I mention Wow?

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. Yes, it's definitely trashy. Angie gets naked - I mean really naked - and she's not the only one. Also there's lots of guns being fired and whatnot, but you probably won't notice them too much. Captain Kirk and the guy from Picket Fences appear as sometime lovers of Ms. Dickinson, but it's at its core just a simple tale of a mama and her two daughters, trying to make their way in this crazy world.

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. It's a quickie Bonnie and Clyde wannabe on a much lower budget and a much shorter shooting schedule. 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.

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. Of course, those expecting CITIZEN KANE are going to be disappointed but to this day I can't see why certain film buffs go into every movie expecting a masterpiece. Some movies need to win Oscars and others like this one just need to be entertaining. 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. I'm sure most of her fans will be downright shocked to see her appearing in several sex scenes and she's nude for three different scenes including one full frontal. In interviews she has said that she wanted to show off her body and it's easy to see why. Dickinson is so good in the role that you can't help but love her character and the toughness she brings to it. Both Sennett and Lee are good looking in their parts. 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. Considering how low of a budget this movie had it's rather shocking to see how good the costumes are and the period detail is really terrific because you feel as if it's really the 1930s. Director Carver does a very good job at keeping everything going at a nice pace as the 82-minute running time goes by without a problem. 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.