Mama's Dirty Girls

A family of gold diggers. What a way to go. A woman named Mama and her 3 daughters, finds a man with money, have him killed, and get the money in the process. From the last killing, she finds out that the man was a renter, not a owner. The only thing that he owns was the car. So the family goes out and find a widower who owns a motel. A perfect catch. Or is it? It turned out that the widower is a lot more sinister than Mama! His last wife died at his hands. It looks like that they need to be more crafty than him.

This movie has lead to other films years later. I liked it very much. It's a starter.

2 out of 5 stars.

Mama's Dirty Girls is a gritty little seventies thriller, which reminded me a lot of 1974's other mother and daughter seducing men flick, Big Bad Mama; only with less humour. Typically, the production values are not very good and the film doesn't have a great deal of credibility when judged against serious films. However, like many seventies thrillers; Mama's Dirty Girls makes for a fun watch and while things like the acting aren't up to much; it's not important as nobody goes into a film like this expecting great acting and there's more than enough in the way of sleaze and nudity to make up for it. The plot focuses on 'Mama' and her three daughters. Mama marries men with money and then sets up situations that end with their death, leaving her to inherit the fortune. Naturally, she decides to teach her daughters to do the same thing and the four of them move to a new town. There, Mama meets Harold; a rich man whose wife died under questionable circumstances. Mama marries him, but he doesn't play along with her plans for him to go the same way as her previous husbands.

The film begins with a scenario in which Mama's current husband plays away with one of the daughters and ends up "committing suicide". It's not great or all that well put together, but it sets the film up nicely; and actually ends up being one of the best parts. While the film is mostly fun throughout, there are times when the plot isn't entirely interesting and this does bring the whole piece down a bit. At just eighty minutes, Mama's Dirty Girls doesn't really have time to get too boring, however, and I'm sure most viewers won't have much of a problem with the 'downtime'. The girls don't particularly impress with their performances, but they do well in other ways. The film features a fair bit of nudity, which is always welcome in films like this (and, films not like this) and the girls look nice too, which is a bonus. There's a fair bit of violence too; though nothing too shocking. It all boils down to a suitably downbeat conclusion which sees the lead characters pretty much get what they deserve! Overall, this is a decent slice of seventies trash and fans of such films could do a lot worse!

Mama's Dirty Girls is a grimy, murder melodrama about a despicable woman (Gloria Grahame!) and her three sexy daughters whom she uses to seduce and manipulate men for money. It doesn't offer much in the way of performances. The actors often look like they wish they were elsewhere. The story though has some interesting twists and the fact that there isn't really anyone to root for makes the film fun in a sleazy, low class kind of way. It has an early 70s, soap-opera-ish pace to it but it's OK to watch if you have nothing better to do.

Ahaa, the perfect example of exploitation. This flick is still unreleased on VHS or DVD, you will have to catch yourself a rental VHS only available in the US. That's weird because some famous people are involved in it. The first shot you see is nudity from Candice Rialson, famous from 'Pets' another exploitation from 1974. She surely is know for her exploitation appearances and for her beauty. She sadly died in 2006 of a liver disease. Gloria Grahame, is another famous name and past away in 1981 from cancer. Her last flick being a horror, The Nesting (1984). the story line is very simple and sometimes it keeps you wondering how stupid some things are. But it's exploitation in its purest way, nudity and a lot of it, car chasing, teasing, seduction. It's low on blood, but is still watchable. If you're into 42nd sleaze, buy it.

If this film had been directed by Russ Meyer it would have been so much better. The gals sure look good and the guys are either dumb or studs (or both) and Meyer's cartoon style of film making would have turned this threadbare romp into good fun. Oh well, one can't have everything and we do have down on her luck Hollywood old-timer Gloria Grahame in good form as the feisty 'Mama' looking for gullible men to marry so she can bump them off for their money. When she is not on screen however, boredom stretches to the horizon and you may want to read a newspaper or find something else to do until she returns.