La famiglia assassina di Mà Barker

Saw this free on youtube... This movie was hilarious. Imdb says Made in Sherman Oaks...CA (I need to watch it again since I live in Sherman Oaks.) I loved it.

It has surprise after surprise...I don't care if it's real history. Neither would Tarantino.

Look at those 1930's cars......real classics. Also has a great song performed...pure camp genius and fast pace.

A major disappointment. As the apocryphal prize-winning cook and master criminal, Laurene Tuttle (who later the same year had a hilarious cameo as Sheriff Chambers' wife in 'Psycho') could really have shone as Ma Barker if she'd been backed by a halfway decent script & production; but this drab-looking quickie bogs down in endless talk and poorly executed action.

The high spot is probably the eye-watering scene in which Byron Foulger plays a plastic surgeon too drunk to properly handle a scalpel.

Supposedly based upon the life of Ozark matriarch Ma Barker and her four felonious public enemy sons, this meanly made low budget example of drive-in movie schlock actually treats several incidents in the real-life career of the notorious Barker/Karpis Gang which was very active during 1931/35 from the Midwest into Southeast U.S., but so contorts the truth in order to create a lurid melodrama that a viewer is alienated from the proceedings, especially in light of obvious cut-rate production values. Al Karpis was the confirmed master hand behind the Gang's string of sinful successes whereas the factual Ma Barker, although enjoying holding open house for various fugitives, only travelled with her family and was patently incapable of organizing more than luncheons, whereas in this poorly scripted travesty Lurene Tuttle as a tommygun wielding sadistic sociopath performs a raft of maniacal actions, including running over a policeman twice, all while planning the Gang's adventures and serving up heist advice to respectful triggermen such as John Dillinger, Machine Gun Kelly and Baby Face Nelson.

The Truth of Ma Barker's Intellect for Planning Crimes and Her Overall Involvement with Important Procedures of the Always Expanding Depression Era Gang where the "Family" were Members has been Debatable from the Outset.

She and Her Brood's Persona was Allegedly Fabricated by J. Edgar and His Gang at the F. B. I to Demystify the "Mother" Angle and make a "Pistol Packin' Mama" the Lurid Headline that Stuck.

Disputed by "Brainiac" Alvin Karpis, also Considered a Leader Among the "Gangland" of His Era, in Interviews.

He and other Members of the Organized Crime Group who were "In the Know" say the "Ma" had Trouble "Organizing Breakfast", let alone, Planning a Heist.

This Movie's Entertainment Value is High with Lurene Tuttle Giving a Compelling and Forceful Performance and along with some Heightened Violent Displays for its Era make this an Underrated, Engaging "Peek-In" on one of Headliners.

She, like No Other Mobster of Infamy, had that "Mother Angle", an Irresistible Story Component Slant from the Media, that Sells the Stuff of Legend to a Willing and Gullible Public.

This Film is a Mixture of Many of the "Myths" about Ma but also gets a Lot of Things Right. Like Her Ending in a Shootout with the Feds Along-Side Her Youngest and Favorite Fred Barker.

This is a Good Gangster Exploitation of the Popular and Colorful Radio and Newspaper Blitz that made House-Hold Names of Ma Barker and Her Ilk.

This film is a fairly inaccurate representation of Ma Barker, but is great fun with some very strange scenes. The slapping of the one son is a crack-up. Lurene Tuttle (Sheriff Chambers' sweet wife in PSYCHO) is incredibly vicious and driven as the matriarch of this ignorant brood of miscreants.

A 5 out of 10. Best performance = Lurene Tuttle. A lot of these cheapo exploitation flicks of the 50's and 60's are loaded with strange performances and interesting cinematography. This is available on cheap DVD and well worth a look. I waited years to find this one. Give it a shot!