F.B.I. e la banda degli angeli

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.

Angie Dickinson stars in the title role as tough, but sexy matriarch, Wilma McClatchie, attempting to keep her family together during the Depression. After a shoot-out with the cops, Wilma's world is turned upside down by the death of her lover Barney (Noble Willingham). She initially tries to continue with Barney's bootlegging business with the help of her uncontrollable daughters Billy Jean (Susan Sennett) and Polly (Robbie Lee of 'Switchblade Sisters' fame). Things don't work out and they have to hit the road, all the while being pursued by tenacious lawman Bonney (B-grade legend and Roger Corman favourite Dick Miller).

A chance encounter with a bank robber, Diller (Tom Skerritt), causes a career rethink, and when the fugitives meet charming con man Baxter (William Shatner), the gang is complete. Will they find true love and happiness and a new life in California? Will they meet their end via the deadly force of Dick Miller and company? Will they all screw each other and say "hot damn!" a lot to the accompaniment of banjo music? Watch this Roger Corman produced campy trash and find out.

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.

Imagine Bonnie and Clyde without Clyde and with more of a trashy B-movie style to it, and you've got an idea of what Big Bad Mama is like. With Roger Corman on producing duty, you've to expect some silly trashy fun, and this film delivers that in droves as it's clear that nobody cared about making a credible film, which is usually good news for entertainment value. Angie Dickinson takes the lead role and makes good of it, as she carries the film with her engaging and enthusiastic performance. The film focuses on Dickinson's character Wilma, who decides to go into bootlegging when her lover is killed. Along with her two daughters, Wilma travels across the country and eventually meets a bank robber named Fred, and the pair decides to put their relative talents to good use in order to 'earn' themselves some money. The support cast is good, with the likes of William Shatner, Dick Miller and Tom Skerritt being put to good use, while lesser known performers such as Robbie Lee and Susan Sennett also giving entertaining turns. The reason this film works so well is undoubtedly down to director Steve Carver's focus on entertaining his audience. This does leave it feeling more than a little bit empty, but in a film where bank robberies, sex scenes, car chases and more feature heavily, this isn't a big problem. Overall, if you fancy a fun filled eighty minutes or so - you could certainly do a lot worse than this little flick!