Bloody Mama

My personal first acquaintance with the legendary Barker family wasn't via old newspapers, Wikipedia or this infamous B-movie. I learned about this delightful family via the lyrics of an ultra-cheesy (but catchy) disco/pop song by a band called "Boney M". I believe they were originally from Germany, so I haven't got the slightest idea if their songs are also known outside of Europe. Either way, it's fun, so you should look it up on YouTube. The song is called "Ma Baker" instead of "Ma Barker", for the simple reason that it fit the lyrics better.

This film (as well as the song, in fact) perfectly illustrate just how powerful urban myths and folklore tales can be. Allegedly the real Kate Barker wasn't a criminal mastermind at all. She wasn't even a petty thief, but merely a docile mother who got dragged along to various crime scenes by her four gangster sons as cover. And yet, immediately after her death, Kate Barker got bombarded - by J. Edgar Hoover - as the most vicious criminal brain of the decade, and she became an infamous legend.

The "Public Enemy" era of the 1930's also happens to be one of the favorite topics of the legendary producer/director Roger Corman to make violent movies about. After his admirable efforts "Machine Gun Kelly" and "The St Valentine's Day Massacre", the fictional albeit juicy saga of Kate Barker and her brood formed the ideal subject matter for a splendid exploitation shocker! "Bloody Mama" is deliciously grotesque and trashy good fun; - no more and no less. As if the story wasn't over-the-top enough already, Corman shamelessly adds extreme bits of gratuitous violence and a variety of taboo subjects, like incest, animal slaughter and harsh criticism against contemporary society. Half a century later, the film looks badly dated, but it's still fascinating to observe the borderline-neurotic performance of Shelley Winters as Ma Barker and the young Robert De Niro as the wildly glue-sniffing son Lloyd ("You sure act funny when you're building them model planes, Lloyd").

I can't believe there is only ONE comment on this classic piece of Roger Corman trash! Corman is known as the King of the Quickies, which gives many people who aren't all that familiar with his work the impression is that all he made was "bad" movies that can only be enjoyed on a camp level. This is not true, and 'Bloody Mama' proves it! Sure it's an exploitation movie, but exploitation doesn't necessarily equate with worthless trash, as the movies of Russ Meyer or Larry Cohen or Sam Fuller show.

'Bloody Mama' tells the story of Ma Barker and her sons, infamous criminals during the Depression. Exactly how much of this movie is historically accurate I don't know, and it doesn't really matter. This is a non-stop action ride, low budget yes, but full of energy, clever touches, and generally strongly acted by the cast, which includes - get this! - cult favourites Don Stroud and Bruce Dern AND a scene stealing performance from a young Robert De Niro. If the thought of those three absurdly talented actors appearing in the same movie isn't enough to get you running to your local video store, then you're beyond help!

Add to that the familiar character actors Pat Hingle, Scatman Crothers and the appearance of Diane Varsi from the legendary 'Wild In The Streets', and b-grade film buffs will be ecstatic. Last but certainly not least, Shelley Winters in the title role is outstanding. She has had a long and varied career, but she always gives her best whether she is in a- or b-grade material, a star vehicle, supporting role or a cameo. More power to her!

'Bloody Mama' is a movie to be treasured! Trash with intelligence. Don't miss it!

Some movies romanticize the life of crime, or make the criminals into sympathetic characters, but Roger Corman's "Bloody Mama" goes in the opposite direction with its depiction of the Barker crime family of the 30's and their ruthless murders, sadism, incest, drug addiction, and insanity. It's a morbidly colorful mixture of negative southern poor white trash stereotypes, encapsulated in a family of sociopaths, with a vintage Shelly Winters bringing her trademark intensity to the role of Ma Barker and a great cast as her sons and their associates, including Don Stroud, Robert Walden, Bruce Dern, Diane Varsi, and Robert DeNiro. A mishmash of humor and repugnancy, it's definitely not for the squeamish.

This is an amazing film for 1970, and a good film to watch by itself today. A true gangster story, with no romantics at all. Evil people do evil things, they just do them because they are stupid and degenerated. No social comment is being made, and this is actually the best decision the script writer and the director could make. Only a completly social careless society can let such people 'enjoy the freedom', with the execution squad being the only 'educational tool' it knows. The viewer gets it by itself. The mix of documentary with the true story is discrete and smart. I liked the movie, and gave it 8/10 on my personal scale.

This film is Roger Corman and Sam Arkoff's answer to "Bonnie and Clyde". But not only did they take the theme of Depression-era gangsters, they also borrowed the idea of completely eradicating the facts. I would be hard-pressed to name one thing in this film that was based a real event.

That being said, it has some historical merit. Shelley Winters gives a good performance, and has said she was proud of the film (which she oddly enough promoted as a film denouncing violence, despite its clearly violent nature). She even allegedly took a punch to the face, resulting in a nose injury bad enough to get X-rays.

Bruce Dern and Robert DeNiro give some of the earliest performances of their careers, and any DeNiro fan who has not seen him in this is really missing out on his humble beginnings. These days, he is past his prime, making cheesy comedies. But have you seen him before his prime?

Perhaps most interesting, this was the big-screen debut of cinematographer John A. Alonzo. While he may not be well-known, he did go on to film "Harold and Maude", "Chinatown" and "Scarface" and snagged an Oscar nomination. Not bad for a graduate of the Corman School.