Big Bad Mama - Special Edition
by Steve Carver
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DVD details
Actor: Angie Dickinson, Robbie Lee, Susan Sennett, Tom Skerritt, William ShatnerDirector: Steve Carver
Brand: Buena Vista Home Video
Cinematographer: Bruce Logan
Editor: Tina Hirsch
Producer: Jon Davison
Producer: Roger Corman
Producer: Teri Schwartz
Writer: Frances Doel
Writer: William W. Norton
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Special Edition
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 84 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-12-13
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Model: 4950403
Studio: Buena Vista Home Entertainment
Product features:
- Directed by: Roger Corman
- Written by: William W. Norton
- Cast: Angie Dickinson ("Police Woman,' "The Chase), William Shatner ("Boston Legal," "Star Trek"), Tom Skerritt ("Picket Fences"), Sally Kirkland
- Year: 1974
- Producers: Jon Davison, Roger Corman, Teri Schwartz
DVD Reviews of Big Bad Mama - Special Edition
DVD Review: Prosperity was just around the corner...at the nearest bank!
Summary: 4 Stars
Big business can make for strange bedfellows as is the case here, with the recently re-released film Big Bad Mama (1974). Seems not too long ago The Walt Disney Corporation, through their Buena Vista Home Entertainment group, acquired the rights to release onto DVD some 400 Roger Corman films, including this one...if you're not familiar with Roger Corman, he probably the single, largest producer of low-budget exploitation films in the last 50 years, features someone generally wouldn't associate with the Walt Disney image. Produced by Corman, co-written by William W. Norton (White Lightning, I Dismember Mama) and Frances Doel (Deathsport, DinoCroc), and directed by Steve Carver (Lone Wolf McQuade), the film stars Angie Dickinson, who first made an impression on me as Sgt. Suzanne "Pepper" Anderson in the mid to late 1970s television series "Police Woman". Also appearing is William `The Shat' Shatner ("Star Trek", Kingdom of the Spiders), Tom Skerritt (MASH, Alien), Susan Sennett (The Candy Snatchers), Robbie Lee (Switchblade Sisters), Noble Willingham (The Last Picture Show), Dick Miller (X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes), Tom Signorelli (The Cotton Club), Royal Dano (Killer Klowns from Outer Space), William O'Connell (Every Which Way But Loose), and Joan Prather, whom some may remember from the television series "Eight Is Enough", as Janet McArthur Bradford.
The movie, set in the depression era south, begins as we see three women, one older, two younger, heading to church. Seems recent widower Wilma McClatchie (Dickinson) is taking her two daughters, Billy Jean (Sennett) and Polly (Lee) to the church as Polly done got herself engaged to a dirt farmer. The trio arrives, met by skeezy Uncle Barney (Willingham), a bootlegger by trade, shortly followed by the groom, showing up on the back of a truck...I must say, he's quite the prize pig...anyway, Wilma seems unhappy with her youngest daughter's choice in men, and promptly puts the kibosh on the affair in the middle of the nuptials, as she decides she wants better for her girls. A good, old fashioned ruckus ensues, and the three women, along with Uncle Barney, skedaddle...right into a trap set by a lawman named Bonney (Miller), who's been chasing Barney the bootlegger for some time. There's a car chase, and Barney ends up with a terminal case of lead poisoning, to which Wilma decides to take over the business, thus beginning her life of crime. After the bottom falls out of her moonshine business (thanks to a corrupt local sheriff), Wilma and her girls, who are about as ripe as Georgia peaches, fleece a crooked preacher, and then get tangled up with a bank robbery, eventually taking on one of the robbers, named Fred Diller (Skerritt), as a partner, in more ways than one, if you know what I mean...homina, homina...Wilma, deciding it wise never to pull the same caper more than once, decides their next score will be a race track, where they meet Captain Kirk...er, I mean William J. Baxter (Shatner), an upper-class hustler, resulting in another partnership, along with more of Ms. Dickenson doffing her clothes...set phasers on stunning! Anyhoo, the group makes their way west, to California, with Sheriff Bonney hot on their heels, and Wilma comes up with one last big score, involving kidnapping a comely, yet snooty, heiress (Prather) and ransoming her off for a million bucks...but jealousies threaten to tear the group apart, along with their ever increasing notoriety.
I've seen plenty of exploitation films in my time, but few do them as well as Roger Corman. That's not to say his touch is always gold, but he usually manages to finagle more than most of out so very little. I think the one aspect about this production that elevates it to the upper echelons within the B movie realm is the strong and capable cast, especially Ms. Dickenson, who, in her forties at the time, looked better than the females half her age appearing in this film, and that's not to say they were hard on the eyes (the actress playing Polly seemed to have the most difficult time keeping her top on). She provided an exceptionally strong, intelligent, determined female character, one who knew what she wanted, and knew how to get it...overall I really enjoyed this gangster drama with a feminine twist. Director Carver keeps story moving along well, which included predictable twists, exciting car chase and gunplay sequences, along with a whole lot of freaky deaky...check out the scenes where Tom Skerritt's character, after getting replaced as Wilma's bed warmer by The Shat's character, hooks up with her daughters, in a creepy. Southern fried threesome. And then there's the scene near the end when Skerrit's character is seduced by the kidnapped heiress (in an attempt by her to escape), and The Shat creepily watches on from the doorway...but never fear, The Shat does get his groove on in one, particularly revealing scene with Ms. Dickenson...thankfully, for myself at least, his nekkidness is covered up by her nekidness (actually, Ms. Dickenson has about three or four gratuitous nekkid scenes, if you're looking for that kind of thing). As far as the acting goes, its better than I expected, given the amount of experience in the cast, both in recognizable actors and character actors. And how could you not like a script that features lines like this? "Uncle Barney...was you trying to feel up my Mama?" Oh Uncle Barney...whotta sleaze...the story is decent enough, as there seemed to be attempts to flesh out the various relationships, but it never really went to far which was good because that really wasn't something I was looking for in a movie like this...another aspect I really liked was the ending, as I thought it a great way to wrap things up.
The fullscreen (1.33:1) picture on this DVD release looks decent, but does show some signs of age. I'm betting the quality here is the same as the previous DVD release, so if you own that, and that's all you care about, there probably isn't much reason to be sucked in by this `Special Edition' release. The Dolby Digital 2.0 audio is decent enough, with no complaints. As far as extras, there is a featurette titled `Mama Knows Best: A Retrospective' (14:38), that includes Corman, Dickenson, The Shat, and a number of people involved with the film discussing their experiences, all looking quite old and crusty. Also included is a commentary track with Corman and Dickenson, and a rough, original theatrical trailer.
Cookieman108
By the way, the film apparently did well enough to warrant a sequel titled Big Bad Mama II (1987), featuring Ms. Dickenson. I haven't seen it, and doubt I will as the DVD, which is currently out of print, seems to be a bit over priced...love them gougers...maybe Disney will re-release it, too...
Description of Big Bad Mama - Special Edition
Get ready to rumble as a beautiful young widow breaks up her tee daughter's wedding and hits the road on an outlaw voyage to Waco, Texas. Making pit stops for armed robbery and a mother/daughter striptease, Angie Dickinson 's Big Bad Mama teaches her girls the real facts of life. Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Special Edition, NTSC. Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono). Region: Region 1. Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1. Number of discs: 1. Rated: R (Restricted). Studio: Buena Vista Home Entertainment. DVD Release Date: December 13, 2005 Run Time: 83 minutes. Special Features: * Mama Knows Best: A Retrospective - A compelling look back at the Corman classic featuring current interviews with Roger Corman, director Steve Carver, star Angie Dickinson and writer Frances Doel * Audio commentary * Original trailerBestsellers in DVD
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