Coventry This exhilarating, fast-paced and typically 70s exploitation- adventure ranks as one of the most popular Roger Corman productions among his fans & admirers, and righteously so I daresay, because "Big Bad Mama" guarantees wild and unscrupulous entertainment from the very first opening seconds until (and included) the closing credits. What's the secret formula? Not a whole lot, in fact… Sexy young girls as well as mature women not too prudish to show some flesh, dumb redneck men in ugly redneck villages, a bit of gratuitous violence and – of course – banjo music… Lots and lots of banjo music! The opening scenes are the best, in my humble opinion. During the Great Depression era, in Texas, Wilma's cute but naive teenage daughter Polly is about to get married to a dumb farmer with an even dumber family. During the ceremony, however, Wilma gets hysterical and shouts out that she wants a better life for her and her two daughters. Her idea is to head for California and grab every opportunity they can get along the way. She starts off with taking over her dead lover's bootlegging business, but gradually enrolls into bank robberies, horse race gambling, various con activities and even kidnapping. Thanks to her pretty face and luscious curves, Wilma can easily persuade every man to do what she wants, and her young daughters Billy Jean and Polly inherited those same talents! Roger Corman and director Steve Carver demonstrate that they are perfectly in touch with their B-movie loving audiences, as they extensively deliver what the crowd wants to see. "Big Bad Mama" is clearly inspired by "Bonny and Clyde", as well as several other gangster epics of the late 60s/early 70s, but without the boring romances and numerous speeches/dialogues. Admittedly the film does become quite tedious around the hour, as the script contains quite a few repetitive routines and even nudity becomes commonplace. Angie Dickinson terrifically leads the delightful ensemble cast that also features impressive names like William Shatner and Tom Skerrit (albeit before their major breakthroughs) and, of course, Roger Corman favorite Dick Miller. However, I fully agree with another reviewer who stated that the coolest and most memorable roles are played by the young daughters, and particularly Susan Sennett stands out as the cocky and untamed Billy Jean.

preppy-3 In the Depression era Wilma McClatchie (Angie Dicksinson) and her two daughters--Billy Jean (Susan Sennett) and Polly (Robbie Lee)--became robbers to make a living. They are joined by bank robber Fred Diller (Tom Skerrit) and con man William Baxter (William Shatner--yes THAT William Shatner). Wilma has sex with both Fred and William and her daughters go after Fred also!Stupid and sometimes dull. The plot is virtually nonexistent, the dialogue is terrible and (since this is a Roger Corman film) it was made on NO budget (and it shows). Still it has frequent pointless car chases and crashes; plenty of female nudity (Dickinson has nude sex scenes with Skerritt AND Shatner); Corman regular Dick Miller as a policeman and plenty of bloody shootouts. Despite all this going on the movie comes to a screeching halt for dull dialogue stretches which are far too frequent. Sennett and Lee are terrible actors, Shatner and Skerritt are OK but Dickinson is great. She gives her role her all and looks very good nude (especially considering she was over 40). Stupid, bloody and dull but works pretty good on a no-think level. I give it a 5.

Travis Cockerell Here is a quote from another review of this movie: "The early 1970s has some of the most blatant anti-Christian messages ever put out by Hollywood filmmakers and this is Exhibit A. You can just feel the hatred of these atheists pouring out in this movie. There are not one but two separate instances of picturing phony and blasphemous preachers in here. That, plus a ton of GDs, mostly said by Angie Dickinson, make this a despicable, extremely bigoted film".Huh? (Scratching my head), it's just a movie...it's not real life!This is a great '70s movie about gangsters in the early part of the century. What is not to like. The ever present bad acting of William Shatner. The beauty of Angie Dickinson. Tom Skerritt, Noble Willingham, Royal Dano, Sally Kirkland. What a cast of characters! The music of Jerry Garcia. Produced by Roger Corman. What is not to like? If you have never seen it, I think you will get a kick out of it. '70s movie making at it's best. Period!

mothfodder I was so enjoying this film. I had rented two films, both from the seventies, one a big budget comedy and then this low budget Corman show. I hated the big budget and loved this one, until the political demon started barking up the plot's far-left sleeve. The heart on the sleeve, that is. I mean, we all enjoy watching films when the rich are being taken from, and the poor get to steal it. That's the basis of all crime movies and why we like them; and why we root for the bad guys so much. But this movie actually mentions such things, and they are mentioned by the "filthy rich", and you can tell when certain lines are uttered, they're in it for a reason other than dialog/conversation. In one scene a rich guy at a party mentions about how bad taxes are because they "tax the rich" (as if the rich are the only ones taxed), in another a guy gives a speech about how bad socialism is: both characters are filthy disgusting villainous types and are made to look stupid. And in the end, or towards the end of the film, a rich girl with an inheritance is kidnapped by the main characters who'd been having a blast robbing banks before, and from that point the movie goes from a fun romp into a mean spirited film with social envy written all over it. Oh well. For an hour I had fun. Till it all started getting see-through. And then, I saw through. As usual. Pity too. I love watching movies. I just wish they'd all keep their agenda to themselves or else better obscured so that we can all enjoy ourselves, not just those in the blue states.