Michael_Elliott Crazy Mama (1975) ** (out of 4) Just four years after winning an Oscar in THE LAST PICTURE SHOW, Cloris Leachman showed up in this Roger Corman produced flick where she followed in the footsteps of Shelley Winters (BLOODY MAMA) and Angie Dickinson (BIG BAD MAMA) as tough mother's stealing for a better life. In this film, Melba (Leachman), her mother and her teenage daughter travel from California to Arkansas after their beauty parlor is taken away from them. Along the way they encounter several men as well as one robbery after another. Director Jonathan Demme certainly took a story that had already been done to death and at least brought some new touches to it but in the end there's just no way around the fact that we've seen this thing too many times before. I think the best thing going for the film is the direction of Demme because he at least makes the thing feel very authentic and you really do get the feeling that you're in the 1950s. With this setting the director is able to not only make things look like the period but he also get a nice selection of music from this period. Leachman is certainly game for her part but the screenplay doesn't do her many favors. The supporting cast features familiar faces like Stuart Whitman, Sally Kirkland, Dick Miller and Donny Most who is best remembered for his role on Happy Days. The film contains some nice car crashes, some nudity and quite a bit of violence and especially for a PG rated film. CRAZY MAMA has a lot going for it but there's still no way around the fact that it doesn't offer us anything we haven't seen before in better pictures.

Lee Eisenberg Apparently, Roger Corman likes it when "Happy Days" cast members hot rod across the country (he was involved in "Grand Theft Auto", directed by and starring Ron Howard, and co-starring Marion Ross). In "Crazy Mama", Cloris Leachman plays Melba, a woman who runs a beauty parlor in Long Beach with her mother Sheba (Ann Sothern) and daughter Cheryl (Linda Purl) in 1958. Their Arkansas farm was repossessed by the banks in 1932. When slimy banker Mr. Albertson (Jim Backus) tries to repossess their beauty parlor, they decide to return to Arkansas with Cheryl's boyfriend Shawn (Don Most). So begins a crazy car chase across America. In Las Vegas, Melba falsely marries a man (Stuart Whitman) to make it look like she's married, and they also get greaser Snake (Bryan Englund, Leachman's real-life son) to go along. In the process of everything, a lot of cars get wrecked and some people get killed.I will admit that this is a pretty silly movie, but it is so fun! I never would have guessed that Ralph Malph and Thurston Howell III had ever co-starred in a movie (by the way, Linda Purl also starred on "Happy Days"). And the fact that they all co-starred with Frau Blucher just adds to the wacky factor. Oh, and by the way, B-movie character actor Dick Miller plays a cop. Jonathan Demme just always seems to have something good up his sleeve.

southpatcher Cloris Leachman was spinning off from a supporting role on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" to headlining her own series "Phyllis" in 1975, the same year this goofy road movie was released. Leachman stars as Melba Stokes, who runs a beauty parlor in Long Beach, California with her mother Sheba (Ann Sothern) and her daughter Cheryl (Linda Purl). When the shop is repossessed by banker Jim Backus aka Thurston Howell III (a great little cameo) Leachman and ladies head back to Arkansas and the family farm which was stolen away from them when Melba was a girl. Along for the ride is Cheryl's boyfriend, surfer boy Donny Most aka Ralph Malph who finds out he's going to be a daddy thanks to Cheryl. The ladies knock over a filling station, which sets about their plan to rob their way back to Arkansas earning the money to buy back the farm.Stopping over in Las Vegas, Melba hooks up with Jim Bob Trotter (Stuart Whitman). Cheryl falls for greasy biker Snake (Bryan Englund, Leachman's real life son), and Sheba makes a friend in elderly Bertha (Merie Earle) who believes that the secret to casino winning is to spout cliches before she pulls the handle on the slot machine. Jim Bob and Melba decide to have a phony wedding so the makeshift gang can rob the chapel, and then it's back on the road!The ladies continue their crime spree, knocking over a grocery store and a bank. Meanwhile, back in Texas, Jim Bob's depressing wife (Sally Kirkland) is startled to hear that he's been kidnapped. Another plan by Melba and company to raise money, this one turns out in a bad way for the group. When Melba and her gang finally return to Jerusalem, Arkansas they are disappointed to see that the farmland of their youth has been turned into a country club. Needless to say, there is a hijacked wedding and more car chases.This is a funny movie (with a GREAT final scene) that is given spirited performances by Leachman, Sothern, and especially Merie Earle as the nursing home escapee who finds a few thrills in her last days. There is some surprising violence, an eclectic 50's soundtrack, and control over the whole crazy-quilt through the direction of Jonathan Demme. The most touching scene in the film is when the weary travellers stand under a tree and remember their fallen friends by "shouting them into Heaven".Hopefully, this one will be released on DVD in my lifetime.

chad478 This lively celebration of America in the 1950's is one of director Jonathan Demme's earliest and best films. After losing their beauty parlor to repossession men in Long Beach, California, grandmother Ann Sothern, mother Cloris Leachman, and daughter Linda Purl hit the road and turn to a life of crime, hoping to eventually make their way to family homestead in Arkansas. CRAZY MAMA recreates a convincing '50's atmosphere, offers some of that decade's greatest music, and features an excellent cast. The film's brightest moments are supplied by Ann Sothern, one of the finest actresses to ever grace the screen. Sothern's daughter is actress Tisha Sterling who plays her mother's character as a young woman in the opening scenes of the film.