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Most movie lovers would link Roger Corman with low-budget sci-fi, horror and teen exploitation films. Not surprisingly, throughout his long career as a producer and director, he has a number of gangster and crime films featured on his resume. Among them, there are I Mobster, Machine Gun Kelly, The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, Bloody Mama and Boxcar Bertha. In 1974 Corman produced Big Bad Mama and decided that it was time to further explore the genre. Even though Big Bad Mama is best remembered for star Angie Dickenson’s nude scenes, it is an entertaining, well-directed and stylish film that, in part, was inspired by Bonnie and Clyde. The success of Big Bad Mama led to the making of Big Bad Mama II thirteen years later, and they have been released together on DVD as an entertaining double feature.
In the midst of the Great Depression in 1932, Wilma McClatchey (Angie Dickinson) finds herself living in paradise, or so it seems at first glance, with her two daughters and extremely limited resources. Wilma is constantly struggling to stay afloat. As Big Bad Mama sets off, she is preparing to take her daughter, Polly (Robbie Lee) to church so that she may get married. Polly is an innocent bride to be who lacks any semblance of maturity as she is physically developed yet emotionally a child. Instead of acting as a caretaker, she still carries a doll. Unlike her Polly, the eldest daughter, Billy Jean (Susan Sennett), is rather experienced and has no qualms with showcasing her sexuality, but is uninterested in starting a family. Wilma highly opposes the wedding and after circumstances spiral out of control, she gets into a brawl with the groom while attempting to stop all the commotion. After the wedding brawl, Wilma, her daughters, and Uncle Barney (Noble Willingham), who happens to be a bootlegger, attempt to leave. Wilma takes charge, but unfortunately Barney ends up dying after crossing paths with the prohibition agents. The inheritances leaves wilma with no choice, but to take over Barney’s business. Her first attempt at bootlegging proceeds with promise, but turns south when Polly gets arrested and Wilma is forced to bribe a pathetic police chief with nearly all her profits. Seeking to further delve into crime, Wilma sets her sights on robbing a bank.
A chance encounter with an accomplished bank robber, Fred Diller (Tom Skerritt), leads to Wilma and Fred forming an alliance, both professionally and romantically. However, that relationship becomes strained when Wilma meets the southern con artist William J. Baxter (William Shatner) and permits him to join their criminal road show. Wilma diabetic plan includes a series of robberies followed by a westward relocation to California. Fred is really starting to be pushed aside by Wilma. He begins to enjoy being with Billy Jean and Polly. Holdups, gunplay, car chases and there-s-the hapless Agent Bonney whose turn it is to be pursued by the gang led by Dick Miller, who has been a Corman staple for so long.
As Steve Carver has once directed, Big Bad Mama plays tremendously. The rapid pace of the film is enhanced by evocative locations in the high-deserts of California and a bouncy musical score courtesy of David Grisman who persuaded Jerry Garcia of The Grateful Dead to play the guitar and banjo parts. Shannon Christie’s striptease performance is one movie highlight that is beyond breathtaking.
The Corman production earned enormous revenues, not the least of which can be attributed to Corman getting Dickinson to agree to some nude scenes. Did you know these facts: Susan Sennett, the actor who played Billy Jean, has been Graham Nash’s wife since 1977.
Although the title Big Bad Mama II suggests it’s merely a sequel, it shares more characteristics with a Corman 1975-hour film Crazy Mama. It is worth noting that the first scene of Big Bad Mama II is slightly altered copy of Crazy Mama. Wilma, played by Angie Dickinson, is now married and has two beautiful daughters. With the McClatchy farm being sold off on mortgage by texas banker Morgan Crawford (Bruce Glover) and the police coming to serve the papers, things have changed a lot. After her husband is shot and killed by the police during a crossfire, Wilma decides it’s payback time. With the help of her daughters Billy Jean (Danielle Brisebois) and Polly (Julie McCullough, Ex-Playboy Bunny), Wilma decides to rob Crawford’s bank.
In her quest to disrupt Crawford’s political career, Wilma decides that kidnapping his son will further frustrate him. Wilma teams up with a compassionate newspaper reporter, Daryl Pearson (Robert Culp) in hopes of achieving her malicious goals. Unlike the first Big Bad Mama, part two lacks keenness and romance. Angie Dickinson keeps her clothes on while spending intimate time with Robert Culp as they use a body double instead. There is no reference made to events of the first part. However, Corman’s fans will still find enough value to justify a weak recommendation given the watchable production values.
These shows have their entertainment value, but I realize, they are a bit of a mixed bag in terms of quality. Both of these were previously issued on DVD at 1.33:1 and now these 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen transfers seem to add a†more information to the sides while cutting off some from the top and bottom. These args seem to approximate the ways in which the films were last projected in theatres. The older DVDs are now all zoomed in in the sides so it is now clear that the wide angle DVDs are immensely better than those. The expectation was that after all the scratchy older reels were cleaned out, much better content would come out, but unfortunately these versions seem not to be redone.
Also, on Big Bad Mama, there is moderate but important damage to the film elements after the 20-21 minute mark. Above else, the image on Big Bad Mama is uneven. Some of the scenes are quite sharp and clear, while others are at times soft focus. But Big Bad Mama II is more stable and is more pleasing to the eye.
The bottom line is that because of the enhancement for widescreen, this double feature is a remarkable improvement over the original DVDs but both films would have gained from some restoration work. Big Bad Mama was done on mono but Big Bad Mama II was done on stereo two channels. The sound quality on the dvd presentations is bearable but nothing in excess. The speaking is quite alright and comprehensible most of the times. In a nutshell, the audio lacks noise and distortion, but is quite edgy at times. The score on Big Bad Mama is very touching and the soundtrack benefits a lot from Jerry Garcia’s uncredited guitar and banjo playing. Subtitles are non existent.
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