Another B-Movie Boys and another Roger Corman original. How could I not pay homage to the king of the b-movie, Roger Corman? As we've talked about before, Corman became known for making movies fast and cheap. As a result, they were not always known for their quality. That being said, his 1970 film Bloody Mama had some real star power in it and it was better quality than a lot of his earlier films...but it was still a Roger Corman production. Hey, at least there was an A-list cock in it. Let's take a look at Bloody Mama!
This movie was based on the real story of the Ma Barker Gang. It was heavily embellished, but it does have some roots in reality. Shelley Winters stars as Kate "Ma" Barker and the other Barkers were played by Don Stroud, Clint Kimbrough, Robert Walden, Alex Nicol, and a young and sexy Robert De Niro who sports light blond hair in the movie. Interestingly, one of the characters is also bisexual, but we never actually see any gay scene for Fred (Robert Walden). Still, it's a fun fact that is only hinted at in this early 70s film even though I don't love all of the insinuations that come with making a criminal character gay, but I guess it's close enough representation.
The real story of the Ma Barker gang follows a machine-gun carrying matriarch during the Depression Era who goes on a bank-robbing and murdering spree along with her super loyal family. This movie was very loosely based on her real story - likely inspired by the success of Bonnie Clyde which was also about notorious Depression Era criminals - but it did make a lot of embellishments. That being said, her real story is pretty crazy and also so steeped in legend that it is hard to tell what is actually true or not. Ma Barker and her gang have been known as one of the most dangerous and intelligent criminals of that era even though they are not as famous today as a lot of their contemporaries. But think about how crazy this is: a 60-year-old woman leading her children on a giant crime spree that had authorities terrified. Now that's unheard of! Ma had her boys' backs no matter how much trouble they got into growing up, which only exposed them to even more criminal behavior throughout the south and the Midwest.
Robert manages to expose his nether region when he and the other Barkers are taking a bath. Fun/Weird fact: De Niro said that during a lunch break on set he slept in an open grave to help him stay in character. Sure, buddy. Whatever floats your boat...or your dick. You can spot his dick when he gets washed by his family in one scene. It's a brief look at what lies between his legs, but go ahead and steal a glance for yourself.
The movie was critically panned and currently only has a 17% on Rotten Tomatoes. While the New York Times hailed Ms. Winters as wonderful on the movie, critics mentioned that it felt like a bit of a ripoff of Bonnie and Clyde. Hey, they were different real stories! Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times did make me laugh by calling this movie "Mommie and Clyde". Okay, that IS funny! This is all to say that this movie still couldn't outrun the Corman image even with Shelley Winters in a leading role.
Still, I can't help but love this kind of 1970s schlock:
