BLOODY MAMA 1970

The Shelley Winters Blogathon hosted by Realweegiemidget Reviews & Poppity Talks Classic Film

"MEET MA BARKER who took her bibles, her hymn book and her tommy
 gun and raised four sons and raised more hell the most of the mobs in Chicago"

     Produced and directed by "B" movie mogul Roger Corman and released by A.I.P. in 1970 BLOODY MAMA, was a drive-in answer to Arthur Penn's BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967) with eschewing (for the most part) Penn & Beatty's European art house/French New Wave aspirations. Although geared toward the exploitation market, Corman always gave his films some artistic flourishes (it's often forgotten what a technically skilled director he was and how beautiful looking his movies were) and BLOODY MAMA does show that Corman was an avid watcher of films and was aware of what was going on at the time artistic-wise in Hollywood and overseas.
     In the late 60's Hollywood's obsession with the youth market met that many classic Hollywood greats and Oscar winners were regulated to the sidelines and forced into secondary roles or leading roles in exploitation movies. For the men these often-meant roles as emasculated or evilly corrupt authority figures standing in the way of the under 30 anti-heroes. For women it often came down to playing shrieking harpies in the so-called "hag horror" that began with Robert Aldrich's WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE (1962) and was still growing strong in the late '60s along with bizarre exploitation fare like Lana Turner on LSD in THE BIG CUBE (1969) and the fascinating Jennifer Jones train wreck of  ANGEL, ANGEL DOWN WE GO  from 1969 (which was written by Robert Thom who also wrote the screenplay for BLOODY MAMA).

    Winters who by the time of BLOODY MAMA had two best-supporting actress wins and had been one of the better respected supporting actresses in Hollywood was seeing her career regulated to TV (she had played "Ma Parker" in the BATMAN TV series) and had begun to tip her toe into the exploitation genre with THE MAD ROOM & WILD IN THE STREETS in 1969. She would later appear in Curtis Harrington's fascinating takes on the "hag horror" genre with WHO SLEW AUNTIE ROO? and WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH HELEN? in 1971. Although when looked at the time her role of Ma Barker would have seemed a bit shocking Winters always took great gusto in these later roles which in spite of the bluster would always show what a fine actress she was and with her mainstream career fading she would more & more go into full-on "Shelley Winters" persona in roles and on the talk show circuit.
    Along with Winters BLOODY MAMA contains a fascinating mixture of up & comers, character faces and ingenues on the downside. Although a gangster picture at its heart, Corman & screenwriter Thom are more interested in the characters rather than their exploits (there's only one actual bank robbery in the course of the film) and the film features some marvelous performances. With these characters come at times a very vile and sordid story with rape, incest, and drug addiction taking center stage often in the proceedings.
    Opening de rigor for a gangster film banjo-driven main title theme this one by composer Don Randi we're shown 14-year-old Kate being pursued through the woods before being violently held down by two boys and being raped by an older man who we learn is her brothers and father. Jumping forward we find a now-adult Kate Barker (Winters) in rural depression-era Arkansas with her brood including Herman (Don Stroud THE HOUSE BY THE LAKE), Arthur (Clint Kimbrough NIGHT CALL NURSES), Fred (Robert Walden TV's LOU GRANT), and an almost impossibly young Robert De Niro as Lloyd.

     Forcing to flee after the boys are accused of the vicious gang rape of a local girl that resulted in her broken arm, Kate loads the boys into a car stolen from the sheriff and bids good-bye to meek mannered husband George (Alex Nicol THE SCREAMING SKULL) with the parting words "you never did know how to mount me right". It's pretty amazing how much seediness the film packs into its opening moments.
    Once on the road, the gang/family quickly resorts to a life of crime with Stroud's Herman showing himself to be the most dangerous as he is a psychotic killer who occasionally needs to be cradled in Ma's arms and taken to her bed and Lloyd becomes more dependent on his morphine addiction with the occasional glue sniffing ("you sure start acting funny when your building those model planes..."). Along the way, they pick up a prostitute named Mona whose played by Diana Varso who has previously appeared with Winters in WILD IN THE STREETS and was nominated for an Academy Award for PEYTON PLACE in 1957. Although nominally attached to Herman, she's not above climbing in the back seat with Arthur while Herman is driving.
    Herman and Fred are thrown into jail for attempting to rob a charity benefit and while in jail Fred becomes involved in an S&M relationship with Kevin (Bruce Dern) who upon release joins the gang and sometimes shares Winters's bed when she's not with one of her brood. Things escalate with the brutal murder of a young girl and the kidnapping of a banker (a wonderful performance by the great Pat Hingle) and the climatic and bloody shootout at the gang's FL. hideaway. it's during the extended kidnapping scene with Hingle that Corman and Thom really let the characters stretch out (especially Winters and Stroud) as the boys begin to bond with the kidnapped banker seeing in him a father figure they never had.

    Winters is a true force of nature here, not only making the character of Ma Barker seem almost larger than life, but she spews forth her dialogue with a visceral force that must be heard to be believed. Alternately quoting the bible and dispensing with her own version of social justice, she sings spirituals while condemning the entire human race as immoral and berating the "rich heathens". If not for the talent of a great supporting cast, she would push them all to the background. De Niro, in particular, is fascinating to watch as you can't take your eyes off him even when he's lurking in the background.
     Opening with the title card "Any similarity to Kate Barker and her sons is intentional" the screenplay by Thom is more indebted to the gangster fantasy that Penn & screenwriters David Newman & Robert Benton (along with an uncredited Robert Towne) put forth in 1967 to BONNIE AND CLYDE. Corman takes the basic story of the outlaw gang and infuses it with seediness and sordid details along with requisite violence that makes for a great drive-in exploitation movie. But as mentioned before the characters are all well developed and Corman shoots some sequences with almost a poetry like ambiance such as the beginning with a young girl running slowly through the woods in a gunny sack dress and later at the climax when groups of spectators silently watch the bloody shootout (which is based on actual fact).
     Bruce Dern's character Kevin is based upon Alvin "Creepy" Karpis who was the last surviving member of the Ma Barker gang and later befriended Charles Manson in jail and taught Manson how to play guitar. There's still much debate on how much of a criminal mind "Ma" really was and many believe that Hoover inflated her reputation in order to justify her violent death at the hands of authorities. The house in Ocklawaha, FL. where the hours-long shootout took place is still standing (complete with bullet holes) and in reality, only Kate "Ma" Barker and Fred were there at the time. Hollywood had previously tackled the story in 1960 with MA BARKER'S KILLER BROOD starring Lurene Tuttle which was released by Something Weird on DVD (in a nifty Dbl. feature with GANGBUSTERS) and BLOODY MAMA has been released on DVD and Blu-ray by Scorpion.

The above screen caps are from the Scorpion DVD

Hicksploitation Movie Night # 9 - Angie Dickinson & POLICE WOMAN 1975

Season 2 Episode 9  BLAZE OF GLORY

Original Air Date Nov. 11 1975

Angie as Sgt. "Pepper" Anderson goes undercover as a prostitute and gets taken prisoner by a trio of white trash bank robbers - including a shotgun totin' Don Stroud !

    Although today a well known screen and television icon, back in the early 70's Angie Dickinson was probably most famous for being the on again/off again wife of pop songwriter Burt Bacharach. Because of her daughter's illness she had turned down many roles in the 60's but did seem to have an unquestionable knack for appearing in movies that while maybe not being critical or audience favorites at the time have grown in stature over the years. Whether in films that while not critical lauded at the time have now become regraded as American classics (RIO BRAVO), or as nowadays hip (OCEANS 11) or gained cult status over the years (John Borman's psychedelic neo-noir POINT BLANK and Don Siegel's too violent for TV remake of THE KILLERS) and even with some rather unknown gems still waiting to be discovered (such as THE OUTSIDE MAN) you gotta admit she does have one cool resume.

   In 1974 a couple of serendipitous things happened to her career-wise as first off she accepted a role in Roger Corman's BIG BAD MAMA which turned out to be a gigantic hit and partly because of the success of POLICE WOMAN ran for several years on the drive-in/exploitation circuit (costing around $400,000 to produce it eventually grossed more then $5,000,000). Playing a depression era Texas widow who along with her two young daughters embarks a bank robbing spree, the 43 year old Dickinson caused a stir by appearing naked in several scenes (including full frontal) along with a post Star Trek William Shatner. Upon viewing its obvious that Angie is having a blast in the role and to her credit she has never shied away from it and to this day proudly states she was glad to show off her body. The success of BIG BAD MAMA and POLICE WOMAN would lead to her unforgettable role in Brian De Palma's DRESSED TO KILL from 1980.

   Earlier in the same year as BIG BAD MAMA she had appeared in an episode of the NBC anthology TV series POLICE STORY titled "The Gamble" where she played police woman Lisa Beaumont who goes undercover to bust up a gambling ring. The pilot was well received and it was decided to go ahead as a series with the debut episode premiering on the 13th of Sept. - which in a bit of lucky publicity (perhaps seen to by Corman) timed nicely with the Sept. 19 opening of BIG BAD MAMA. For the TV series her superior Lt. Bill Crowley was played by Earl Holliman (probably most familiar at the time from THE SONS OF KATIE ELDER) who was wisely replacing game show host Bert Convy from the pilot and her fellow officers (as in the pilot) were played by Ed Bernard (ACROSS 110TH STREET) and as one of the most unlikely hippies ever was Charles Dierkop (THE STING). Angie's proper first name in the series (she's referred to as "Pepper"or "Pep") is listed as Suzanne in NBC sources, but is also heard as Leanne a couple of times in the first two seasons.

    Running for four seasons POLICE WOMAN was massively popular, with even President Ford arranging his schedule (and supposedly canceling a press conference) around it and a line of toys was produced by Horsman including a 9" Angie Dickinson doll complete with many fashion choices. During its run POLICE WOMAN was always something of a schizophrenic proposition (that continues to this day in regards to its legacy) as seemingly wanting to juggle presenting an empowered strong central female character in a police drama while at the same time looking for excuses to get Angie into skimpy (or almost no) clothing as often as possible. It was the first hour long network drama to have a female as a central character and quite possibly laid the groundwork for WONDER WOMAN and CHARLIE'S ANGELS (both in terms of strong female characters & 70's "jiggle" TV) and the argument can even be made for the later CAGNEY AND LACEY.
   The show seemed to fall into a pattern with about every 3rd episode presenting some opportunity for TV friendly exploitation with Angie going undercover as a prostitute, bikini model, female gym teacher etc. and most unforgettably as a go-go dancer in the season one episode BLAST (complete with a slimy performance by Robert Vaughan as a club owner). Like most 70's TV police shows it came under fire at various times for its violence content and when viewed today some of it still seems pretty startling for the time including beatings, shootings (shotguns seeming to be favorite) with Earl Holliman in particular racking up a pretty impressive body count. The opening credits neatly juxtapose the sex and violence with shots of Angie's legs and bust alternating with shootings, fights and a set of brass knuckles flying toward the viewer (complete with the classic 70's "freeze frame" to introduce the characters).

    Season two's episode BLAZE OF GLORY is an almost perfect example of everything that made POLICE WOMAN great and what's most fascinating (to me at least) is that the plot and atmosphere both seem to be something straight out of a 70's drive-in movie (bloody shootings, attempted rape, shotguns, a sweaty desert setting and Don Stroud) with a basic story line and characters that could have been taken from an Arthur Marks production (just add Tiffany Bolling and some more sex and violence). Watching it today its still kind of amazing what they could get away with on 70's network television (especially considering it being a weekly show).
  Starting off (naturally) with Angie doing some undercover work as a prostitute while Det. Styles (Ed Bernard) keeps a watch from his fully pimped out Cadillac (which amazingly enough matches Angie's purple outfit perfectly). After knocking off for the day she stops by her bank to cash a check (still in her hooker's stakeout garb) and walks straight into a bank robbery being perpetrated by a magnificently sleazy trio consisting of the Okie shitkicker Lightfoot brothers - Vern played by the great Don Stroud (JOE KIDD and various biker flicks) and Charlie Joe (William Lucking - the mean dude from tons of TV shows) along with Vern's girlfriend Laurene (Nellie Bellflower - "The Lone Stripper" from HAPPY DAYS). With Angie in tow the gang runs off to the desert, after first switching vehicles in a car wash (?? )- which does necessitate Angie getting soaking wet and having to change into a pair of daisy dukes in the back of the getaway van.

  

   As almost the entire episode takes place in the van that gives it a great sweaty claustrophobic feeling as Angie turns on the country girl charm as she flirts with the somewhat dim-witted Charlie Joe, beats off a horny Don Stroud, plus gets into a couple of fights with Laurene and even gets to "flip the bird" at one point ! Vern continually laments about wanting to go out in a "blaze of glory" like his hero Clyde Barrow of Bonnie and Clyde fame, as we even a get a country song added to soundtrack stating this fact. The episode features several bloody shootings (including the perennial favorite shotgun) and the whole thing plays out like a little 50 minute drive-in movie. It's even got an appearance by rubbery faced character actor Phil Leeds as a hapless salesman.
   POLICE WOMAN first season was put out by Sony back in 2006 that included some interesting commentary's by Angie on a few of the episodes and later in 2012 Shout Factory did the second season, but nothings been seen of the final two seasons.