Ma Baker - Pistoleira Sanguinária

Saw this free on youtube... This movie was hilarious. Imdb says Made in Sherman Oaks...CA (I need to watch it again since I live in Sherman Oaks.) I loved it.

It has surprise after surprise...I don't care if it's real history. Neither would Tarantino.

Look at those 1930's cars......real classics. Also has a great song performed...pure camp genius and fast pace.

The Truth of Ma Barker's Intellect for Planning Crimes and Her Overall Involvement with Important Procedures of the Always Expanding Depression Era Gang where the "Family" were Members has been Debatable from the Outset.

She and Her Brood's Persona was Allegedly Fabricated by J. Edgar and His Gang at the F. B. I to Demystify the "Mother" Angle and make a "Pistol Packin' Mama" the Lurid Headline that Stuck.

Disputed by "Brainiac" Alvin Karpis, also Considered a Leader Among the "Gangland" of His Era, in Interviews.

He and other Members of the Organized Crime Group who were "In the Know" say the "Ma" had Trouble "Organizing Breakfast", let alone, Planning a Heist.

This Movie's Entertainment Value is High with Lurene Tuttle Giving a Compelling and Forceful Performance and along with some Heightened Violent Displays for its Era make this an Underrated, Engaging "Peek-In" on one of Headliners.

She, like No Other Mobster of Infamy, had that "Mother Angle", an Irresistible Story Component Slant from the Media, that Sells the Stuff of Legend to a Willing and Gullible Public.

This Film is a Mixture of Many of the "Myths" about Ma but also gets a Lot of Things Right. Like Her Ending in a Shootout with the Feds Along-Side Her Youngest and Favorite Fred Barker.

This is a Good Gangster Exploitation of the Popular and Colorful Radio and Newspaper Blitz that made House-Hold Names of Ma Barker and Her Ilk.

I saw this with my family as a surprise studio preview to get reviews from the public. I was10 years old and this was in Burbank, CA. It was shocking to me then but I now know it was pretty campy. But Mr. Barker's killing was the worst for me. I think my parents were pissed off but we stayed through to the end.

This film is terrific fun! It makes up for its tiny budget with wild, over-the-top performances (Lurene Tuttle was sweet-voiced Effie on the Sam Spade radio show...WHAT a DIFFERENCE!), extreme violence (one part where they set a guy on fire gets shown TWICE!) and goofy, quotable dialogue.

This is the kind of movie The Addams Family would watch with their kids.

With these things in mind, viewers looking for an accurate, historical picture will be disoriented, or at least disappointed. This is definitely not a good source for American History term papers. It is intended as a source for giggly thrills, and is a good one.

A major disappointment. As the apocryphal prize-winning cook and master criminal, Laurene Tuttle (who later the same year had a hilarious cameo as Sheriff Chambers' wife in 'Psycho') could really have shone as Ma Barker if she'd been backed by a halfway decent script & production; but this drab-looking quickie bogs down in endless talk and poorly executed action.

The high spot is probably the eye-watering scene in which Byron Foulger plays a plastic surgeon too drunk to properly handle a scalpel.