Big Bad Mama / Big Bad Mama II

Love those teets!

There a pair of hokey Hollywood drive in style films but Angie Dickinson is au naturel and other babes seem to lose their clothes too. 1930's at it's best (lol)

Big business can make for strange bedfellows as is the case here, with the recently re-released film Big Bad Mama (1974). Seems not too long ago The Walt Disney Corporation, through their Buena Vista Home Entertainment group, acquired the rights to release onto DVD some 400 Roger Corman films, including this one...if you're not familiar with Roger Corman, he probably the single, largest producer of low-budget exploitation films in the last 50 years, features someone generally wouldn't associate with the Walt Disney image. Produced by Corman, co-written by William W. Norton (White Lightning, I Dismember Mama) and Frances Doel (Deathsport, DinoCroc), and directed by Steve Carver (Lone Wolf McQuade), the film stars Angie Dickinson, who first made an impression on me as Sgt. Suzanne "Pepper" Anderson in the mid to late 1970s television series "Police Woman". Also appearing is William `The Shat' Shatner ("Star Trek", Kingdom of the Spiders), Tom Skerritt (MASH, Alien), Susan Sennett (The Candy Snatchers), Robbie Lee (Switchblade Sisters), Noble Willingham (The Last Picture Show), Dick Miller (X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes), Tom Signorelli (The Cotton Club), Royal Dano (Killer Klowns from Outer Space), William O'Connell (Every Which Way But Loose), and Joan Prather, whom some may remember from the television series "Eight Is Enough", as Janet McArthur Bradford.The movie, set in the depression era south, begins as we see three women, one older, two younger, heading to church. Seems recent widower Wilma McClatchie (Dickinson) is taking her two daughters, Billy Jean (Sennett) and Polly (Lee) to the church as Polly done got herself engaged to a dirt farmer. The trio arrives, met by skeezy Uncle Barney (Willingham), a bootlegger by trade, shortly followed by the groom, showing up on the back of a truck...I must say, he's quite the prize pig...anyway, Wilma seems unhappy with her youngest daughter's choice in men, and promptly puts the kibosh on the affair in the middle of the nuptials, as she decides she wants better for her girls. A good, old fashioned ruckus ensues, and the three women, along with Uncle Barney, skedaddle...right into a trap set by a lawman named Bonney (Miller), who's been chasing Barney the bootlegger for some time. There's a car chase, and Barney ends up with a terminal case of lead poisoning, to which Wilma decides to take over the business, thus beginning her life of crime. After the bottom falls out of her moonshine business (thanks to a corrupt local sheriff), Wilma and her girls, who are about as ripe as Georgia peaches, fleece a crooked preacher, and then get tangled up with a bank robbery, eventually taking on one of the robbers, named Fred Diller (Skerritt), as a partner, in more ways than one, if you know what I mean...homina, homina...Wilma, deciding it wise never to pull the same caper more than once, decides their next score will be a race track, where they meet Captain Kirk...er, I mean William J. Baxter (Shatner), an upper-class hustler, resulting in another partnership, along with more of Ms. Dickenson doffing her clothes...set phasers on stunning! Anyhoo, the group makes their way west, to California, with Sheriff Bonney hot on their heels, and Wilma comes up with one last big score, involving kidnapping a comely, yet snooty, heiress (Prather) and ransoming her off for a million bucks...but jealousies threaten to tear the group apart, along with their ever increasing notoriety.I've seen plenty of exploitation films in my time, but few do them as well as Roger Corman. That's not to say his touch is always gold, but he usually manages to finagle more than most of out so very little. I think the one aspect about this production that elevates it to the upper echelons within the B movie realm is the strong and capable cast, especially Ms. Dickenson, who, in her forties at the time, looked better than the females half her age appearing in this film, and that's not to say they were hard on the eyes (the actress playing Polly seemed to have the most difficult time keeping her top on). She provided an exceptionally strong, intelligent, determined female character, one who knew what she wanted, and knew how to get it...overall I really enjoyed this gangster drama with a feminine twist. Director Carver keeps story moving along well, which included predictable twists, exciting car chase and gunplay sequences, along with a whole lot of freaky deaky...check out the scenes where Tom Skerritt's character, after getting replaced as Wilma's bed warmer by The Shat's character, hooks up with her daughters, in a creepy. Southern fried threesome. And then there's the scene near the end when Skerrit's character is seduced by the kidnapped heiress (in an attempt by her to escape), and The Shat creepily watches on from the doorway...but never fear, The Shat does get his groove on in one, particularly revealing scene with Ms. Dickenson...thankfully, for myself at least, his nekkidness is covered up by her nekidness (actually, Ms. Dickenson has about three or four gratuitous nekkid scenes, if you're looking for that kind of thing). As far as the acting goes, its better than I expected, given the amount of experience in the cast, both in recognizable actors and character actors. And how could you not like a script that features lines like this? "Uncle Barney...was you trying to feel up my Mama?" Oh Uncle Barney...whotta sleaze...the story is decent enough, as there seemed to be attempts to flesh out the various relationships, but it never really went to far which was good because that really wasn't something I was looking for in a movie like this...another aspect I really liked was the ending, as I thought it a great way to wrap things up.The fullscreen (1.33:1) picture on this DVD release looks decent, but does show some signs of age. I'm betting the quality here is the same as the previous DVD release, so if you own that, and that's all you care about, there probably isn't much reason to be sucked in by this `Special Edition' release. The Dolby Digital 2.0 audio is decent enough, with no complaints. As far as extras, there is a featurette titled `Mama Knows Best: A Retrospective' (14:38), that includes Corman, Dickenson, The Shat, and a number of people involved with the film discussing their experiences, all looking quite old and crusty. Also included is a commentary track with Corman and Dickenson, and a rough, original theatrical trailer.Cookieman108By the way, the film apparently did well enough to warrant a sequel titled Big Bad Mama II (1987), featuring Ms. Dickenson. I haven't seen it, and doubt I will as the DVD, which is currently out of print, seems to be a bit over priced...love them gougers...maybe Disney will re-release it, too...

enjoyed years ago, wanted to see again

The description and trailer for this only real tell part of the truth. This is supposed to be a story about Nami and how she makes a living trying to repay her father's debts. It isn't really. The sub-plot about with the yakuza is very swiftly completed, etc. The real story is the "dumbest hooker ever" and how she finds Nami and redemption. It's quite poignant in the end but doesn't really rescue the film. There is the expected brief nudity, bad acting, and awkward sex scenes. The real novelty are the decorated trucks. Give this a pass.

Not everyone likes Angie Dickenson, but if you do and you want to see her naked, get Big Bad Mama. She's naked with both Tom Skerrit and with William Shatner in this film. Several other actresses are nude, too.Angie uses a body double in Big Bad Mama 2, but there are flashbacks of her nude scene with William Shatner in it. What makes 2 worthwhile is the nude Danielle Brisbois, who played a young girl in Archie Bunker's Place on a TV series. Both movies come on the same disk with several extras, so if you want both movies and are tight on shelf space, this is the DVD to get.

this movie was terrible,

And Playmate Julie McCullough make a pair of lovely pairs each!

I liked these 2 movies and the disc had nice extras. Picture quality was good, not perfect.

Si...discreti film per cambiare da chi li aveva in vhs e prenderli in dvd

I bought this DVD for all the wrong reasons, PC wise. It stars Angie Dickinson who, in 1974 when this film was made, had just started the series Police Woman as the title character Pepper Anderson. She was gorgeous in those series & at 41-45yrs old in her prime physically as far as I'm concerned. I saw recently that she did a nude scene in this film & I couldn't pass up missing that. I told you it wasn't PC. Sure enough there was her nude scene at the end of the film & lovely it was too but that's not why I gave this 5 stars or indeed the girls playing her daughters getting their kit off. All the nudity was just a bonus. I loved this, not that well known film which, as you've probably gathered, I'd not seen before. As mentioned above it's a Bonnie & Clyde story line, also set in the 1930's, with the humour & banjo soundtrack of Smokey & the Bandit. In this Angie & her 2 late teen, early 20's daughters go on the run initially conning people out of their money. As with Smokey they are pursued by two, not so clever, Feds. They soon encounter Tom Skerritt's bank robber & they realise that together it's something they could be good at & they are. A little later they come across William Shatner as a card sharp gambler who decides to join them as there are several people who he has cheated out of their winnings that are after him. And off they go but all is not totally cosy. Prior to William Shatner's appearance Tom Skerritt had been more than friendly with Angie Dickinson but she soon switches her attention to Mr Shatner which doesn't go down too well. Watching this the 2 daughters take pity on Tom so peace is restored.Having spent good knows how many years as Capt Kirk in Star Trek & most of his other roles in the 70's playing tough good guys I was expecting a similar character here but no. He's exquisitely funny, cowardly & laid back. He makes the film for me.If you want a film that's an easy fun watch then you could do a lot worse than this. It's a real hoot.

Sehr guter zweiter Filmder GangsterballadeAndreas Hepperle

very good