Big Bad Mama / Big Bad Mama 2 (Double Feature)
Roger Corman's Cult Classics Double Feature
Big Bad Mama (1974, 82 mins)
When Wilma (Angie Dickinson) finds there is no money to be made in the bootlegging business, a chance meeting with bank robber Fred Diller (Tom Skerritt) leads to a new career. Along with her daughters, Wilma joins Fred on his next big heist. After meeting slick gambler William J. Baxter (William Shatner), Wilma recruits him and the rest of her gang to kidnap the daughter of a millionaire in the hopes of collecting a big pay day.
Big Bad Mama 2 (1987, 84 mins)
Angie Dickinson returns to her role as Wilma Big Bad Mama McClatchie. She is out to steal a better life for her two teenage daughters. The sexy trio sets their gun sites on revenge against a crooked politician by taking down his banks and kidnapping his son. Also starring Danielle Brisebois (Archie's Place) and Playboy Playmate Julie McCullough.
Member Reviews
About what y'all would expect - RobBC
Although Dickinson doesn’t quite convince us she’s a hard-edged desperado and William Shatner’s faux southern drawl is cringe-worthy, this is still one of the more entertaining B-Movies to emerge from the 70s; think slapstick version of Bonnie & Clyde with the sleaze factor turned up half a notch. Carver, under the tutelage of the great Roger Corman, keeps things buoyed with plenty of frantic shoot-outs and steamy bed-hopping as mother and daughters take their male accomplices for a few test spins. Shatner and co-star Tom Skerritt even manage to show off some of their assets in a few (almost) nude scenes. Like a string of dirty jokes with some occasionally funny punchlines the humour is decidedly low-brow but the pacing is tight and a supporting cast of dumb sheriffs, horny yokels and religious swindlers keep things interesting. Even the oddly incongruous ending seems more of a sly wink than a glib cop-out.NOT G-rated! - Superdave
The first Big Bad Mama is a favorite of collectors of celebrity nude scenes - Angie Dickinson has couple - and it's not a bad movie for what it is. It's a quickie Bonnie and Clyde wannabe on a much lower budget and a much shorter shooting schedule. The story is nothing special - Depression era criminals plot a kidnapping which goes predictably bad - but the production looks decent enough and Angie, Tom Skerritt and Bill Shatner all contribute solid perfs with little help from a largely illiterate script. Angie looks good and seems to be enjoying herself in a rare bad girl role, and there are enough car chases and shoot-outs to keep the viewer from falling asleep, but don't look for too much in the way of originality here.
Big Bad Mama II is more (and less) of the same. Angie is back, but she's now over 50, and the Depression gangster genre has put on a few years too. With nothing new in the way of story ideas or screen visuals, there seems to be no point too having made a sequel beyond cashing in on the original for its video notoriety. More car chases, more guns, but little point. The sequel is only for die hard Angie fans.
Member Reviews
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About what y'all would expect - RobBC
Although Dickinson doesn’t quite convince us she’s a hard-edged desperado and William Shatner’s faux southern drawl is cringe-worthy, this is still one of the more entertaining B-Movies to emerge from the 70s; think slapstick version of Bonnie & Clyde with ...NOT G-rated! - Superdave
The first Big Bad Mama is a favorite of collectors of celebrity nude scenes - Angie Dickinson has couple - and it's not a bad movie for what it is. It's a quickie Bonnie and Clyde wannabe on a much lower budget and a much shorter shooting schedule. The story ...