Bloody Mama
| Bloody Mama | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Roger Corman |
| Produced by | Roger Corman Samuel Z. Arkoff (executive producer) James H. Nicholson (executive producer) |
| Written by | Don Peters Robert Thom |
| Starring |
Shelley Winters Bruce Dern Don Stroud Diane Varsi Robert De Niro Robert Walden Pat Hingle |
| Music by | Don Randi |
| Cinematography | John A. Alonzo |
| Edited by | Eve Newman |
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Production
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| Distributed by | American International Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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90 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $1,542,000 (US/ Canada rentals) 152,310 admissions (France) |
Bloody Mama is a 1970 American low-budget drama film directed by Roger Corman and starring Shelley Winters in the title role. It was very loosely based on the real story of Ma Barker, who is depicted as a corrupt mother who encourages and organizes her children's criminality. The film features an early appearance by a young Robert De Niro as Lloyd Barker.
Corman says the film is one of his favourites.
Young Kate Barker (Lisa Jill) is brutalized by her father and older brothers, who rape her. Thirty-five years later, the middle-aged Kate 'Ma' Barker (Shelley Winters) now brutalizes innocent people herself, while indulging her monstrous sexual appetites. She lives by robbing banks with her four sons; the pragmatic Arthur (Clint Kimbrough), the sadistic Herman (Don Stroud), the bisexual Fred (Robert Walden), and the loyal, drug-addicted Lloyd (Robert De Niro). It all begins in the late 1920s when Ma leaves her husband, George, and her Arkansas home and embarks on her own with her four sons on a robbery-murder spree to make her own fortune, while keeping them under a tight leash.
When Herman and Fred are arrested and imprisoned for petty theft charges, Ma takes over the group and leads Arthur and Lloyd on a bank robbery spree to gain enough money to get her sons out of jail. The gang is joined by a gunman named Kevin (Bruce Dern) who was Fred's cellmate during his incarceration (and his strongly implied lover). The group is also joined by a local prostitute named Mona Gibson, whom Herman frequented before his imprisonment. The gang resorts to more violent action and robberies.
While hiding out at a cabin in Kentucky, Lloyd comes across a young woman swimming at a nearby lake whom he sexually assaults. Not wanting the woman to report them to the police, the Barkers hold her captive and Ma eventually kills her by drowning her, despite the protests of her sons.
Some time later, the gang arrives in Tennessee where they abduct a wealthy businessman named Sam Pendlebury (Pat Hingle). Holding him for a $300,000 ransom, the sons, particularly Herman, bond with their captive whom they see as the sympathetic father figure they never had. When Herman and Mona go to collect the ransom, they are chased by a pair of FBI agents and barely escape. When they find that the ransom is only half of what they originally demanded, Ma orders her sons to kill Sam rather than let him go. But none of them can bring themselves to do it and they set him free, lying to Ma about killing him.
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Wikipedia