"Bonnie and Clyde" (1967) a Slick and Influential Hollywood Game Changer was Criticized for Glamorizing Gangsters and Criminals (as if that was something new). Roger Corman's Movie did No such Glamorizing. In Fact, Corman chose to go Quite the Opposite.In expected Fashion, His Movie is Depressing, Disturbing, Cutting Edge, and Sleazy, and has been Accused of Dramatic Debasement for Profit. It was, and it makes it a Stand-Out Cult Movie because of it.Shelley Winters is Perfectly Cast and Lights Up the Screen with Her Demented Character alongside an Early Robert DeNiro as a Drug Addled Glue Sniffer and Heroin Injector. Don Stroud, looking more Handsome than Usual is the Eldest of the Barker Clan and Impresses with a Brooding Brutality. Pat Hingle, as a Depression Era Millionaire, also does Good Work as Corman's Answer to the Decades Hypocrisy.The Violence of the Title, is Slowly Paced, Culminating in a Guns Blazing Shootout Ending. Before that the On Screen Killings and utter Disregard for Human Life is the most Unsettling. Senseless and Sadistic Murders combined with two Early Rape Scenes sets the Stage for Incest, and other Abnormalities.Probably Corman's most Offensive Films, it is Considered one of His Best in some circles. It isn't but shows Low-Budget Skills (synonymous with the Writer, Director, Producer). While none of Corman's Movies came anywhere near the Oscars, He was nevertheless given an Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement.His Eye for Talent is well Documented as is His way of Making Money with Exploitation. Roger Corman was a Walking Film School for Talented Embryonic Filmmakers. Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola are Proud Graduates.

Bloody Mama is a dramatic feature that is loosely based on the real story of Ma Barker,a corrupt mother who encourages and organizes her children's criminal activities.It stars Shelley Winters in the title role together with Bruce Dern,Don Stroud,Diane Varsi,Robert De Niro, Robert Walden and Pat Hingle.The film was directed by Roger Corman.The movie starts as young Kate Barker is brutalized by her father and older brothers, who rape her. After 35 years, the middle-aged Kate 'Ma' Barker now get her chance to brutalize innocent people herself.She gets to make a living by robbing banks with her four sons namely: the pragmatic Arthur;the sadistic Herman;the bisexual Fred; and the loyal Lloyd. They did it to build a fortune during the late 1920's when the United States was suffering from The Great Depression.This is obviously a gangster film.By today's standards,it is dated but nevertheless,it still manages to be fun and entertaining especially when we see good performances from the cast like Shelley Winters and the young Robert De Niro.It could have been a great classic gangster film probably similar to Bonnie And Clyde if only it had a better script instead of an underdeveloped screenplay. It still worth to view at least once though.

Roger Corman, who specialized in low budget films show an ambitious side in directing "Bloody Mama" a sort of loosely based biographic picture about the criminal family that terrorized rural America during the Great Depression. Mr. Corman evidently took liberties in telling the story, the way he presents it, more as an entertainment than a factual account of the Barkers.Ma Barker, a hillbilly from the backwoods is tired of living in poverty. Her four sons clearly adored her because otherwise it would make no sense of following the old lady into a crime spree unlike the ones the country had seen up to then. The four sons, Herman, a trigger happy individual, Arthur, the quiet one, LLoyd, the junkie and Fred, an openly gay man, way ahead of the times he was living. Herman brought along his girlfriend Mona, and Fred, his lover, Kevin Dirkman, who is one is to believe the material, also serviced a horny Ma Barker.The director achieved a coup just in the mere casting of the film. Shelley Winters, who played Ma Barker, made a terrific contribution to our enjoyment. Don Stroud, Clint Kimbrough, Robert Walden and a young Robert Deniro are seen as the four sons. Diane Varsi and Bruce Dern are the two of the people the family attracted.

This movie was my introduction to Roger Corman. I am now hooked. I think other posters have put too much emphasis on accuracy and technique. Sure the plot is not always logical and some of the performances are not great. I find that classics like Bloody Mama are so fun because the director and actors are aware that the film is not Oscar-caliber but still have fun with it. What makes this film so great is that it is a disturbing,campy, slapped-together mess. I would also like to point out that the always great Don Stroud has said in interviews that he had an intense affair with Shelley Winters during the filming of Bloody Mama. As they played a creepy mother son duo, this little morsel of trivia adds a whole new level of disturbing to this fabulous film.