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Sunday, August 15, 2010

#9. Bloody Mama (1970)

DVD Synopsis: Shelley Winters, Robert DeNiro and Bruce Dern take on the Great Depression the only way they know how in this “engrossing” (Entertainment World) psychological gangster film! Also starring Pat Hingle, Don Stroud, Diane Varsi and Robert Walden, this saga based on the lives of the Ma Barker gang is shocking, explosive and fully loaded with raw intesnsity!












I go back about 25 years with Bloody Mama, when I first saw it sitting on the shelf at my local video "palace". I rented it solely because it contained an early Robert DeNiro performance, and I had no expectations that the movie itself would be anything more than a curiosity. However, Bloody Mama quickly became a favorite of mine, and I would go on to rent that video about 6-8 more times over the next few months. 

This is Roger Corman low-budget filmmaking at its best; a movie with plenty of action, violence, and drama, not to mention some damn fine performances from an impressive cast. It’s a film that deserves a bigger following than it’s gotten, and by all rights should sit alongside Bonnie and Clyde and John Milius’ Dillinger as an example of a Depression-era gangster film done right.






 
 

2 comments:

  1. This one made me appreciate my mother more.....Shelly Winters stole the show. Loved seeing an early Robert DeNiro. Herman Barker is one messed up dude.

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  2. @Jill: Shelley Winters WAS the movie, and in a film that also had Robert DeNiro and Bruce Dern, that's saying something!

    Thanks for continuing to check out these films that made up the start of my "challenge", and I'm glad you're enjoying them (so far, anyway).

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