Runtime: 85 minutes
Directed by: Steve Carver
Starring: Angie Dickinson, Susan Sennett, Robbie Lee, Tom Skerritt (RIP), William Shatner
From: New World Pictures
A belated RIP to Tom Skerritt. Several famous faces in recent times have passed away that I never got to tip my proverbial cap to. Skerritt's death naturally got plenty of attention as even in 2026, many people still know both Alien and Top Gun. I always liked seeing him in films and television, whether it be those aforementioned movies, The Devil's Rain, his one memorable scene in Up in Smoke, or the obscure vigilante movie Fighting Back. At least he lived a long life (the age of 93) and evidently was relatively healthy until shortly before his passing.
Big Bad Mama was chosen as it was an early Roger Corman New World Pictures production, had a wacky-sounding plot, and featured other names I recognized, especially lead Angie Dickinson and William Shatner. During the Great Depression, Dickinson and her two teen daughters are broke so they rob banks and engage in bootlegging. The film (which is a comedy) made me laugh often; the opening scene featured some crass language then a few minutes later, Royal Dano is exactly the sort of 1930's Texas reverend I wanted him to be. Skerritt's Fred is the one who gets them involved w/ the bank robbin' business; he makes the moves on Dickinson... and her daughters, but only after they initiated it because Angie “got to know” Shatner.
Yep, this sure was a Corman production.
Big Bad Mama was low-brow nonsense yet was quite entertaining as Dickinson was a bold, brash mama who had wild teen daughters and there are many sleazy moments. No surprise that there was plenty of “twangy” music on the soundtrack & both sexes fired off Tommy guns on multiple occasions. This is likely what you'd want from a film w/ such a plot produced by Corman in the 70's. There is a threesome at one point and also there's a THROUPLE between Angie & the two leading men, although we never seen the two men “do anything”... yes, we do get some prime Shatner Acting in this.
If you need even more motivation to give this a spin, Dick Miller has a nice supporting part. His behavior towards some people aside, I'll give props to Shatner and also Dickinson; both are alive at the age of 95 & I've never had a problem w/ them performance-wise. BTW, some people in this movie happened to be in The Devil's Rain, released the following year. Randomly, this movie had a 1987 sequel directed by... JIM WYNORSKI.
Skerritt's performance was one of the reasons why I had fun with Big Bad Mama.
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