Crazy Mama

source: Crazy Mama

"Crazy Mama" is a fabulous celebration of the Rock & Roll Era, with a free wheeling storyline, and a wonderful soundtrack. If you remember "I've Had It" by the Bell Notes, "Western Movies" by the Olympics, "Dream" by The Everly Brothers, and lots more, then this is for you. If you remember the finned cars of the late 50s, Studebakers, Edsels, Eldorados, and lots more then this is for you. The story, what little there is, involves two hairdressers robbing their way back to the family homestead in Arkansas accompanied by a bunch of misfits aged 18 to 80. Cloris Leachman and Ann Southern carry the film as the fugitive hairdressers, but everything is so frantic that things simply rush by as a blurred vision, and the plot definitely is secondary to this fantastic peek back in time. That's the way it was in "58". - MERK

Its a bit like blues brothers and a bit like thelma and louise. Crazy woman goes on a whirlwind adventure, dragging her family and hangers-on with her. Paxton only got a bit part, but it's an interesting movie with a great soundtrack.

Apparently, Roger Corman likes it when "Happy Days" cast members hot rod across the country (he was involved in "Grand Theft Auto", directed by and starring Ron Howard, and co-starring Marion Ross). In "Crazy Mama", Cloris Leachman plays Melba, a woman who runs a beauty parlor in Long Beach with her mother Sheba (Ann Sothern) and daughter Cheryl (Linda Purl) in 1958. Their Arkansas farm was repossessed by the banks in 1932. When slimy banker Mr. Albertson (Jim Backus) tries to repossess their beauty parlor, they decide to return to Arkansas with Cheryl's boyfriend Shawn (Don Most). So begins a crazy car chase across America. In Las Vegas, Melba falsely marries a man (Stuart Whitman) to make it look like she's married, and they also get greaser Snake (Bryan Englund, Leachman's real-life son) to go along. In the process of everything, a lot of cars get wrecked and some people get killed. I will admit that this is a pretty silly movie, but it is so fun! I never would have guessed that Ralph Malph and Thurston Howell III had ever co-starred in a movie (by the way, Linda Purl also starred on "Happy Days"). And the fact that they all co-starred with Frau Blucher just adds to the wacky factor. Oh, and by the way, B-movie character actor Dick Miller plays a cop. Jonathan Demme just always seems to have something good up his sleeve.

A band of beauty shop desperadoes cartoonishly plunder their way from California to Arkansas, to reclaim the old family farm. Wow! No energy crisis here. Just plug in the nation's generator and it'll light up from Broadway to Sunset with Denver in between. The movie's a classic of editing, scripting and directing; at the same time, add drive-in Oscars to actresses Leachman and Sothern. This is the hillbilly masterpiece Roger Corman was building toward with his series of backwoods desperadoes. Sure, much is silly, along with the usual cartoonish violence and enough car crashes to put on an extra shift in Detroit. But there's still enough subtext to make you care. This is America of forgotten people, the country's poor rural whites, one step ahead of bill-collectors and two steps from the law. Check out the cross-country tour of 1950's kitsch— the Burma Shave, the seedy motels, the lonely highway outposts—still familiar to thousands of us. And whose great idea was Leachman's tiger sheath dress that about says it all. But don't overlook the subtext that slyly mocks the conventions of the time. No Ozzie and Harriet here. It's three generations of mother-daughter, ousted from their cut-rate beauty salon, picking up new family members as they rob and roar along—an 80-year old Granny, a 50's greaser, a philandering cowboy. And don't forget sweet daughter Cheryl's already knocked up, but can't decide which boy to hook up with. But then maybe she doesn't have to— and so much for 50's-style monogamy. Or consider hormonal old Granny who's still got eyes for the boys, plus young Snake who eyes her back—no sir, no ageism here. Or Jim Bob's wealthy wife, sobbing for Jim Bob on TV, that is, when not entertaining the sheriff on the side— and so much for the upper class. Then there's the banker's moneyed class, the fugitive family's natural enemy. I love that big fancy wedding that suddenly explodes as the girls fulfill their 30-year debt of honor. Or when Sheba redesigns the banker's headstone with a barking pistol. No sir, it's sweat equity that earns a farmer his land and not the banker's money— too bad the law's on the wrong side here and we're made to feel it. Then, of course, there's the Lord that keeps getting invoked along with a whiskey bottle. But it's not the religion of the church. It's the Sweet Jesus of desperate folk clinging to one another in a hostile world and hoping things turn out in the end. And speaking of end, what an inspired one here—the family that works together stays together, even if they can't seem to get the rules right. No indeed, snooty Hollywood never recognizes kitschy films like this. But it's got style, humor, and a penetrating subtext that makes you feel rather than merely observe. Too bad ace screenwriter Thom died soon after. He had a real knack for the material. But more importantly, knew how to combine with director Demme's electric style. The result, in my little book, is worth 20 of those lumbering prestige films of the time. You know, the kind with Richard and Elizabeth that usually got the publicity space. All that vitality makes Mama a great extension of the 40's B-movie. Plus, it's funny as heck. So check it out.

A mid-seventies drive-in flick from producer Roger Corman that wouldn't likely warrant much notice but for the fact it's the second feature from director Jonathan Demme (Silence of the Lambs). Typical story of the exploitation genre, begins decades earlier with family patriarch shot while being evicted from his farm in Arkansas. Flash forward to the 50's and Melba (Cloris Leachman) the farmer's daughter along with her mother (Ann Sothern) and daughter (Linda Purl) are evicted from their beauty parlor in California. Melba with family and hangers on (Stuart Whitman, Don Most) in tow decides they will return to the family farm and buy it back by initiating a cross country crime spree more in keeping with the 30's than the 50's. There are elements here that hint at a talented director in the making but the budget and the material with which the film is saddled really keep this from being any more than a cheap exploitation flick intended for the drive- in's. The film manages some of the sex and violence that one would associate with this kind of film but strangely they are both somewhat subdued by the odd decision to make this film for a PG rating. The laughs were not forth coming for me, perhaps the low brow approach would be more effective in an accommodating theater or drive-in. Either that or its directed to a different audience than I represent or its just outdated.

This lively celebration of America in the 1950's is one of director Jonathan Demme's earliest and best films. After losing their beauty parlor to repossession men in Long Beach, California, grandmother Ann Sothern, mother Cloris Leachman, and daughter Linda Purl hit the road and turn to a life of crime, hoping to eventually make their way to family homestead in Arkansas. CRAZY MAMA recreates a convincing '50's atmosphere, offers some of that decade's greatest music, and features an excellent cast. The film's brightest moments are supplied by Ann Sothern, one of the finest actresses to ever grace the screen. Sothern's daughter is actress Tisha Sterling who plays her mother's character as a young woman in the opening scenes of the film.

I watched this movie as if it was the third in AIP's "Mama" trilogy. Big mistake. Of course 'Bloody Mama', 'Big Bad Mama' and 'Crazy Mama' have only tenuous links at best, and Roger Corman has no actual hands on relationship to this one, I realize that. Sadly 'Crazy' reaches neither the twisted brilliance of 'Bloody' or the sheer trashy good times of 'Big Bad'. In fact, it's pretty crappy all round. Jonathon Demme's second feature as director, following up his sleazy women in prison flick 'Chained Heat', which wipes the floor with this limp effort. I won't blame Demme entirely, and must mention the sit-com-ish script, and the largely unappealing Cloris Leachman in the lead role, who isn't fit to kiss Shelley Winters or Angie Dickinson's boots. The rest of the cast are mainly familiar faces from TV, including Ralph Malph and Thurston Howell III, but also keep an eye open for Roger Corman legend Dick Miller, and Doughboy from 'Taxi Driver'. 'Crazy Mama', though set in the 50s rather than the Depression, follows the loose structure of the previous Mamas - strong matriarch falls on hard times and turns to crime - but goes nowhere with it. Less sex, violence and darkness, and more (alleged) laughs, this is almost Disney Corman, and that means it will please just about nobody. The only notable thing about this disappointing fare is the good soundtrack of oldies. Apart from that I can think of absolutely NO reason to recommend it.

This lively celebration of 1950's America is one of director Jonathan Demme's earliest and best films. After losing their beauty salon to some repossession men in California, grandmother Ann Sothern, mother Cloris Leachman, and daughter Linda Purl hit the road and embark on a crime spree, robbing and shooting their way back to their mid-western roots in Arkansas. CRAZY MAMA recreates a convincing '50's atmosphere, offers some of that decade's greatest music and, above all, features excellent performances by a wonderful cast. The film's brightest moments are supplied by Cloris Leachman and Ann Sothern, two of the finest actresses to ever grace the screen. Sothern's daughter, the equally gifted Tisha Sterling, plays her mother's character as a young woman in the opening scene of the film.

Entertaining 1950s era ganster mama movie emulates the best points of Corman's previous depression-era genre films. Demme does a solid job, succeeding particularly well in creating a feeling of casual cameraderie among the bandit women and the men they drag along with them as they go on a spree enroute to the family farm in Arkansas. Creates reasonably good characters who are often not used to their full potential, but a good time film (good 6 pack film) is the result. Leachman and Sothern make an effective pairing, and castaway Jim Backus makes a brief appearance as the first of many men the trio of Southern beauties will take advantage of along the way to their broken down dreamland.