Boring, over-political, tech fuzed mess

Boring, long, and too preachy.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Any movie that opens with a montage with typically nostalgic images of life in the 1950's, and to the wondrous tunes of "All I have to do is Dream" by The Everly Brothers, is half of a winner already in my book. I instantly presumed that Jonathan Demme's "Crazy Mama" would become a massively entertaining 70's road-movie/parody exploitation flick, full of memorable highlights and delightfully eccentric characters, but that turned out a little bit disappointing to be entirely honest. The movie kicks off energetically and tremendously joyous, but runs out of steam surprisingly fast. When evicted from her Californian beauty parlor, enraged mother Melba mobilizes her daughter and mother to head back to Arkansas and reclaim the family farm grounds that were violently taken from them in 1932. Hiking along are daughter Cheryl's surfer boyfriend and a trio of a flamboyant weirdos the gang picked up in Las Vegas, including macho hunk Jim Bob, gambling addicted senior citizen Bertha and greasy biker kid Snake. The deranged motley crew leaves a trail of armed robberies and kidnap conspiracies from West to East, but the biggest confrontation with the law awaits them in Arkansas. In spite of the speedy pace, "Crazy Mama" is overall rather dull and repetitive. I also would have preferred the film to be more violent and gritty, instead of comical and trashy. The performances are pretty lackluster, with Cloris Leachman not really fitting her role and Don Most being a bleak imitation of the characters Ron Howard played in the sixties and seventies. Stuart Whitman is cool, though, and Linda Purl depicts a lovable 70's exploitation wench. The only aspect that remains brilliant throughout is the soundtrack full of golden oldies, like "Lollipop" and "Running Bear". "Crazy Mama" is the third and final feature in trash-producer Roger Corman's unofficial Mama-trilogy, with "Bloody Mama" and "Big Bad Mama" as its predecessors. I'm surely going to track down those, because they look a lot cooler than this "Crazy Mama". Director Jonathan Demme has had one of the most uneven careers in Hollywood, for sure! From the sloppy Women-in-Prison flick "Caged Heat" onto exploitation flicks like "Crazy Mama" and "Fighting Mad" and towards more serious thrillers like "Last Embrace". In the 80's, Demme directed a few TV-movies, popular comedies and a lot of Neil Young videos before hitting it big with Academy Award winning blockbusters "Silence of the Lambs" and "Philadelphia".

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.

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.

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.