The read
Critics rate it 12 points higher than audiences do. Most of the 397 1970s crime movies in this catalog score higher. It runs a compact 1h 30m.
Synopsis
Sexually abused as a young girl, Kate "Ma" Barker grows into a violent and powerful woman by the 1930s. She lovingly dominates her grown sons and grooms them into a pack of tough crooks. The boys include the cruel Herman, who still shares a bed with Ma; Fred, an ex-con who fell in love with a fellow prisoner; and Lloyd, who gets high on whatever's handy. Together they form a deadly, bizarre family of Depression-era bandits.
Ratings
IMDb5.7/10
Rotten Tomatoes13%
Metacritic69/100
Critics rate it 12 points higher than audiences do.
108 audience votes
Key crew
- Roger CormanDirector
- Robert ThomScreenplay
- Don RandiOriginal Music Composer
Cast
- Shelley Winters'Ma' Kate Barker
- Pat HingleSam Adams Pendlebury
- Don StroudHerman Barker
- Diane VarsiMona Gibson
- Bruce DernKevin Dirkman
- Clint KimbroughArthur Barker
- Robert De NiroLloyd Barker
- Robert WaldenFred Barker
- Alex NicolGeorge Barker
- Pamela DunlapRembrandt
- Michael FoxDr. Roth
- Scatman CrothersMoses
Stills
Movies like Bloody Mama
Shows like Bloody Mama
Mario Puzo's The Godfather: The Complete Novel for Television
1977
Shares: Mob / Mafia · Mafia & Mob · Crime
Themes
prisonsuiciderapesexual abusegangsterbased on true storydysfunctional familymurderbank robberyincestmachine gunfemale gangleader