''Crazy Mama'' is a 1975 American

action comedy The action comedy is a film genre that applies to action films where humor plays a much more central role. While early films feature stuntwork and humor, academic Cynthia King wrote that the genre only came into its own as a mainstay of the America ...

film, directed by

Jonathan Demme Robert Jonathan Demme ( ; February 22, 1944 – April 26, 2017) was an American filmmaker, whose career directing, producing, and screenwriting spanned more than 30 years and 70 feature films, documentaries, and television productions. He was an ...

, produced by

Julie Corman Julie Ann Corman (born ) is an American film producer. She is the widow of film producer and director Roger Corman. Life and career Corman was born Julie Ann Halloran in 1942. In 1970, she married film director and producer, Roger Corman, with ...

and starring

Cloris Leachman Cloris Leachman (April 30, 1926 – January 27, 2021) was an American actress and comedian whose career spanned nearly eight decades. She received many accolades including 22 Primetime Emmy nominations and won eight, tying Julia Louis-Dreyfus ...

. It marked the film debuts of

Bill Paxton William Paxton (May 17, 1955 – February 25, 2017) was an American actor, filmmaker and musician. A versatile character actor known for his distinctive Texan drawl and everyman screen persona, he was a four-time Golden Globe Award and a Prime ...

and

Dennis Quaid Dennis William Quaid (born April 9, 1954) is an American actor. He is known for his starring roles in '' Breaking Away'' (1979), '' The Right Stuff'' (1983), '' The Big Easy'' (1986), '' Innerspace'' (1987), '' Great Balls of Fire!'' (1989), ' ...

. The film focuses on a beauty parlor owner and her family, who lose their belongings to

repossession Repossession, commonly referred to as repo, is a "self-help" type of action in which the party having the right of ownership of a property takes the property in question back from the party having right of possession without invoking court proc ...

. The trio of women soon start a crime spree. Their confrontation with law enforcement officers ends in a

shootout A shootout, also called a firefight, gunfight, or gun battle, is a confrontation in which parties armed with firearms exchange gunfire. The term can be used to describe any such fight, though it is typically used in a non-military context or to ...

Plot

In 1958

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

, Melba Stokes is a

beauty salon A beauty salon or beauty parlor is an establishment that provides Cosmetics, cosmetic treatments for people. Other variations of this type of business include hair salons, spas, day spas, and Day spa#Medical spa, medical spas. Beauty treatme ...

owner, living with her mother Sheba and daughter Cheryl. They flee when landlord Mr. Albertson comes to demand the back rent and repossess their belongings. On the road, heading back to

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

to reclaim the family farm, the Stokes women begin a crime spree. They rob a gas station first, then head for

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

. In pursuit of pregnant Cheryl is her boyfriend, Shawn, while Melba meets up with a runaway Texas sheriff, Jim Bob Trotter. Further battles with the law along the way eventually lead to a shootout in which Jim Bob and others are killed. Melba is left alone, on the lam, but begins life again in a new town with a new look.

Cast

Production

Roger Corman had enjoyed success making films about female gangsters with ''

Bloody Mama ''Bloody Mama'' is a 1970 American exploitation crime film directed by Roger Corman, star ...

'' and ''

Big Bad Mama ''Big Bad Mama'' is a 1974 American action-crime-sexploitation comedy film produced by Roger Corman, starring Angie Dickinson, William Shatner, and Tom Skerritt, with Susan Sennett and Robbie Lee. The film is about a mother, Wilma (played by ...

'' and wanted another one. The film was announced as ''Big Bad Mama II'', then ''The American Dream'' before ultimately being known as ''Crazy Mama''. The original director was Shirley Clarke but she was fired ten days prior to filming. Roger Corman had presold the film to exhibitors and the cast and start date was set. He called in Jonathan Demme, who had made ''Caged Heat'' for Corman and was also preparing '' Fighting Mad'' for him, and offered Demme the job of directing.Chris Nashawaty, ''Crab Monsters, Teenage Cavemen and Candy Stripe Nurses - Roger Corman: King of the B Movie'', Abrams, 2013 p 147 Demme refused but Corman told him he had to if he wanted to make ''Fighting Mad''. Demme agreed if his wife could direct second unit. Demme said he told Corman, "I want to help you out, but I know this is going to end poorly... you can't jump in this fast on a movie, make it in three weeks, and then have two weeks for the editing, mix it in one day and hope for a good picture. It's going to be a mess, you're going to perceive it as a mess, you're going to get mad at me." But Corman insisted they proceed.Demme p 168 Demme said "all the actors hated the script - with good reason: it was lousy. It had a couple of good scenes in it, but it left a lot to be desired. It was one of those awful situations where you're trying to write it while you're shooting it. It also got shot too fast." Demme did make some changes to the script. In the original draft the movie ended with all the leads being killed. Demme did not like that so he changed it so that everyone escaped, except for the character played by

Ann Sothern Ann Sothern (born Harriette Arlene Lake; January 22, 1909 – March 15, 2001) was an American actress who worked on stage, radio, film, and television, in a career that spanned nearly six decades. Sothern began her career in the late 1920s ...

as Demme disliked Sothern. Corman disliked this change, feeling that there was no ending. Demme then shot an alternative ending with the family running a burger stand in Miami in 1959.Christopher T Koetting, ''Mind Warp!: The Fantastic True Story of Roger Corman's New World Pictures'', Hemlock Books. 2009 p 86-87 Producer

gave birth to her first child during production. Demme recalled " We were shooting a big gunfight/car crash scene and we had an ambulance standing by, and Julie went into labor. And our ambulance left with the producer being rushed to hospital to give birth.”

was a set dresser on the film and had his first speaking role in the movie.

Reception

Demme later said "Roger was furious at me" for changing the ending. "He thought I had totally ruined the movie, that this would be the first ''Mama'' film to lose money because it hadn't delivered all the elements. He was right, incidentally, it was the first to not make money, and he cancelled ''Fighting Mad''." Demme protested this saying it was unfair since he had warned Corman that. ''Crazy Mama'' "might end in tears." Corman agreed and made ''Fighting Mad''." On review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, 92% of 12 reviews are positive, and the average rating is 6.5/10.

Soundtrack

All I Have to Do Is Dream "All I Have to Do Is Dream" is a song made famous by the Everly Brothers, written by Boudleaux Bryant of the husband-and-wife songwriting team Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, and published in 1958. The song is ranked No. 141 on the ''Rolling Stone ...

" - Performed by

The Everly Brothers The Everly Brothers were an American rock duo, known for steel-string acoustic guitar playing and close-harmony singing. Consisting of Isaac Donald "Don" Everly and Phillip "Phil" Everly, the duo combined elements of rock and roll, country, ...

*" Black Slacks" - Performed by

Joe Bennett & the Sparkletones The Sparkletones (sometimes credited as Joe Bennett & the Sparkletones) were an American rock and roll/rockabilly group from Spartanburg, South Carolina, United States. History The Sparkletones formed in 1956 at Cowpens High School in Spartanb ...

*" Devoted to You" - Performed by

*" I've Had It" - Performed by The Bell Notes *"

Lollipop A lollipop is a type of sugar candy usually consisting of hard candy mounted on a stick and intended for sucking or licking. Different informal terms are used in different places, including lolly, sucker and sticky-pop. Lollipops are avail ...

" - Performed by

The Chordettes The Chordettes were an American female vocal quartet, specializing in traditional pop music. They are best known for their 1950s hit singles " Mr. Sandman" and " Lollipop", both of which sold over a million copies. Career The group organized i ...

Money (That's What I Want) "Money (That's What I Want)" is a rhythm and blues song written by Tamla founder Berry Gordy and Janie Bradford, which was the first hit record for Gordy's Motown enterprise. Barrett Strong recorded it in 1959 as a single for the Tamla label, ...

" - Performed by

Barrett Strong Barrett Strong Jr. (February 5, 1941 – January 28, 2023) was an American singer and songwriter known for his recording of "Money (That's What I Want)", which was the first hit single for the Motown record label. He is also known for his songw ...

Running Bear "Running Bear" is a teenage tragedy song written by Jiles Perry Richardson (a.k.a. The Big Bopper) and sung most famously by Johnny Preston in 1959. The 1959 recording featured background vocals by George Jones and the session's producer Bill ...

" - Performed by

Johnny Preston John Preston Courville (August 18, 1939 – March 4, 2011), known professionally as Johnny Preston, was an American rock and roll singer, best known for his 1959 international number one hit " Running Bear". Life and career Born in Port Arthur ...

Sleep Walk "Sleep Walk" is an instrumental song written, recorded, and released in 1959 by American instrumental rock and roll duo Santo & Johnny Farina, with their uncle Mike Dee playing the drums. Prominently featuring steel guitar, the song was record ...

" - Performed by

Santo & Johnny Santo & Johnny were an American rock and roll instrumental duo of Italian descent from Brooklyn, New York, composed of brothers Santo Farina (born October 24, 1937) and Johnny Farina (born April 30, 1941). They are known best for their instrum ...

*"Transfusion" - Performed by Nervous Norvus *"Western Movies" - Performed by The Olympics *"Endless Sleep" - Performed by

Jody Reynolds Ralph Joseph "Jody" Reynolds (December 3, 1932 – November 7, 2008) was an American rock and roll singer, guitarist, and songwriter whose song " Endless Sleep" was a major U.S. top-ten hit in the summer of 1958. His follow-up single, "Fire of L ...

(heard in the film's trailer but not in the film)

Home media

On December 17, 2010,

Shout! Factory Shout! Factory, LLC, doing business as Shout! Studios (formerly doing business as Shout! Factory, its current legal name), is an American home video and music distributor founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases, issued i ...

released the title on DVD, packaged as a double feature with '' The Lady In Red'', as part of the

Roger Corman Roger William Corman (April 5, 1926 – May 9, 2024) was an American film director, producer, and actor. Known under various monikers such as "The Pope of Pop Cinema", "The Spiritual Godfather of the New Hollywood", and "The King of Cult", he w ...

Cult Classics collection.

References

Notes

External links

* * * {{Jonathan Demme 1975 films 1975 action comedy films 1970s American films 1970s English-language films 1970s adventure comedy films 1970s chase films 1970s pregnancy films 1970s crime comedy films American action comedy films American adventure comedy films American chase films English-language action comedy films Films directed by Jonathan Demme Films produced by Julie Corman Films set in 1932 Films set in 1958 Films set in Arkansas Films set in the Las Vegas Valley Films set in Long Beach, California Films set in Los Angeles Films set in Miami Films shot in California New World Pictures films Films about families English-language crime comedy films English-language action thriller films English-language adventure comedy films

Plot

Cast

Production

Reception

Soundtrack

Home media

See also

References

Notes

External links