Richard Chatten
A major disappointment. As the apocryphal prize-winning cook and master criminal, Laurene Tuttle (who later the same year had a hilarious cameo as Sheriff Chambers' wife in 'Psycho') could really have shone as Ma Barker if she'd been backed by a halfway decent script & production; but this drab-looking quickie bogs down in endless talk and poorly executed action. The high spot is probably the eye-watering scene in which Byron Foulger plays a plastic surgeon too drunk to properly handle a scalpel.
wjrprezhistorian
I agree -- it was low budget schlock at its worst -- but I enjoyed it! I enjoyed seeing a Young Don Grady (of TV's My Three Sons fame) as one of the kids in the beginning of the film...Lurene Tuttle was quite 'campy' in her portrayal of 'Ma.' I only knew her from her days as the older nurse on the late 1960's TV series 'Julia' (starring Diahann Carroll).I'll tell you how much I enjoyed this picture, I had gone to see a movie based on a Tony Award winning play earlier in the day, something that I had been looking forward to seeing, but I was thoroughly disenchanted and disgusted with it.At least, with 'Ma', I did not expect HIGH expectations of it, but I enjoyed it!
shepardjessica
This film is a fairly inaccurate representation of Ma Barker, but is great fun with some very strange scenes. The slapping of the one son is a crack-up. Lurene Tuttle (Sheriff Chambers' sweet wife in PSYCHO) is incredibly vicious and driven as the matriarch of this ignorant brood of miscreants. A 5 out of 10. Best performance = Lurene Tuttle. A lot of these cheapo exploitation flicks of the 50's and 60's are loaded with strange performances and interesting cinematography. This is available on cheap DVD and well worth a look. I waited years to find this one. Give it a shot!
Paul Curtis
This film is terrific fun! It makes up for its tiny budget with wild, over-the-top performances (Lurene Tuttle was sweet-voiced Effie on the Sam Spade radio show...WHAT a DIFFERENCE!), extreme violence (one part where they set a guy on fire gets shown TWICE!) and goofy, quotable dialogue.This is the kind of movie The Addams Family would watch with their kids.With these things in mind, viewers looking for an accurate, historical picture will be disoriented, or at least disappointed. This is definitely not a good source for American History term papers. It is intended as a source for giggly thrills, and is a good one.
