Crazy Mama (1976) (Director's Series; Special Edition)

This black comedy, set in the 1950s, is director Jonathan Demme's second feature. The screenplay, which is based on a story by Frances Doel, finds raw delight in the humorous possibilities inherent in vast horizons, crime sprees, and rock & roll, making for an unusually good-natured crime comedy that centers around depression-era child Melba Stokes (Cloris Leachman) and her journey from California to Arkansas to reclaim the family farm. Melba originally hits the road with her mother, Sheba (Ann Sothern), and daughter, Cheryl (Linda Purl), but soon gathers a motley band of male stragglers. Whenever one of the malcontents registers a complaint against society, the ladies respond by happily aiding them in a crime that unites their sympathies in the eyes of the law. Demme took on this film, which was a Roger Corman production, on very short notice and came up with a gem in which the cast looks to be having as much fun as the audience.