Kate Barker (Shelley Winters) leaves her husband George (Alex Nicol) in Arkansas and embarks on a crime spree with her four sons, Herman (Don Stroud), Lloyd (Robert De Niro), Arthur (Clint Kimbrough), and Fred (Robert Walden), in the hopes of making a fortune. They're joined by Fred's cellmate Kevin Dirkman (Bruce Dern) and Herman's lover Mona Gibson (Diane Varsi).
Bloody Mama contains examples of:
- Addled Addict: Lloyd is a morphine addict who seems more-or-less functional at first, but becomes increasingly dopey and out of it until he OD's, becoming the first Barker to die.
- Bitch Slap: Kate slaps her sons in the face when they do things she disapproves of.
- Chained to a Bed: While the family is hiding out by a lake, Lloyd tells Rembrandt, a woman who swam from the other side, that he's a Barker, then rapes her. Afterwards, not wanting her to report them, the Barkers tie her to a bed in her shredded swimsuit.
- Character Narrator: The passage of time is shown by having Kate narrate over news footage and newspaper headlines from the time period.
- Cry into Chest: Herman cries into Kate's chest after he accidentally kills someone.
- Defeat by Modesty: The Barkers abduct three old women during a bank robbery, drive them out into the country, and force them to remove most of their clothes to stop them from going for help.
- Et Tu, Brute?: Herman hits Kate, knocking her to the ground, and declares that he's the new head of the family. Kate lies on the floor, sobbing, "Not you. Not you."
- Dies Wide Open: After Kate drowns Rembrandt in the bathtub, she floats on her face with her eyes open.
- Freeze-Frame Ending: A series of stills of Kate's death, alternated with stills of her sons' deaths.
- Hates Being Nicknamed: The Barkers abduct Samuel Adams Pendlebury (Pat Hingle), who allows them to call him Sam, but corrects them if they call him Buddy or Mister, to the bafflement of Herman, who can't believe Sam is pushing his luck with the hostage-takers.
- I Have a Family: When Herman asks Sam if he's scared, Sam answers, "I have a wife, two sons, and a daughter, all of whom I love very much, so I'm not entirely without fear, no. What's more to the point, they need me." Unmoved, Herman replies, "Yeah, they'd better need you. $300,000 worth."
- Molotov Cocktail: During a shootout, Fred throws one at a car. Law enforcement agents dive out of the way before the car explodes.
- R-Rated Opening: The movie opens with a teenage Kate being held down by her brothers while her father rapes her.
- Spiteful Spit: When the sheriff says that a girl named Suzie Turner accused the Barker boys of raping her, Kate says, "All right then, you just spit on her for me," and spits in the dust.
- This Is a Work of Fiction: Averted. "Any similarity to Kate Barker and her sons is intentional."
