Shelley Winters

Nothing can redeem Ma Barker (Shelley Winters) in "Bloody Mama" (1970). In a virulently ironic opening sequence, a little girl runs — in lyrical slow-mo — through sunlit woods. When her hillbilly dad and brothers catch up with her, they gang-rape the child, inspiring her fervent... more vow to breed boys of her own, who will "kill for me."

What follows is a sleazy, incestuous spree, as this amoral mama leads her unhinged brood deeper into lawlessness. Irony reasserts itself when a foursquare family man (Pat Hingle), whom the gang has kidnapped, "fathers" the boys into cutting the umbilical cord.

Winters in "Bloody Mama" (Courtesy the Everett Collection)