Vitals

Robert De Niro as Lloyd Barker, slow-witted bandit and junkie

Kentucky, Summer 1933

Film: Bloody Mama
Release Date: March 24, 1970
Director: Roger Corman
Wardrobe Credit: Thomas Costich

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Happy Mother’s Day! One of the more infamous mothers in criminal and cinematic history was Kate “Ma” Barker, whom FBI director J. Edgar Hoover posthumously bestowed with the reputation as the ruthless ruler of her sons’ Depression-era gang of killers and kidnappers… though the boys’ associate Harvey Bailey later scoffed that Ma “couldn’t plan breakfast,” let alone a criminal enterprise.

Still, Hoover’s PR smear persisted through decades with productions like an episode of The Untouchables starring Claire Trevor, Ma Barker’s Killer Brood (1960) starring Lurene Tuttle, Bloody Mama (1970) starring Shelley Winters, and Public Enemies (1996) starring Theresa Russell. (Note that the latter was a 1996 drama and not Michael Mann’s 2009 film of the same name which focused on John Dillinger’s gang, though it did feature Giovanni Ribisi in a limited role as Barker gang member Alvin “Creepy” Karpis.)

One of Robert De Niro’s earliest roles was among the ensemble cast of Bloody Mama, one of several 1930s-set exploitation movies produced by American International Pictures to cash in on the groundbreaking popularity of Bonnie and Clyde (1967). Interestingly, Bloody Mama flips the usual disclaimer by outwardly stating “Any similar to Kate Barker and her sons is intentional,” when—in fact—the movie shares very little in common with its real-life counterparts. Of course, this includes the transformation of the dowdy, timid middle-aged Ma Barker into a Tommy-gunning criminal mastermind with a slew of lovers (including one shared with her son!), again shared as Hoover’s justification for Ma’s violent death alongside her son Fred following a January 1935 gunfight with FBI agents in their Florida swamp hideout.

De Niro stars as Lloyd Barker, who was actually serving a sentence for mail robbery at Leavenworth from 1922 through 1938—thus missing the entirety of the movie’s Depression-era timeline, as the real Lloyd never actually ran with the Barker-Karpis gang during their early ’30s heyday. Bloody Mama depicts Lloyd as an active—if mentally incapable—member of Ma’s gang until his fatal morphine overdose in the Everglades. In real life, Lloyd joined the U.S. Army following his release from prison and worked as a cook at the Fort Custer POW camp during World War II. He survived both his family’s notorious crime spree and the war only to be killed by his wife on March 18, 1949, while he was gainfully employed as a supermarket manager in Colorado.

---

What’d He Wear?

Following a prologue that contextualizes why Ma Barker grew into such a violently vindictive adult, Bloody Mama begins with the Barker boys dressed in ragged overalls. Their wardrobes evolve with their larcenous riches, perhaps best illustrated by Herman Barker (Don Stroud) in his gangster-inspired tailoring of pinstripe suits with dark shirts and contrasting light silk ties. (In real life, Herman had even less of a chance to be part of the gang than Lloyd, as he fatally shot himself in August 1927 after killing Wichita police officer J.E. Marshall following a robbery.)

Presented as the simplest-minded of the bunch, Lloyd’s style never goes full gangster glam—scrappier in a rotation of plaid flannel shirts and this uncharacteristically foppish golf-informed look while the Barker gang relaxes at their summer hideout near the fictional Bearskin Lake in Kentucky. Lloyd’s lakeside flirtation with a young swimmer named Rembrandt (Pamela Dunlap) devolves into a disturbing sexual assault, kidnapping, and murder, as Shelley Winters finally gets her cinematic revenge for drowning in A Place in the Sun (1951) and The Night of the Hunter (1955)… though her victory would be short-lived as The Poseidon Adventure was only two short years away.

Lloyd’s pale-cream shirt appears to be an anachronistic poplin blend of cotton and polyester, more rooted from off-the-rack gear made during the late 1960s production timeframe rather than the 1930s when men’s shirts like this would have been exclusively made from natural fibers like cotton, linen, or silk. The shirt has a spread collar, front placket, single-button cuffs, and a breast pocket where he stows a Baby Ruth candy bar that he mindlessly gnaws while hitting on Rembrandt.

Lloyd’s V-neck sweater vest is incongruous not just for his style but also the scene as his fellow gang members are all lounging in underwear and pajamas. The vest appears to be made from a fine-gauge knit wool or wool/acrylic blend with tightly spaced vertical micro-fibs. The body is primarily a light stony shade of cream, featuring a bold, geometric jacquard pattern across the front: across the upper chest, tall dark-navy diamonds rise into pointed peaks while the center section shifts into a more traditional argyle-inspired arrangement of smaller cream diamonds floating within a sharp red field. A broad, ribbed dark-navy waistband anchors the busy pattern by mirroring the diamond-pointed chest design.

I highly doubt that Lloyd’s vacation plans included a jaunt to the links, but he looks dressed for golf in his old-fashioned knickerbockers made from a warm brown woolen flannel. Also known by the shortened term “knickers”, these baggy knee-length breeches date to at least early 19th century New York state, though they remained a popular fixture of American—and, eventually, English—sportswear well into the early 20th century, particularly when extended two or four inches past the knee as golfers’ “plus-twos” or “plus-fours”, respectively.

Lloyd’s brown knickers have low-slung belt loops that go unused, even though he doesn’t support the trousers with braces or any other form of suspension beyond a gravity-testing faith. The side pockets are closed with single-button flaps, mirroring the scalloped single-button flaps over the two set-in back pockets. They are roomy through the legs, then gathered and fastened just below the knees for the characteristically bloused silhouette.

Rembrandt: Why have you got your feet in the water? I mean, with your shoes on!
Lloyd: I guess I’m just artistic!

Lloyd’s lake-drenched shoes are two-tone spectator oxfords, styled with brown leather straight toe-caps, heels, and lace panels that contrast against the white leather vamps and quarters. Though normalized into respectable—if rakish—summer footwear by the 1930s, spectator shoes once suffered from less reputable connotations when they were also known as “co-respondent shoes” for their association with third-party co-respondents in English divorce cases. Lloyd wears his spectator shoes with dark-brown tonal argyle-patterned socks that extend tightly up to each knee.

---

How to Get the Look

Whether you’re pulling together an intentional look to impress your mom or just kicking back with the boys in the 1930s equivalent of athleisure, Lloyd Barker models a sporty, spring-ready outfit of an argyle-style sweater vest, knickerbockers, and spectator shoes that makes him look considerably more respectable than he is.

• Pale-cream poplin shirt with spread collar, front placket, breast pocket, and single-button cuffs
• Cream, navy, and red diamond-patterned fine-gauge wool knit V-neck sweater vest
• Brown woolen flannel flat-front knickerbockers with low-slung belt loops, single-button flapped side pockets, and two back pockets with scalloped single-button flaps
• Brown-and-white leather cap-toe oxford-laced spectator shoes
• Dark-brown tonal argyle-patterned knee-high socks

---

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.