Robert De Niro’s Sweater Vest in Bloody Mama

Robert De Niro as Lloyd Barker in Bloody Mama (1970) Vitals Robert De Niro as Lloyd Barker, slow-witted bandit and junkie Kentucky, Summer 1933 Film: Bloody Mama Release Date: March 24, 1970 Director: Robert 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…