Ma Barker's Killer Brood is a crime film

Crime film

Crime films are films which focus on the lives of criminals. The stylistic approach to a crime film varies from realistic portrayals of real-life criminal figures, to the far-fetched evil doings of imaginary arch-villains. Criminal acts are almost always glorified in these movies.- Plays and films...

, released in 1960

1960 in film

The year 1960 in film involved some significant events, with Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho the top-grossing release in the U.S.-Events:* April 20 - for the first time since coming home from military service in Germany, Elvis Presley returns to Hollywood, California to film G.I...

. The low budget film was directed by Bill Karn and starred Lurene Tuttle

Lurene Tuttle

Lurene Tuttle was a character actress, who made transitions from vaudeville to radio, to films and television. Her most enduring impact was as one of network radio's most versatile actresses...

 as the title character, Ma Barker

Ma Barker

Kate "Ma" Barker was the mother of several criminals who ran the Barker gang from the "public enemy era", when the exploits of gangs of criminals in the U.S. Midwest gripped the American people and press...

, and Tristam Coffin as Arthur Dunlop.

The film was mainly about Ma Barker and her four sons who terrorize the South and Midwest in the 1930s, with a string of kidnappings, robberies, and murders. The gang members also meet with John Dillinger

John Dillinger

John Herbert Dillinger, Jr. was an American bank robber in Depression-era United States. He was charged with, but never convicted of, the murder of an East Chicago, Indiana police officer during a shoot-out. This was his only alleged homicide. His gang robbed two dozen banks and four police stations...

 (Eric Sinclair), and Baby Face Nelson

Baby Face Nelson

Lester Joseph Gillis , known under the pseudonym George Nelson, was a bank robber and murderer in the 1930s. Gillis was known as Baby Face Nelson, a name given to him due to his youthful appearance and small stature...

 (Robert Kendall).

Cast

• Lurene Tuttle
  Lurene Tuttle
  Lurene Tuttle was a character actress, who made transitions from vaudeville to radio, to films and television. Her most enduring impact was as one of network radio's most versatile actresses...
  
   (Katherine Clark 'Ma' Barker)
• Tristram Coffin (Arthur Dunlop)
• Paul Dubov (Alvin Karpis)
• Nelson Leigh (George Barker)
• Myrna Dell (Lou, Kelly's Girl)
• Victor Lundin (Machine Gun Kelly
  Machine Gun Kelly
  George Kelley Barnes , better known as "Machine Gun Kelly", was an American gangster during the prohibition era. His nickname came from his favorite weapon, a Thompson submachine gun. His most famous crime was the kidnapping of oil tycoon & businessman Charles Urschel in July 1933 for which he,...
  
  )
• Don Grady
  Don Grady
  Donald Michael Agrati , better known as Don Grady, is an American composer, musician and actor. He is remembered both as one of Mickey Mouse's original Mouseketeers, and as Robbie Douglas, from My Three Sons. His sister was also an actress, billed as Lani O'Grady...
  
   (Herman as a Boy)
• Gary Ammann (Doc as a Boy)
• Donald Towers (Lloyd as a Boy)
• Michael Smith (Fred as a Boy)
• Don Spruance (Herman Barker)
• Ron Foster (Doc Barker) aka (Austin Bennett)
• Roye Baker (Lloyd Barker)
• Eric Morris
  Eric Morris (actor)
  Eric Morris is an American acting teacher and actor who founded his own theory of acting based on the works of Lee Strasberg and Martin Landau...
  
   (Fred Barker)
• Byron Foulger (Dr. Guelffe)
• Eric Sinclair (Dillinger)
• Robert Kendall (Baby Face Nelson)
• Irene Windust (Mrs. Khortney)
• John McNamara (Mr. Khortney)
• Dan Riss (Baxter)
• David Carlile (Avery)
• Charles Tannen (Sheriff No. 1)
• Daniel White (Sheriff No. 2)
• Riley Hill (Deputy)
• Owen Bush (Carney)
• Bernard Pludow (Charlie)
• Paul Power (Minister)
• George Dockstader (Guard)
• Wally Rose (Guard)
• Bill Couch (Guard)
• William Lon Karn (Boy with basketball)
• Gil Baumgart (Fingers)