This is a good example of the kind of movies which were influenced massively by Bonnie and Clyde (1967). That film was one of the key American films that kick-started a golden age of 70's cinema that would later become known as New Hollywood. Little Laura and Big John is hardly one of those films in fairness but it nevertheless is clearly indebted to its famous precursor. It shares its rural southern USA location and its period setting, in this case the 20's. It also is a crime drama biopic about real criminals who were a romanticised male/female couple. More specifically, it's based around the exploits of the Ashley Gang who operated in Florida. Their leader John Ashley was jailed for accidentally killing a man, only to escape and become a bank robber and bootlegger.
Despite its real-life basis, its characters aren't very well developed sadly. The main star is Karen Black, who is good enough but her role is a very limited one; the main character is played by Fabian Forte who tries his best but lacks the necessary screen charisma to make his character as interesting as he needs to be. It is odd that this low budget film was made after Karen Black had already rose to considerable prominence off the back off Easy Rider (1969) and Five Easy Pieces (1971), because it has the definite feel of a minor movie and her role is quite under-written; you would have expected her to be involved in a product that better utilised her at this stage in her career. Some have already noted the contemporary 70's musical score which is used in this period set drama sounds a little odd in this context. However, I personally didn't mind this very much even if it was somewhat unusual. The film on the whole is not very good, yet hardly as bad as it's made out to be either. Its story could certainly have been told in a much more engaging fashion but it was still a half-decent period crime flick in my eyes.
