Main Cast: Barbara Hershey, David Carradine, Barry Primus, Bernie Casey, John Carradine
Release Year: 1972
Country: US
Run Time: 88 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Produced by Roger Corman and directed by Martin Scorsese, Boxcar Bertha is a Bonnie and Clyde-like yarn set during the Depression. The title character, played by Barbara Hershey, links up with union organizer David Carradine (Hershey's real-life lover at the time) after the death of her father. Running afoul of anti-union forces, Bertha and Carradine are forced into a life of crime. Whereas Bonnie and Clyde robbed banks, Boxcar Bertha's specialty is trains. A story of this nature can only end in tragedy, and wait until you see Carradine's symbolic demise! For the record, there really was a Boxcar Bertha Thompson, and it is her autobiography, Sister of the Road, that serves as the basis for Joyce and John Corrington's screenplay. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Hooking up with legendary B-movie producer Roger Corman as an avenue into the movie business, Martin Scorsese directed his second feature, and earned his Director's Guild card, with Boxcar Bertha (1972). One of a slew of late-'60s-early-'70s Bonnie and Clyde (1967) rip-offs, complete with a car chase and bloody climax, Boxcar Bertha manages to be a bit better than the usual exploitation movie while following the Corman edict to include nudity and violence at regular intervals without that much regard for story coherence. Though the central players were still finding their way as actors, Boxcar Bertha contains flashes of Scorsese's burgeoning directorial talent, from the jump-cut final shootout and expressive dolly shots, to the disturbing close-ups that signal a crucifixion. Though Boxcar Bertha did not exactly advance Scorsese's career at the box office, it did provoke John Cassavetes to admonish the young filmmaker to make movies that meant something; Scorsese responded by making his superb, highly personal Little Italy chronicle Mean Streets (1973). ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
Victor Argo - McIver Brother; Marianne Dole - Mrs. Mailer; Ann Morell - Tillie; Harry Northrup - Harvey Hall; David R. Osterhout - Mclver Brother; Joe Reynolds - Joe Dreft; Gayne Rescher - Brothel Client [uncredited]; Martin Scorsese - Brothel Client; "Chicken" Holleman - Michael Powell; Grahame Pratt - Emeric Pressburger
Credit
Bob Modes - Costume Designer, Paul Rapp - First Assistant Director, Martin Scorsese - Director, Buzz Feitshans - Editor, Barbara Pokras - Editor, Gib Guilbeau - Composer (Music Score), Thad Maxwell - Composer (Music Score), David Nichols - Production Designer, John M. Stephens - Cinematographer, Julie Corman - Producer, Roger Corman - Producer, Don F. Johnson - Sound/Sound Designer, Ryder Sound Services Inc. - Sound/Sound Designer, John William Corrington - Screenwriter, Joyce Hooper Corrington - Screenwriter, Boxcar Bertha Thompson - Book Author
Boxcar Bertha (1972), one of director Martin Scorsese's earliest films, is a loose adaptation of Sister of the Road, the fictionalized autobiography of radical and transient Bertha Thompson as written by physician Dr. Ben L. Reitman. One of producer Roger Corman's famous exploitation films, the movie was made with a modest $600,000 budget and taught Scorsese how to make films quickly and economically.
Besides the name of the heroine and her freight riding, very little of the film bears any resemblance to the original story written in Sister of the Road. The film tells the story of Bertha Thompson (played by Barbara Hershey) and "Big" Bill Shelly (played by David Carradine), two train robbers and lovers who are caught up in the plight of railroad workers in the American South. When Bertha is implicated in the murder of a wealthy gambler, the pair become fugitives from justice. While this story adheres to certain conventions of exploitation narrative, it also offers a surprisingly frank look at race and gender issues in the 1930s.
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