Boxcar Bertha
Life Made Her An Outcast. Love Made Her An Outlaw.
Based on a spellbinding true story, Boxcar Bertha is a "beautifully directed" (The New York Times) tale of railroad renegades and runaway romance. Bristling with searing energy and the raw, "sensual" (Motion Picture Herald) performances of Barbara Hershey and David Carradine, the film delivers a "humor and warmth" (Cue) that's right on track!
Free spirited Bertha (Hershey) is a small-time crook with a "love 'em and leave 'em" philosophy... until she falls hard for the union man - and Robin-Hood-of-the-rails - Big Bill Shelly (Carradine). Stealing from the rich and giving to the workers, Bertha and Bill soon become the most notorious train robbers in the South. But as their crimes grow more brazen, the law grows more ruthless, and the duo discovers - too late - that their lifetime of larceny may have bought them a one way ticket... to a deadly destination!
Member Reviews
Certainly not unimportant... - secondtimevirgin
Definitely not as important as Who's That Knocking at my Door? or Taxi Driver, this is certainly not your average Roger Corman produced film.
Artful shots, interesting subject matter (much more interesting than Bonnie and Clyde) and not terrible acting considering the nature of the film.
The film is loosely based on Sister of the Road by Dr. Ben L. Reitman, who was one of the famous anarchist Emma Goldman's lovers.Unimportant early Scorsese - Superdave
This early, quickly and cheaply shot Bonnie and Clyde wannabe shows so little of the dizzying visual flair of later Scorsese projects that it might well have been shot by anybody. The rambling, unconnected events of the story jog along so much like a freight car on the rails, meandering from place to place, with random encounters, random crimes and random violence resulting, that it has to be a designed metaphor for life on the road during the Depression. Hopelessness breeds lawlessness is the message here, as it was in Bonnie and Clyde, with crime being the only way an individual could assert himself on the grim world around. It's not a very pretty idea, and anyway this movie generates too little character or visual interest to make one ponder for very long on the ills of the world Bertha inhabits. The world is grim and hard, but nothing here is so compelling that the viewer is forced to really confront his view of the setting, the way one does with Hard Times, for example. And this movie lacks the slick production values, zippy pace and sense of adventure of Bonnie and Clyde. Basically it is what it is, an early paycheck for both Scorsese and Hershey and an okay if quickly forgettable ramble through the Midwest on Depression freight cars. There are worse ways to spend time, but there are a lot of much better movies made about this period, not to mention by this director.Road to Violence - Jimmy_Jam
A largely forgettable movie... had anyone else directed it. Told to direct an exploitation film in the style of 'Bonnie and Clyde,' Scorsese does just that, and the plot is as can be expected (simple). It is the flashes of directorial brilliance that lift this film from the grave, and would take flight in his next film, the masterpiece called 'Mean Streets.' Scorsese's emerging style is here, in installments, but explodes in a blood-bath ending, channeling the rhythmic violence and disturbing subject matter of his later films.
Member Reviews
Read All...
Certainly not unimportant... - secondtimevirgin
Definitely not as important as Who's That Knocking at my Door? or Taxi Driver, this is certainly not your average Roger Corman produced film.
Artful shots, interesting subject matter (much more interesting than Bonnie and Clyde) and not terrible acting ...Unimportant early Scorsese - Superdave
This early, quickly and cheaply shot Bonnie and Clyde wannabe shows so little of the dizzying visual flair of later Scorsese projects that it might well have been shot by anybody. The rambling, unconnected events of the story jog along so much like a freight ...Road to Violence - Jimmy_Jam
A largely forgettable movie... had anyone else directed it. Told to direct an exploitation film in the style of 'Bonnie and Clyde,' Scorsese does just that, and the plot is as can be expected (simple). It is the flashes of directorial brilliance that lift ...