Boxcar Bertha (1972)

45% of critics liked it
(20 reviews)
33% of users liked it
(5,129 ratings)

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.… More 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, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 28 min.
Directed By: Martin Scorsese
Written By: Ben L. Reitman, Joyce Hooper Corrington
Genres: Drama, Action & Adventure, Mystery & Suspense, Classics

In Theaters: Jun 14, 1972 Wide
On DVD: Mar 19, 2002
Studio: MGM Home Entertainment

Critic Reviews

Variety Staff, Variety
The Roger Corman production, shot on an austere budget in Arkansas area, is routinely directed by Martin Scorsese.
Howard Thompson, New York Times
While there is a striking similarity [to Bonnie and Clyde] in general content, background, fine color photography and even the use of hillbilly music, the new, more modest film stands curiously on its own.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Scorsese remains one of the bright young hopes of American movies.
Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader
'Promising juvenilia' is about the most one can say for it.
, TV Guide's Movie Guide
Lots of violence, typical of the Corman exploitation mill, but the film still shows the budding talent of Scorsese in his use of moving-camera and period detail.
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com
Scorsese's second film is one of his weakest, a violent impersonal work that feels like an extension of such rural crime-gangsters features as the exploitation flick Bloody Mama or the arty and better one Bonnie and Clyde.
Ryan Cracknell, Movie Views
Part exploitation movie, part visionary cinema, Boxcar Bertha is caught somewhere in between both.
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
Scorsese hadn't developed a personal vision yet, but a few moments during the heat of battle reveal a lively, playful camera. Not to mention the on-target performances by Hershey and her co-stars David Carradine, Barry Primus and Bernie Casey.
David Nusair, Reel Film Reviews
...an often interminable experience.
Bill Chambers, Film Freak Central
Although a Martin Scorsese retrospective could easily survive its absence, Boxcar Bertha is a cornerstone of the director's filmography
Gabe Leibowitz, eCinemaCenter.com
Scorsese at his most droll and uninspired.
Steve Crum, Kansas City Kansan
Early Scorcese starring hippie Hershey; earthy
Ian Nathan, Empire Magazine
For exploitation-enthusiasts and Scorsese completists only.
Christopher Null, Filmcritic.com
Bertha is fundamentally just a Bonnie ripoff.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Slightly better than its formulaic offering.
, Film4
For the most part it accords to basic B-movie rubric.
Scott Weinberg, eFilmCritic.com
Certainly not among Scorsese's finest, but it showed signs of the great things to come.

Read all 17 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Melvin W

"Life made her an outcast. Love made her an outlaw." I'm glad I wasn't alive when Scorsese made his first two movies. Both his first, Who's That Knocking At My Door?, and second, Boxcar Bertha, are both pretty bad in my opinion. Maybe if I had seen them prior… More
"Life made her an outcast. Love made her an outlaw." I'm glad I wasn't alive when Scorsese made his first two movies. Both his first, Who's That Knocking At My Door?, and second, Boxcar Bertha, are both pretty bad in my opinion. Maybe if I had seen them prior to all of his great movies, I would have liked them more. Watching them now, after seeing movies like Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, it is hard to like them, especially Boxcar Bertha. It is nothing like you would expect from Scorsese. The movie is pretty aimless and the only thing that at all makes it seem like a Scorsese movie is all the violence. The movie follows Bertha through the depression. She falls in love with a union man and ends up braking him out of a chain gang, along with another acquaintance of Bertha and a large black man. The four then go on a robbing spree. This is an a really weird movie. It seems almost episodic and there's no real development of either characters or plot. Stuff just happens. There is no real pacing. Bertha hops a train, fucks a guy, meets another guy, kills a guy, robs a guy; who cares. From this point on Scorsese was the best though. It isn't how you start, but how you finish. With his first two movies, he was finding his way as a director and he definitely found it, because right after this he made Mean Streets and then arguably his best movie, Taxi Driver. The guys is definitely a legend, but I would still recommend skipping this one; I don't care how big a fan you are of him.
danny d

one of scorses's first films, this underrated "B" movie is the epitomy of exploitive nonsense, but at the same time carries that out in such a unique and entertaining way. the film has its absurd moments where things happen with no explanation, but at the end of the… More
one of scorses's first films, this underrated "B" movie is the epitomy of exploitive nonsense, but at the same time carries that out in such a unique and entertaining way. the film has its absurd moments where things happen with no explanation, but at the end of the film it has enough character to be considered very good for what it was. the end of the film specifically gives us a strong indicator of what scorsese would become as a filmmaker.
Sarah G

Certainly not Scorsese's best film to date but I did enjoy it towards the end. The film is incredibly similar to Bonnie Clyde, but it isn't as good as that. I felt some of the performances in this film were lacking in euthasiam and emotion. Barbara Hersehy was pretty… More
Certainly not Scorsese's best film to date but I did enjoy it towards the end. The film is incredibly similar to Bonnie Clyde, but it isn't as good as that. I felt some of the performances in this film were lacking in euthasiam and emotion. Barbara Hersehy was pretty good and gave a good performances a runaway Bertha. David Carridine wasn't as good as let's say, his recent performance in Kill Bill. There are certainly early evidence os the usual Scorsese trademarks. Ganster/crime, Scorsese making a cameo role, rapid editing and a violent climax. But perhaps to some people who might not be a Scorsese fan like myself, might not have known that this was a Scorsese film. I would say this is a dated film and perhaps not everyone would watch this because of that. Overall worth the watch if you're a huge Scorsese fan like me, as it has early elements of the typical Scorsese trademarks.
Walter M

[font=Century Gothic]"Boxcar Bertha" is set in the South during the Depression where following the death of her father, Bertha(Barbara Hershey) takes to riding the rails, first hooking up with labor leader Big Bill Shelly(David Carradine). She later becomes partners with a… More
[font=Century Gothic]"Boxcar Bertha" is set in the South during the Depression where following the death of her father, Bertha(Barbara Hershey) takes to riding the rails, first hooking up with labor leader Big Bill Shelly(David Carradine). She later becomes partners with a gambler, Rake Brown(Barry Primus), but a shooting sends them on the lam where she reunites with Shelly and another old friend, Van Morton(Bernie Casey).[/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]Directed by Martin Scorsese and produced by Roger Corman, "Boxcar Bertha" is a sexy and violent take on living outside of the margins of society, while at the same time treating bank robbery as a political act.(This is the rare instance where Scorsese makes a politcal film but the symbolism of the final scene would be something he would revisit later.) And I have no problem with that as long as nobody gets hurt, and the movie is fun as long as that does not happen.[/font]
Mike T

Although this film is brutal and exploitative, there is definite directorial precision behind it that makes it quite interesting to watch.
Wu C

You see a lot of Scorsese camera work in his first feature. It's kind of like a poor man's 'Bonnie & Clyde'. Worth seeing at least once.