Red T
It's ok enough. The acting is ok enough overall but no one except Bill is really given much character. Hershey is probably the strongest performance and isn't bad overall but she isn't given much backstory, motivations, or much dialouge even. Everyone else just kind of blends in. The cinematography isn't bad and is the best thing. Shots are well framed, the settings have a gritty low budget feel to them that works well, but the scenes themselves don't have a lot of compelling things going on. The worst part about this is the subpar editing. This is called boxcar bertha but if you asked me who the main character is, I'd have to say Big Bill is more the main character 60% of the time than Bertha. She doesn't get hardly any backstory, we don't see her grow up, rather we see her just do stuff in a crime adventure style plot. This can't decide if it wants to be a character study or a crime drama, heck it can't decide who the main focus is even. The plot does make sense though and is simple but never comelling and very standard stuff told in a subpar way. It truly feels like Bertha is forgotten about for most of the middle of this film and is more a vechile for telling Big Bill's story than anything. The pacing is ok enough though as this is really short for better or for worse and never overstays its welcome. Add in a generic harmonica track that plays through the entire runtime and you can see why there really isn't any reason to watch this. Even if your a fan of any actors in this. Skip it.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
09/14/23
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Steve D
Martin Scorsese lacks the talent at this point to pull this off. Few signs of the legend he will become.
Rated 2/5 Stars •
Rated 2 out of 5 stars
03/18/23
Full Review
dave s
Other than a couple of stylistic flourishes and a Christ-like image at the end, there is not much in Martin Scorsese's Boxcar Bertha that would hint at his later successes, most notably Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, two classics that would be released in the decade following Boxcar Bertha. Backed by producer Roger Corman and the AIP studio, it's a low budget period piece that follows the exploits of Bertha (Barbara Hershey) and âBig' Bill (David Carradine) as they rob their way through the south. Other than decent performances from Hershey and Carradine and a catchy, albeit somewhat tiring, music score, there's really not much to see here. Much like the characters, the plot wanders about aimlessly, the editing is choppy and inconsistent, and the direction lacks Scorsese's usual confidence, understandable when one considers the measly budget.
Rated 1.5/5 Stars •
Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars
03/30/23
Full Review
matthew d
A fine start to an American legend.
Director Martin Scorsese's crime drama Boxcar Bertha (1972) is a pretty decent movie all around considering I've always heard it was his worst film by far. Scorsese's direction features exciting shootouts and car chases with duller talking that doesn't quite get to the heart of every character here. It's definitely one of Martin Scorsese's worst films, but it's a well made first movie that's got some great scenes.
Writers John William Corrington and Joyce Hooper Corrington's script is pretty interesting with talk of Great Depression era America's desperation for jobs and money leading to Bertha's path towards robbery alongside sleazy men taking advantage of her. I was impressed with the conversation about racism in The South and police brutality in prisons. There is very compelling dialogue about union railroad workers rallying against their murderous union busting overlords, but the story focuses more on what happens to Bertha until the bittersweet end that is exciting, tragic, then leaves you a bit empty.
Scorsese has already developed his eye for intriguing and beautiful shots and cinematographer John M. Stephens has all these creative framing and panning shots. I love near the beginning with Barbara Hershey's Bertha walking down a path in a wide shot shrouded in fog for some real atmosphere. The ending shot is amazing and I don't know how they did it. I liked seeing only Bertha's legs running past the train cars, while the man chasing her is only seen in brief moments in between the boxcars. Boxcar Bertha looks pretty great with its natural lighting and cleverly orchestrated shots. Martin Scorsese was always a great director.
I liked Boxcar Bertha for its steady humor and visceral kills, but the slow pacing dragged it down a lot honestly. Editor Buzz Feitshans comes up with some intense and striking hard cuts, but an 88 minute movie should feel fast and short, not slow and awkward with moments of genius scattered in between. I like that Scorsese leaned into the crime drama and gangster stuff as it holds up more in Boxcar Bertha than the terrible romance portions. Barbara Hershey is excellent as young Bertha with her wandering adventurism, naive devotion to Shelly, endearing innocence, and entertaining robbing attitude.
I feel like producer Roger Corman gave this movie some exploitation with too many shots of a nude Barbara Hershey while she's quite young. I really feel like even though she's a beautiful girl, they're just there to leer at her creepily as she has no romantic chemistry with David Carradine at all. Carradine's performance is weirdly stilted and awkward as he sounds like he can barely get lines out. He's far too old as Big Bill Shelly and their first romantic love making feels too forced and forceful to be considered romantic. You never feel that Bonnie & Clyde or Badlands romance on the run type sweet thrill throughout Boxcar Bertha.
Barry Primus runs the show as the very engaging and entertaining Northerner gambling shyster Rake. He's charismatic, funny, and compelling as a foolish coward, who learns to stand up for himself. He's a way better character and actor than David Carradine here. Bernie Casey is very memorable and likable as Scorsese's black hero Von with his nice harmonica playing and calming presence as voice of reason for the group. You'd get to see Casey again as Bill & Ted's kind and patient history teacher in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. John Carradine is all serious and entertaining as the railroad owner Sartoris with a cool confidence that is unsettling. Martin Scorsese even cameos as a brothel patron with Barbara Hershey in a later scene that's nice.
Composers Thad Maxwell and Gib Guilbeau created really fun and uplifting bluegrass music that plucks right alongside Bertha on her journey. I actually enjoyed the silly music. It's funny to me that Boxcar Bertha came out the same year as Deliverance with similar songs.
Overall, I certainly had a good time watching Boxcar Bertha and I'm glad I saw where Scorsese started before all his classic films afterwards.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
Full Review
jim b
Senseless violence in a movie with barely any plot, just an excuse for guns, skin, and for Scorsese to try and learn his craft, which he hadn't yet.
Avoid like the plague unless you like pointless, gratuitous violence. Pure garbage,
Rated 0.5/5 Stars •
Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars
03/30/23
Full Review
Audience Member
This film is almost universally considered Scorsese's worst but personally I found a lot to like about it, most importantly the performance of the luminous Barbara Hershey. Scorsese made this film for $600,000 five years after the critical success of 1967's Who's That Knocking at My Door, this film received largely negative reviews and is viewed as a bump in the road before Mean Streets (1973) and Raging Bull (1980). No, the film is not perfect it has it's fair share of problems namely being a blatant rip-off of Bonnie and Clyde (1967) and being strangely paced. None of these flaws completely derail the film however and it is a beautiful, competently directed 90 minutes with a dazzling lead performance from one of the greatest actresses of the 1980s.
The film is based upon the writings of Ben L. Reitman and the fugitives Bertha "Boxcar Bertha" Thompson, Barbara Hershey, and "Big" Bill Shelley, David Carradine and their adventures during the American Civil War. Shelley is a union leader who is imprisoned for his actions as a striker, Thompson becomes involved with the Yankee Rake Brown, Barry Primus, and she shoots his opponent after a particularly contentious poker game. Thompson and Brown break Shelley and his black friend Von Morton, Bernie Casey, out of prison and they all go on the run together and rob members of the upper class. When the fun and games come to an end Thompson is forced to reconsider her relationship with Shelley.
The most disappointing aspects of the film are it's tawdry seemingly out-of-nowhere sex scenes and cheap violence. Hershey's sensitive performance is let down by the objectification of her body and the very un-sexy sex scenes in which real-life couple Carradine and Hershey cavort in unnatural ways. I myself have never had sexual intercourse but I have seen enough depictions of it to know that the awkward love scenes found her are not realistic or vaguely arousing. The violence is not particularly exciting, it all appears very fake, and it feels as though it cuts into what could have otherwise been a more interesting tale of lovers on the run. If Roger Corman's vision had been cut out of the film it would undoubtedly be a more satisfying experience.
The plot elements all feel very clichà (C)d and Joyce and John Corrington's screenplay does not contain the gems found in Robert Benton's screenplay for the aforementioned 1967 film. The beauty of the film is found in the acting as Hershey, Morton and Casey bring a real sense of fun and electricity to the interactions between their characters despite the copied and pasted lines in the script. Scorsese is also able to add something special to the film with his lively camera work and pretty cinematography that captures the rich colors of the Southern environment. Scorsese and the cast are able to overcome the weaknesses of the screenplay and build a film that is quite entertaining and does not overstay it's welcome at just 87 minutes.
Finally, I would like to talk about the beauty of a young Barbara Hershey. She is simply terrific, we are dazzled by her the moment we first see her, scratching her leg as she is admired by David Carradine. She proves that she is not just a great beauty throughout the rest of the film as she is able to reap genuine emotion out of the final scene in which she pursues the crucified body of her lover. The star power is clear just four years into Hershey's career and she elevates the film from just another piece of exploitation cinema to a richly textured, emotional piece of drama.
The supporting actors are fine, Carradine is rather weak but he doesn't really have to act. Primus is rather funny as the weak Yankee and Casey gives a performance that is more than the â~magical negro' stereotype, they both craft characters that we really care about, unlike Gangs of New York (2002). It is a testament to their acting ability that we are interested in their characters as again they are given very little interesting dialogue.
I really liked this film despite itself and the spirited performances really lifted the film. The cinematography and Scorsese's direction exceeded the beauty of the material they were working with. It was definitely one of the more accessible films found in Scorsese's filmography and I am not going to lie I had real fun watching it. That caused me to place it at thirteenth but I understand why some will disagree with me.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
02/01/23
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