Boxcar Bertha

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Christian M 4d 'Boxcar Bertha' marks the beginning of what could be called Scorsese’s "shooting cinema": a more direct style with a stronger emphasis on action, where the Bible, sex, and nudity reappear without a clearly defined function—whether as provocation, character development, or moral statement. The film also leans into political cinema, portraying class struggle and oppressed workers who must organize and resist, recalling 'Metropolis'. Unlike 'Who’s That Knocking at My Door', the narrative is linear and accessible, with no intent to disorient the viewer. Editing takes precedence over the screenplay, while the insistent use of music can become exhausting. The central group works well together, but Barbara Hershey stands out as the emotional core and clear protagonist. The unsettling ending, built around absence rather than resolution, gives the film its strength. Imperfect but valuable, it helps illuminate the evolution of Scorsese’s filmmaking. See more Tom M Nov 18 I love a bit of Scorcese. But not particularly this bit. Low budget thrills which I used to love from these types of films no longer excite me. Not sure how much personal input Marty was allowed but this isn't what you'd expect from the director of today. See more Red T 09/14/2023 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. See more Steve D 03/18/2023 Martin Scorsese lacks the talent at this point to pull this off. Few signs of the legend he will become. See more dave s 03/09/2022 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 ‘Big' 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. See more 04/19/2019 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. See more Read all reviews

Boxcar Bertha

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