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Boxcar BerthaScorsese got his big break here, working under the tutelage of legendary genre producer Roger Corman. Most notable at the time for the amount of flesh Hershey managed to display, there are nevertheless hints of the director's future greatness in Boxcar Bertha.
The story follows orphaned "Boxcar" Bertha (Hershey) as she fights for the rights of railroad workers, then hooks up with union leader Big Bill Shelly (Carradine) and goes on a shooting spree through Arkansas, robbing from the rich and giving to the poor.
For the most part it accords to basic B-movie rubric. So, the sex and violence comes thick and fast, characters are sketchy and the dialogue might have been written by monkeys (it's actually from Joyce Hooper Corrington and John William Corrington, who scripted The Omega Man the year before and would follow with 1973's Battle For The Planet Of The Apes). Scorsese does manage to incorporate some personal touches however, most notably in the religious symbolism of the grisly crucifixion scene.
When Scorcese's contemporary John Cassavetes saw the film he told Marty he was wasting his time on stuff he didn't believe in. The success of Mean Streets proved Cassavetes right but this is an interesting footnote to Scorsese's career, even if it demonstrates rather more energy than skill.
Verdict Low-budget action in which Hershey and Carradine shoot 'em up then get 'em off. Principally of interest for what Marty did next, but made with enough style to entertain.
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