On B List of Movie Reviews

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Boxcar Bertha (1972)

Rate: 5
Viewed: 11/06, 5/22

Boxcar
11/06: Nothing in Boxcar Bertha works for me.

I don't understand why I'm supposed to be interested in the protagonist. What is the story about? Poor Martin Scorsese who tries to be the next Dennis Hopper.

The first fundamental lesson of filmmaking is: develop the characters. The second lesson is: make me care about them. The third: get to the point. The fourth: don't fuck around too much. The fifth: get to the point already. The sixth: don't fuck around too much.

All in all, if you've seen Bonnie and Clyde, you've seen Boxcar Bertha without having actually seen it.

5/22: Raising my rating from '3' to '5', Boxcar Bertha is very average.

Okay, it's the Great Depression, and hobos are moving about and doing what they can do. But Martin Scorsese, for his second film, fails to make me care. Didn't he realize that Bonnie and Clyde came out five years before and that he was being a hack in the process?

At least, it would serve as a training ground for Scorsese, and afterwards, John Cassavetes wisely advised him: "Marty, you've just spent a whole year of your life making a piece of shit. It's a good picture, but you're better than the people who make this kind of movie. Don't get hooked into the exploitation market, just try and do something different." And the result was Mean Streets.

The cast is fine, but they don't play interesting characters. Martin Scorsese appears as a john at the end. While the photography is nice, don't be fooled by the book title Sister of the Road: The Autobiography of Box-Car Bertha because it's a work of fiction.

All in all, just think of Boxcar Bertha as a practice film for Martin Scorsese who has obviously done better.