Boxcar Bertha

Boxcar Bertha is a 1972 American romantic crime drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and produced by Roger Corman, from a screenplay by Joyce H. Corrington and John William Corrington. Made on a low budget, the film is loose adaptation of Sister of the Road, a pseudo-autobiographical account of the fictional character Bertha Thompson. It was Scorsese's second feature film. Plot Boxcar Bertha Thompson, a poor southern girl, is orphaned when her father's crop dusting airplane crashes. The Great Depression hits, and she soon takes to freighthopping. A few years later, she meets Big Bill Shelly, a union organizer, and they become lovers. Together with Rake Brown, a gambler, and Von Morton, who worked for Bertha's father, they start train and bank robbery by accident, and eventually face up to the railway boss H. Buckram Sartoris in the American South. The group become notorious fugitives of the law and are hunted down by the railway company. In the process, Rake is gunned down and Bill and Von are sent to a chain gang. Bertha escapes but is lured into prostitution. She meets Von by chance in a tavern for blacks and learns that Bill broke the jail and is now in hiding. Von leads Bertha to the hiding place where she has a moment of sweet reunion with Bill before Sartoris's henchmen break in and crucify Bill. Before they can leave, Von appears, wipes out the henchmen and releases Bertha from the bondage. Cast Barbara Hershey as Boxcar Bertha David Carradine as Big Bill Shelly Barry Primus as Rake Brown Bernie Casey as Von Morton Harry Northup as Deputy Sheriff Harvey Hall John Carradine as Sartoris Victor Argo as McIver #1 David Osterhout as McIver #2