Martin Scorsese: Ranking His Movies From Worst To Best

23. Boxcar Bertha

Martin Scorsese's second feature film, Boxcar Bertha, was a loose adaptation of the life of Bertha Thompson written by Ben L. Reitman, Sister of the Road. Coming out of the Roger Corman exploitation production line, it starred Barbara Hershey in the title role with David Carradine, Barry Primus and Bernie Casey in supporting roles. The most obvious drawback to Boxcar Bertha is its obvious indebtedness to Bonnie and Clyde - in a sense this is a low budget, B-movie reworking of the same themes, with Bertha and her associates caught up in the political upheavals of Depression-era America and forced into a life of crime. Scorsese's directorial flourishes are occasionally evident, but the overall weakness of the material itself makes this a minor work in his output. It's far from great, but probably doesn't deserve its 43% Rotten Tomatoes rating, and at least legendary critic Roger Ebert saw in this film Scorsese's potential to go on to bigger and better things.