Boxcar Bertha
Director: Martin Scorsese
Year Released: 1972
Rating: 2.0
Early Scorsese effort about whores (Barbara Hershey), Negroes and Communists (David Carradine) and how they get under the skin of backwards-thinking Southerners. Okay, so it isn't exactly Raging Bull, but at least it's not an embarrassment - it's fast-moving and carefree, and does end with Carradine being nailed to a boxcar, foreshadowing the Catholic themes that would emerge in Scorsese's oeuvre, and even other 'crucifixion'-type moments in other films (La Motta in Raging Bull, Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver). Curiously, Marty cast himself in a sleazy bit part - like in Taxi Driver - but this time as one of Bertha's johns (who doesn't want to sleep alone).
