Based on the book Sister of the Road by Ben L. Reitman, Boxcar Bertha is the story of two train robbers/lovers who become fugitives when the titular character is charged with the murder of a gambler while they deal with the plight of railroad workers in the American South. Directed by Martin Scorsese and screenplay by Joyce H. Corrington and John William Corrington, the film is a low-budget crime drama produced by Roger Corman that play into the exploit of two lovers who rob trains while wanting to maintain a life without complications. Starring Barbara Hershey, David Carradine, Barry Primus, Bernie Casey, John Carradine, Harry Northup, and Victor Argo. Boxcar Bertha is an exciting and compelling film from Martin Scorsese.
The film is about a young woman who meets a union organizer as they fall in love and later rob banks with a couple of friends following the murder of a gambler. It’s a film that is a dramatic take of the real life criminal who gets involved with crime accidentally as she has a resentment of those who control the railroad and the rich who didn’t suffer as it all takes place during the Great Depression. The film’s screenplay by Joyce H. Corrington and John William Corrington is largely straightforward in its narrative and how the titular character (Barbara Hershey) was brought into crime after her brief encounter with the union organizer Big Bill Shelly (David Carradine) who helps her settle matters relating to her father while later meeting up with a gambler in Rake Brown (Barry Primus) as she accidentally kills another gambler in defending Brown. Bertha, Brown, Shelly, and a friend in Von Morton (Bernie Casey) would start a gang to rob trains and banks though they would get the unwanted attention of H. Buckram Santoris (John Carradine) who wants to stop the gang.
Martin Scorsese’s direction is largely simple in its approach to the direction while he would make some unique compositions throughout the film. Shot on location in Arkansas, the film does play into a period of time during the Great Depression in the American South where everyone is struggling as Scorsese uses a lot of wide shots to get a look at the surroundings that the characters venture into. Scorsese’s direction emphasizes more on close-ups and medium shots to get to know the characters and their situation while using some stylized moments in the compositions. Notably in some of the film’s violent moments where it has bits of style in the way characters are killed but there’s also a sense of drama into the situations that happen. Even in the third act where Santoris’ power starts to come into play where things get serious but there is also moments where Bertha endures not just loss but also uncertainty as she tries to figure out a life after crime and chaos. Overall, Scorsese creates an exhilarating and captivating film about a young woman who takes part in a series of robberies as a way to stick up for the railroad workers.
Cinematographer John Stephens does excellent work with the film’s cinematography as it is largely straightforward in terms of the visuals with its usage of natural lighting for many of the daytime exteriors with some low-key lighting for the interior/exterior scenes set at night. Editor Buzz Feitshans does nice work with the editing as it does have some stylish moments in a few jump cuts for some of the action while maintaining some rhythmic cuts for some of the drama. Sound mixer Donald F. Johnson does terrific work with the sound as it’s straightforward in capturing some of the atmosphere of the locations as well as the sounds of gunfire. The film’s music by Gib Guilbeau and Thad Maxwell is fantastic for its mixture of folk, blues, and country music to play into the period of the times as it has elements of traditional music and contemporary pieces.
The film’s superb cast include some notable small roles from Harry Northup as a gambler that Bertha and Brown encounter whom the former would kill, Victor Argo and David Osterhout as a couple of law enforcers trying to go after Bertha and her gang, and John Carradine in a wonderful performance as the lawman H. Buckram Santoris as a man who is trying to protect the financial interests of the railroad and uphold the law where he would have his own encounters with Bertha and her gang. Barry Primus is fantastic as the gambler Rake Brown as a gambler from the north who befriends Bertha as he is reluctant to take part in robberies only to see the financial benefits of the trade. Bernie Casey is excellent as Von Morton as a friend of Bertha who is loyal and cunning where he helps out Shelly in getting out of jail and take part in the robberies.
David Carradine is brilliant as Big Bill Shelly as a union organizer struggling to help the railroad workers as he endures abuse from the law prompting him to venture into crime while falling for Bertha whom he wants a good life with. Finally, there’s Barbara Hershey in an incredible performance as the titular role as a young woman who is trying to find her way following her father’s death where she finds herself becoming a criminal to support herself as well as go after those that was doing some injustice towards those trying to make a decent living.
Boxcar Bertha is a marvelous film from Martin Scorsese. Featuring a great cast, a compelling story, nice visuals, and a superb music soundtrack, it’s a film that has Scorsese exploring the world of crime but in a different setting while using the limited resources he has to stray from some of the conventions of the B-films that producer Roger Corman is known for. In the end, Boxcar Bertha is a remarkable film from Martin Scorsese.
Martin Scorsese Films: (Who’s That Knocking on My Door?) – (Street Scenes) – (Mean Streets) – Italianamerican - Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore - Taxi Driver - New York, New York – American Boy: A Profile of Steven Prince - (The Last Waltz) – Raging Bull - The King of Comedy - After Hours - The Color of Money - The Last Temptation of Christ - New York Stories-Life Lessons - Goodfellas – Cape Fear (1991 film) - The Age of Innocence (1993 film) - (A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies) – (Casino) – (Kundun) – (My Voyage to Italy) – Bringing Out the Dead - (The Blues-Feel Like Going Home) – Gangs of New York - (The Aviator) – No Direction Home - The Departed - Shine a Light - Shutter Island - (A Letter to Elia) – (Public Speaking) - George Harrison: Living in the Material World - Hugo (2011 film) - The Wolf of Wall Street - (The Fifty Year Argument) – The Silence (2016 film) - (The Irishman (2019 film)) - Killers of the Flower Moon - (An Afternoon with SCTV)
© thevoid99 2018
Directed by Hal Ashby, Bound for Glory is the story about the folk singer Woody Guthrie and how he came to prominence during the Great Depression as a voice for the people suffering from the Great Depression. Loosely based on Guthrie’s autobiography and adapted into script by Robert Getchell, the film explores the evolution of Guthrie’s music just as he tries to help out a group of Dust Bowl refugees in California during the Great Depression as Guthrie is played by David Carradine. Also starring Melinda Dillon, Ronny Cox, Gail Strickland, and Randy Quaid. Bound for Glory is an extraordinary film from Hal Ashby.
It‘s 1936 in Pamba, Texas as Woody Guthrie seeks to find work and money for his family while dealing with the Dust Bowl. With no jobs available, Guthrie leaves his family to go to California where he would meet all sorts of characters during his journey as he eventually reaches California by train and car where he meets a group of Dust Bowl refugees. Upon meeting folk singer Ozark Bule (Ronny Cox), Guthrie would eventually find an outlet for what he sees through folk music and eventually become a hero of the people through the radio. Yet, when radio sponsors want Guthrie to not sing controversial material and be compromised. Guthrie would make a drastic decision that would make him a hero to the world of American culture.
While most bio-pics often showcase how a person became famous and such, what makes this film different is that it only places to a certain part of the life of Woody Guthrie. Largely in how he would become a folk hero to many during the Great Depression and spread his voice to the people while having to deal with the responsibility of taking care of his family and being there for them. At the same time, he has to deal with what people want him to sing and in places where he has to sing to those who have no idea or any care about what he’s singing about.
While a lot of the events of the screenplay are fictional in order to tell the story of a man trying to fight the system as he has to deal with all sorts of forces and authority. It also shows a man who is flawed since he is neglectful towards his family at times though he doesn’t mean to. It’s a story that allows Woody Guthrie to be humanized rather than make him into a bigger icon as he’s just a man that wants to help people out and not ask for much in return. While the people he meets in his journey would definitely shape his outlook into the world, some would be helpful while others would just steer him into a direction that would have him rebel.
Hal Ashby’s direction is definitely stylish as well as engaging for the way he re-creates late 1930s America during the Great Depression. Notably as he sets the film in California as parts of Texas and the American Southwest where it’s a world that is wide open where people are moving all over the country looking for work. Ashby’s direction is often ever-moving where he uses all sorts of hand-held cameras to capture the crowd moving around including the first-ever use of the Steadicam for some of those scenes. There is something freeing and loose in those scenes along with the scenes where Guthrie hops on the train where he’s left to his own devices and deals with whatever he has to face. By the time he’s in California, it’s a place where there’s opportunities but also hard-ship as he realizes what is going on and is able to do something about it.
When he sings songs on the radio and for shows in places where he is extremely out of place, the direction shows a sense of claustrophobia where it feels like a different film of sorts. Even as the confines of the environment of where Guthrie has to do this and that has him acting out. Notably late in the film where he brings his family from Texas to California only to abandon them again where it shows that he is definitely lost and unsure of what to do. The film’s ending is poignant for not just the decision Guthrie makes in this very beautiful environment that he doesn’t belong. It’s where Guthrie goes afterwards as with the songs he sings where each song is served as a device to tell a story. Overall, Ashby creates a very fascinating and uncompromising portrait one of American music’s great figures.
Cinematographer Haskell Wexler does exquisite work with the film‘s very beautiful cinematography to complement the landscape of the American Southwest while utilizing soft lenses to play up its beauty. Editors Robert C. Jones and Pembroke J. Herring does wonderful work with the editing to use montages for a few scenes of Woody‘s road trips as well as more straightforward cuts for the rest of the film. Production designer Michael Haller, along with set decorator James Berkley and art directors James Spencer and William Sully, does brilliant work with the set pieces from the look of the camps to the homes and places that Woody encounters.
Costume designer William Theiss does nice work with the costumes to play up the look of late 1930s period where the men wear ragged clothes and the women wear something that‘s classy but also ragged. Sound mixer Don Parker does terrific work with the sound to capture the raucous nature of the impromptu concerts and atmosphere of the camps. Music supervisor Leonard Rosenman creates a unique soundtrack filled with a lot of the folk music of the times as well as many of the songs by Woody Guthrie that is performed by David Carradine along with some additional orchestral pieces to play up orchestral versions of Guthrie’s songs.
The casting by Lynn Stalmaster is excellent as it features some memorable appearances from James Hong as a diner owner, Brion James as a pick-up truck driver at the border, M. Emmet Walsh as a driver whose wife was offended by a comment Woody makes, Bernie Kopell as Woody’s agent who tries to get him big gigs, Ji-Tu Cumbuka as a hobo that Woody meets on the train, John Lehne as the radio station manager who tries to get Woody to play it safe, Elizabeth Macey as the wife of a young migrant worker, and Randy Quaid as the young migrant worker who befriends Woody in California. Gail Strickland is terrific as Pauline who befriends Woody in California as she would become someone who would confuse Woody in his own journey.
Melinda Dillon is great in two different roles as the folk singer Memphis Sue whom Woody would duet for songs on the radio and as Woody’s first wife Mary who tries to deal with Woody’s new role and his abandonment. Ronny Cox is amazing as folk singer Ozark Bule who gets Woody to spread his music all over California through the radio only to deal with the troubles Woody has to deal with as he tries to help him to compromise. Finally, there’s David Carradine in a magnificent performance as Woody Guthrie where Carradine displays a great sense of charm and wit to the man while proving to be a very engaging singer that can bring a lot of the attitude that Guthrie is known for.
Bound for Glory is an outstanding film from Hal Ashby that features a superb performance from David Carradine as Woody Guthrie. The film is definitely one of the most compelling music bio-pics for deviating from convention and tell the story of how Guthrie became a voice for the people. It’s also a film that revels into the world of Guthrie’s music and how is still manages to connect many years since they were made. In the end, Bound for Glory is a remarkable film from Hal Ashby.
Hal Ashby Films: The Landlord - Harold and Maude - The Last Detail - Shampoo - Coming Home - Being There - Second-Hand Hearts - (Lookin’ to Get Out) - (Let’s Spend the Night Together) - (Solo Trans) - (The Slugger’s Wife) - 8 Million Ways to Die
© thevoid99 2012
