Boxcar Bertha (1972), one of acclaimed director Martin Scorsese's earliest films, is an extremely loose adaptation of "Sister of the Road," the fictionalized autobiography of radical and transient Bertha Thompson as written by physician Dr. Ben L. Reitman (Ben Reitman). One of producer Roger Corman's infamous Exploitation films, the movie was made with a minuscule $600,000 budget and taught Scorsese how to make films quickly and economically. Martin Scorsese Martin Scorsese (pronounced as Scor-SEH-see) (born November 17, 1942 in Queens, New York, USA) is an American film director. ... Autobiography (from the Greek auton, self, bios, life and graphein, write) is biography, the writing of a life story, from the viewpoint of the subject. ... Ben Reitman ( 1879- 1942) was an American anarchist, best remembered today as a lover of Emma Goldman. ... Roger William Corman (born April 5, 1926) is an American producer and director of low-budget films; as such, he has apprenticed many now-famous directors, stressing the importance of budgeting and resourcefulness. ... Exploitation films or trash cinema is the name given to a genre of films, extant since the earliest days of moviemaking, but popularized in the 1970s. ...

Besides the name of the heroine and her freight riding, very little of the film bears any resemblence to the original story written in "Sister of the Road". The film tells the story of Bertha Thompson (played by Barbara Hershey) and "Big" Bill Shelley (played by David Carradine), two train robbers and lovers who are caught up in the plight of railroad workers in the American South. When Bertha is implicated in the murder of a wealthy gambler, the pair also become fugitives from justice. While this story adheres to certain conventions of exploitation narrative, it also offers a surprisingly frank look at race and gender issues in the 1930s. Barbara Hershey Barbara Hershey is an American actress (b. ... Carradine playing Bill in Kill Bill. ... There are various types of trains designed for particular purposes, see rail transport operations. ... The U.S. Southern states or The South, known during the American Civil War era as Dixie, is a distinctive region of the United States with its own unique historical perspective, customs, musical styles, and cuisine. ... Jump to: navigation, search // Events and trends The 1930s were described as an an abrupt shift to more radical lifestyles, as countries were struggling to find a solution to the global depression. ...

The character Bertha Thompson, long popularly thought to have been a real person, was actually the creation of Reitman combining his own life story with those of various female acquaintances, including former lover, Emma Goldman. Emma Goldman (June 27, 1869 – May 14, 1940) was a Lithuanian-born anarcho-communist known for her anarchist writings and speeches. ...

External links

• Boxcar Bertha at the Internet Movie Database