Actor/Director John Cassavetes said to Martin that he spent a year "Making *beep* after watching a screening (according to the imdb trivia), but I disagree, I thought this movie - although it did have a forced political message - was quite entertaining. I personally enjoyed it more than "Bonnie and Clyde". I don't think Cassavetes started to make great films until THE KILLING OF A CHINESE BOOKIE, which came out a few years after this one.
shareI've heard this story, and while I would not dismiss Boxcar Bertha as a "piece of *beep*", Cassavetes had a point.
Scorsese would not have had a bright future making crummy exploitation movies like this. We should be thankful that he was wise enough to make a U-Turn and go straight into something much more interesting and artistic like Mean Streets.
Actually, when Scorsese finished Mean Streets, Cassavetes loved it and told him not to cut anything out. Then when Scorsese asked, "What about the nude scene?", Cassavetes replied, "Oh yeah... you can cut that out".
I don't think Cassavetes started to make great films until THE KILLING OF A CHINESE BOOKIE, which came out a few years after this one.
Well I think if you go back to the time- before almost of all of Scorsese's great work, I would be pretty annoyed this film too.
shareI'm not particularly a Cassavetes enthusiast and have only seen some of his movies. But if he knew Scorsese and recognized talent in certain scenes, I think his comment was not unfair. You can see at some moments that the talent of the director doesn't match up with the rest of the production crew, the budget and the typical themes of exploitation. It's not exactly the worst movie ever but it lacks in so many departments and is mediocre at best (actually I would even argue there are lots of exploitation movies that are much worse in quality and production value but are simply much more fun to watch - the so bad it's good genre).
shareAccording to the trivia section, Cassavetes immediately followed the "you´ve spent a year making a piece of sh-t" comment up with "it´s a good film, but you´re better than the people who make this kind of movie. Don´t get hooked into the exploitation market".
"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan
Thanks for adding that. It makes most comments here irrelevant because complete context is unknown.
shareCassavetes blows. He never made a great film in his life, only weird and different ones that people mistake for great. Even his best films have only a few great scenes & endless, completely unnecessary and boring pretentious baggage.
"Boxcar Bertha" and its shoe-string budget poetry is much preferable to many of Scorsese's bloated show-off Hollywood films with totally pointless virtuosity and no poetry. "Gangs of New York,""The Aviator" or "Shutter Island" come to mind, films I had no desire whatsoever to see twice much less the 20 or 30 times I've seen "Raging Bull," "Taxi Driver," "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore," "Mean Streets" and "Goodfellas" each.
Yes, of course people who disagree with your judgement are "mistaken". I´m not exactly a Cassavetes fan myself - even though A Woman Under The Influence is pretty great, but this is silly. Especially as it was previously clarified that he, in fact, didn´t mean quite what some claim he meant based on a snippet of a sentence lifted out of context. Agree though that BB is a more lively and genuine-feeling film than most of his output over the past 15 or so years.
"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan
I was considering that quote while I watched the movie for the first time, and I felt a little defensive on BB's behalf. Obviously it's pretty schlocky but it's really not *beep* I thought the last 1/3rd or so (when Bertha goes solo) was really excellent (and minus the nutso shotgun fiesta).
But I assume Cassavetes was speaking in terms of Scorsese's potential talent, and was warning Scorsese not to go down the commercial road. In that regard he was obviously correct.
And I agree that there is more heart in this than in many of his later works, although there are obviously trade-offs.
Lets remember the time
ALL or most all your leading directors now (in scorsese's age range) got their start with Corman
Why?
Because he made pictures fast and cheap
They weren't always real good, but hows a director supposed to get a resume
You don't have to stand tall, but you do have to stand up!