My month-long Martin Scorsese marathon: Boxcar Bertha

All directors have to pay thier dues, and Marty is no different. This movie is sort of the off brand Bonnie & Clyde, with some Cool Hand Luke thrown in for good measure. The acting is awkward and stilted, the sets are poorly decorated and the anachronisms fly at you so fast you stop counting after a while. For the first hour or so I found the movie to be very charming, sort of like watching a community theater play or something. But I started getting a little impatient about the third time David Carradine wound up in a chain gang.

But what about that ending?! Just as I was getting bored the movie literally decides to go out with a bang. The whole thing feels more like a Roger Corman movie than a Scorsese movie, but then right there at the end we get a sudden scene of violence mixed with some Catholic symbolism. The movie is not good, but there are some things to like about it. And watching this makes me wonder what a Depression era gangster film from today's Martin Scorsese would look like.