Before Mean Streets, Martin Scorsese directed a low-budget exploitation film about train-hopping outlaws.

Entertainment · Published 3 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: In 1972, a young Martin Scorsese took a job from producer Roger Corman to film a gritty crime drama in Arkansas. Boxcar Bertha, a loose retelling of a fictional character's life during the Great Depression, became a pivotal, if controversial, stepping stone in the director's legendary career.

Produced on a tight $600,000 budget, Boxcar Bertha was Scorsese’s second feature film. The project originated after producer Roger Corman, impressed by Scorsese’s earlier work, requested a follow-up to his own film, Bloody Mama. The resulting script, penned by Joyce and John William Corrington, drew inspiration from the book Sister of the Road. Despite the constraints of a 24-day shooting schedule in Arkansas, the production utilized authentic locomotives, including a 1920 Baldwin 2-6-2, to capture the atmosphere of the era.

The film follows Bertha Thompson, an orphan who begins riding the rails during the Depression. She eventually falls for a union organizer, Big Bill Shelly, and the pair, alongside a gambler and a former associate of Bertha’s father, inadvertently become notorious bank and train robbers. Their journey ends in tragedy, marked by violence and a final, brutal confrontation with a railway boss. Throughout the narrative, Scorsese embedded subtle nods to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, with the cast even joking about which characters represented the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion.

Critical reception was deeply divided. While some reviewers, like Roger Ebert, praised the film’s focus on mood and atmosphere, others dismissed it as a violent exploitation exercise. The film’s legacy, however, is largely defined by the advice Scorsese received from John Cassavetes after screening a rough cut. Cassavetes urged him to avoid the exploitation market and pursue more personal projects, a turning point that directly influenced the creation of Mean Streets. Today, the film remains a fascinating, if imperfect, artifact of a master filmmaker finding his voice.

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