Boxcar Bertha (1972)

The Great Depression saddled the United States working class with several years of hard times. People didn’t have money for cars, and couldn’t afford to take the bus. Desperate to go anywhere other than where they were stuck, drifters and dreamers rode the rails, hopping on freight trains to crisscross the country in search of better places and brighter days. The nights were passed swapping stories and lore, none more compelling than the legend of Boxcar Bertha (1972). Martin Scorcese's first studio movie but second directorial effort, after his debut film Who's That Knocking at My Door (1967), Barbara Hershey plays the title character Boxcar Bertha. She's a girl from Arkansas who's dirt poor thanks to her dad crashing his cropduster and dying. These days, she rides the rails while railing the Union activist Big Bill Shelly (David Carradine). When Bertha pops a cap in a lawyer who accuses her gambling buddy (Barry Primus) of cheating at a card game, they all, along with the black former employee of Bertha's dad, Von Morton (Bernie Casey), get put in prison. After escaping, they resort to a life of crime, criss-crossing the country robbing anything they can. They really piss off rail boss H. Buckram Sartoris (John Carradine), and soon enough he's investing every penny into putting Boxcar Bertha and her buddies in a pine box! Bertha's not afraid to show boob, butt and even box in this high class B movie. Whether she's rolling in the hay with David Carradine, walking around a barn naked, or showing all three B's as her and Carradine find some time from fleeing the law to break into a bedroom and use it for something other than sleeping, Barbara Hershey was one sweet treat! Her work in Boxcar Bertha shows that even during the Great Depression there were some tramps with great bodies!