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Movies like Boxcar Bertha

Key Features:
Great Depression, Train journey, Unionization, Social injustice, Rebellion, Outlaw, Violence-high, Romance, Anti-establishment, Corruption, Historical drama, Class conflict, Nudity-moderate
Tone:
gritty, serious, dramatic
Target Audience:
Historical drama fans, Social justice advocates, Counter-culture cinema, Gritty narratives
Emotional Arc:
Hope → Struggle → Defiance

Boxcar Bertha

1972-06-14
Boxcar Bertha Poster - Find Similar Movies

"Boxcar" Bertha Thompson, a transient woman in Arkansas during the violence-filled Depression of the early '30s, meets up with rabble-rousing union man "Big" Bill Shelly and the two team up to fight the corrupt railroad establishment.

Genres
Crime, Drama
Cast
Barbara Hershey, David Carradine, Barry Primus, Bernie Casey, John Carradine, Victor Argo, David Osterhout, Harry Northup, Joe Reynolds, Marianne Dole
Crew
Martin Scorsese, Joyce Hooper Corrington, John William Corrington
Rating
5.824(225 votes)
Boxcar BerthaBoxcar Bertha
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Emperor of the North

Hobos encounter a sadistic railway conductor that will not let anyone "ride the rails" for free.



Bonnie and Clyde
7.5

In the 1930s, bored European-American waitress Bonnie Parker falls in love with a European-American ex-con named Clyde Barrow and together they start a violent crime spree through the country, stealing cars and robbing banks.



Bloody Mama
5.5

Sexually abused as a young girl, Kate "Ma" Barker grows into a violent and powerful woman by the 1930s. She lovingly dominates her grown sons and grooms them into a pack of tough crooks. The boys include the cruel Herman, who still shares a bed with Ma; Fred, an ex-con who fell in love with a fellow prisoner; and Lloyd, who gets high on whatever's handy. Together they form a deadly, bizarre family of Depression-era bandits.



Bound for Glory
6.883

A biography of Woody Guthrie, one of America's greatest folk singers. He left his dust-devastated Texas home in the 1930s to find work, discovering the suffering and strength of America's working class.



Smokey and the Bandit

A race car driver tries to transport an illegal beer shipment from Texas to Atlanta in under 28 hours, picking up a reluctant bride-to-be on the way.



The Journey of Natty Gann

America is in the depths of the Great Depression. Families drift apart when faraway jobs beckon. A courageous young girl confronts overwhelming odds when she embarks on a cross-country search for her father. During her odyssey, she forms a close bond with two diverse traveling companions: a magnificent, protective wolf, and a hardened drifter.



The Train Robbers
6.3

A gunhand named Lane is hired by a widow, Mrs. Lowe, to find gold stolen by her husband so that she may return it and start fresh.



King of the Hill
6.791

Based on the Depression-era bildungsroman memoir of writer A. E. Hotchner, the film follows the story of a boy struggling to survive on his own in a hotel in St. Louis after his mother is committed to a sanatorium with tuberculosis. His father, a German immigrant and traveling salesman working for the Hamilton Watch Company, is off on long trips from which the boy cannot be certain he will return.



Hard Times
6.8

In the depression, Chaney, a strong silent streetfighter, joins with Speed, a promoter of no-holds-barred street boxing bouts. They go to New Orleans where Speed borrows money to set up fights for Chaney, but Speed gambles away any winnings.



Fat City
Fat City(1972)
7

Two men, working as professional boxers, come to blows when their careers each begin to take opposite momentum.



Bad Company
6.406

After Drew Dixon, an upright young man, is sent west by his religious family to avoid being drafted into the Civil War, he drifts across the land with a loose confederation of young vagrants.



Blue Collar
7.3

Fed up with mistreatment at the hands of both management and union brass, and coupled with financial hardships on each man's end, three auto assembly line workers hatch a plan to rob a safe at union headquarters.



Convoy
Convoy(1978)
6.3

Trucker Rubber Duck and his buddies Pig Pen, Widow Woman and Spider Mike use their CB radios to warn one another of the presence of cops. But conniving Sheriff Wallace is hip to the truckers' tactics, and begins tricking the drivers through his own CB broadcasts. Facing constant harassment from the law, Rubber Duck and his pals use their radios to coordinate a vast convoy and rule the road.



The Night of the Hunter

In Depression-era West Virginia, a serial-killing preacher hunts two young children who know the whereabouts of a stash of money.



Sounder
Sounder(1972)
7.5

The oldest son of a loving and strong family of black sharecroppers comes of age in the Depression-era South after his father is imprisoned for stealing food.



The Big Heat
7.7

After the suspicious suicide of a fellow cop, tough homicide detective Dave Bannion takes the law into his own hands when he sets out to smash a vicious crime syndicate.



Tough Guys
6

Harry Doyle and Archie Lang are two old-time train robbers, who held up a train in 1956 and have been incarcerated for thirty years. After serving their time, they are released from jail and have to adjust to a new life of freedom. and soon realize that they still have the pizzazz when, picking up their prison checks at a bank, they foil a robbery attempt.



The Far Country
6.9

During the Klondike Gold Rush, a misanthropic cattle driver and his talkative elderly partner run afoul of the law in Alaska and are forced to work for a saloon owner to take her supplies into a newly booming but lawless Candian town.



Railroad Tigers
6

A railroad worker in China in 1941 leads a team of freedom fighters against the Japanese in order to get food for the poor.



F.I.S.T.
F.I.S.T.(1978)
6.526

Johnny Kovak joins the Teamsters trade-union in a local chapter in the 1930s and works his way up in the organization. As he climbs higher and higher his methods become more ruthless and finally senator Madison starts a campaign to find the truth about the alleged connections with the Mob.



Honkytonk Man
6.349

During the Great Depression, a young boy leaves his family's Oklahoma farm to travel with his country musician uncle who is trying out for the Grand Ole Opry.



Big Bad Mama
5.6

Mama and daughters get forced by circumstances into bootlegging and bank robbing, and travel across the country trailed by the law.



The Cassandra Crossing

Passengers on a European train have been exposed to a deadly disease, and nobody will let them off the train.



Norma Rae
Norma Rae(1979)
7.2

Norma Rae is a southern textile worker employed in a factory with intolerable working conditions. This concern about the situation gives her the gumption to be the key associate to a visiting labor union organizer. Together, they undertake the difficult, and possibly dangerous, struggle to unionize her factory.



The Phenix City Story
6.548

A crime-busting lawyer and his initially reluctant attorney father take on the forces that run gambling and prostitution in their small Southern town.



Paper Moon
7.859

During the Great Depression, a con man finds himself saddled with a young girl who may or may not be his daughter, and the two forge an unlikely partnership.



Gunfight at the O.K. Corral

Lawman Wyatt Earp and outlaw Doc Holliday form an unlikely alliance which culminates in their participation in the legendary Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.



Giant
Giant(1956)
7.6

Wealthy rancher Bick Benedict and dirt-poor cowboy Jett Rink both woo Leslie Lynnton, a beautiful young woman from Maryland who is new to Texas. She marries Benedict, but she is shocked by the racial bigotry of the White Texans against the local people of Mexican descent. Rink discovers oil on a small plot of land, and while he uses his vast, new wealth to buy all the land surrounding the Benedict ranch, the Benedict's disagreement over prejudice fuels conflict that runs across generations.



Native Son
5.443

A young black man named Bigger Thomas takes a job working for a highly influential Chicago family, a decision that will change the course of his life forever.



Thomas and the Magic Railroad

Mr. Conductor's supply of magic gold dust, which allows him to travel between Shining Time and Thomas's island, is critically low. Unfortunately, he doesn't know how to get more. Meanwhile, Thomas is fending off attacks by the nasty diesel engines. Getting more gold dust will require help from Mr. C's slacker cousin, his new friend Lily and her morose grandfather, plus the secret engine.



Barfly
Barfly(1987)
6.9

Downtrodden writer Henry and distressed goddess Wanda aren't exactly husband and wife: they're wedded to their bar stools. But, they like each other's company—and Barfly captures their giddy, gin-soaked attempts to make a go of life on the skids.



McCabe & Mrs. Miller
7.149

A gambler and a prostitute become thriving business partners in a remote Old West mining town until a large corporation arrives on the scene.



Chisum
Chisum(1970)
6.7

Cattle baron John Chisum joins forces with Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett to fight the Lincoln County Land War in the New Mexico Territory of 1878.



Silverado
Silverado(1985)
6.962

Four unwitting heroes cross paths on their journey to the sleepy town of Silverado. Little do they know the town where their family and friends reside has been taken over by a corrupt sheriff and a murderous posse. It's up to the sharp-shooting foursome to save the day, but first they have to break each other out of jail, and learn who their real friends are.



Johnny Guitar
7.412

On the outskirts of town, the hard-nosed Vienna owns a saloon frequented by the undesirables of the region, including Dancin' Kid and his gang. Another patron of Vienna's establishment is Johnny Guitar, a former gunslinger and her lover. When a heist is pulled in town that results in a man's death, Emma Small, Vienna's rival, rallies the townsfolk to take revenge on Vienna's saloon – even without proof of her wrongdoing.



Buck and the Preacher
6.258

A wagon master and a con-man preacher help freed slaves dogged by cheap-labor agents out West.



Rumble Through the Dark

In the dark landscape of the Mississippi Delta, a former bare-knuckle fighter must win one last fight to pay off his debts to the local mob boss and save his childhood home—the stakes nothing less than life or death.



Hell Drivers
6.7

An ex-con trying to go clean ends up working for a crooked trucking company swindling money.



The Long Riders
6.6

The origins, exploits and the ultimate fate of the James gang is told in a sympathetic portrayal of the bank robbers made up of brothers who begin their legendary bank raids because of revenge.



The Violent Men
6.4

A former Union Army officer plans to sell out to Anchor Ranch and move east with his fiancée, but the low price offered by Anchor's crippled owner and the outfit's bullying tactics make him reconsider. When one of his hands is murdered he decides to stay and fight, utilizing his war experience. Not all is well at Anchor with the owner's wife carrying on with his brother who also has a Mexican woman in town.



Runaway Train
7

A hardened convict and a younger prisoner escape from a brutal prison in the middle of winter only to find themselves on an out-of-control train with a female railway worker while being pursued by the vengeful head of security.



Harriet
Harriet(2019)
7.3

The extraordinary tale of Harriet Tubman's escape from slavery and transformation into one of America's greatest heroes. Her courage, ingenuity and tenacity freed hundreds of slaves and changed the course of history.



The Chase
The Chase(1966)
7.081

The escape of Bubber Reeves from prison affects the inhabitants of a small Southern town.



The Big Bird Cage
5.6

Women rebel against slave labor in a filthy jungle prison where they feed sugar cane to a mechanical maw.



The Homesman
6.527

When three women living on the edge of the American frontier are driven mad by harsh pioneer life, the task of saving them falls to the pious, independent-minded Mary Bee Cuddy. Transporting the women by covered wagon to Iowa, she soon realizes just how daunting the journey will be, and employs a low-life drifter, George Briggs, to join her. The unlikely pair and the three women head east, where a waiting minister and his wife have offered to take the women in. But the group first must traverse the harsh Nebraska Territories marked by stark beauty, psychological peril and constant threat.



Bandidas
Bandidas(2006)
6.032

When a ruthless robber baron takes away everything they cherish, a rough-and-tumble, idealistic peasant and a sophisticated heiress embark on a quest for justice, vengeance…and a few good heists.



Wagon Master
6.6

Two young horse traders guide a Mormon wagon train to the San Juan Valley and encounter rugged terrain, the cutthroat Clegg gang, hospitable Navajo, and moral challenges on the journey.



Seabiscuit
7.059

True story of the undersized Depression-era racehorse whose victories lifted not only the spirits of the team behind it but also those of their nation.



Cardboard Boxer
6.3

Gentle and broken, a homeless man fights others on video for money but soon finds comfort in an unlikely friend and the lost diary of a young girl.



Thieves Like Us
6.536

Three criminals escape from prison and embark on a robbery spree across USA. Along the way, one of them falls in love while they plan a final heist before going their separate ways.



1900
1900(1976)
7.8

The epic tale of a class struggle in twentieth century Italy, as seen through the eyes of two childhood friends on opposing sides.



Places in the Heart
7.177

In 1935 rural Texas, recently widowed Edna Spaulding struggles to survive with two small children, a farm to run, and very little money in the bank - not to mention a deadly tornado and the unwelcome presence of the Ku Klux Klan. Edna is aided by her beautician sister, Margaret; a blind boarder, Mr. Will; and a would-be thief, Moze, who decides to teach Edna how to plant and harvest cotton.



If You Meet Sartana Pray for Your Death

After a stagecoach is robbed and the passengers murdered, a long and tangled series of surprise attacks and murderous double-crosses, leaves the coach's strongbox in the hands of the killer Lasky. It is up to the legendary hero Sartana to track down the missing money and determine just who is ultimately behind the grisly robberies and killings.



Harlan County U.S.A.
7.472

This film documents the coal miners' strike against the Brookside Mine of the Eastover Mining Company in Harlan County, Kentucky in June, 1973. Eastovers refusal to sign a contract (when the miners joined with the United Mine Workers of America) led to the strike, which lasted more than a year and included violent battles between gun-toting company thugs/scabs and the picketing miners and their supportive women-folk. Director Barbara Kopple puts the strike into perspective by giving us some background on the historical plight of the miners and some history of the UMWA. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with New York Women in Film & Television in 2004.



The Sting
The Sting(1973)
8

A novice con man teams up with an acknowledged master to avenge the murder of a mutual friend by pulling off the ultimate big con and swindling a fortune from a big-time mobster.



Speaking of the Devil

Bull Webster is a taxi driver with some work problems on his hands: the Spider Corporation, a giant financial holding company, has decided to buy out his taxi co-operative in order to make it go bankrupt and purchase its land at a low cost.



The Day of the Locust

Hollywood, 1930s. Tod Hackett, a young painter who tries to make his way as an art director in the lurid world of film industry, gets infatuated with his neighbor Faye Greener, an aspiring actress who prefers the life that Homer Simpson, a lone accountant, can offer her.



The Indian Fighter
6.2

A scout leading a wagon train through hostile Indian country gets involved with a Sioux chief's daughter.



Bomber
Bomber(1982)
6.405

Bomber is an unemployed boat captain. One day he meets Jerry, a manager of boxers who are struck by the force of his fists. That is when they see the chance to win big money.



Gridlock'd
6.7

After a friend overdoses, Spoon and Stretch decide to kick their drug habits and attempt to enroll in a government detox program. Their efforts are hampered by seemingly endless red tape, as they are shuffled from one office to another while being chased by drug dealers and the police.



Night Passage
6.412

Grant MacLaine, a former railroad troubleshooter, lost his job after letting his outlaw brother, the Utica Kid, escape. After spending five years wandering the west and earning his living playing the accordion, he is given a second chance by his former boss.



The Big Bang
5.299

A private detective is hired to find a missing stripper but the job turns complicated when everyone he questions ends up dead. From the mean streets of Los Angeles to the desolate desert of New Mexico, Cruz must contend with a brutal Russian Boxer, three brash LAPD detectives, an aged billionaire looking for the Big Bang, and the billionaire's stunningly gorgeous wife. The solution to the mystery will cost ten lives, net $30 million and just might explain - well - everything.



Jubal
Jubal(1956)
6.8

Jubal Troop is a cowboy who is found in a weakened condition, without a horse. He is given shelter at Shep Horgan's large ranch, where he quickly makes an enemy in foreman Pinky, a cattleman who accuses Jubal of carrying the smell of sheep.



Once Upon a Time in the West

As the railroad builders advance unstoppably through the Arizona desert on their way to the sea, Jill arrives in the small town of Flagstone with the intention of starting a new life.



Of Mice and Men
7.242

Two drifters, one a gentle but slow giant, try to make money working the fields during the Depression so they can fulfill their dreams.



North West Frontier

In the rebellious northern frontier province of colonial India, British Army Captain Scott, a young prince and the boy's governess escape by an obsolete train as they are relentlessly pursued by Muslim rebels intent on assassinating the prince.



Matewan
Matewan(1987)
7.36

Filmed in the coal country of West Virginia, "Matewan" celebrates labor organizing in the context of a 1920s work stoppage. Union organizer, Joe Kenehan, a scab named "Few Clothes" Johnson and a sympathetic mayor and police chief heroically fight the power represented by a coal company and Matewan's vested interests so that justice and workers' rights need not take a back seat to squalid working conditions, exploitation and the bottom line.



Wendy and Lucy
6.835

A near-penniless drifter's journey to Alaska in search of work is interrupted when she loses her dog while attempting to shoplift food for it.



Hombre
Hombre(1967)
7

John Russell, disdained by his "respectable" fellow stagecoach passengers because he was raised by Indians, becomes their only hope for survival when they are set upon by outlaws.



Cannonball
5.526

Coy "Cannonball" Buckman and his blazing red Pontiac enter the Trans-America Grand Prix, an underground road race spanning the continent in which there are no rules, no speed limits and no heed for the law. En route, Buckman jockeys with an international ensemble of racers for a $100,000 purse. But there are none more important than Cade Redman, his direct competition for a guaranteed spot on the elite Modern Motors racing team.



Will Penny
6.606

Will Penny, an aging cowpoke, takes a job on a ranch which requires him to ride the line of the property looking for trespassers or, worse, squatters. He finds that his cabin in the high mountains has been appropriated by a woman whose guide to Oregon has deserted her and her son. Too ashamed to kick mother and child out just as the bitter winter of the mountains sets in, he agrees to share the cabin until the spring thaw. But it isn't just the snow that slowly thaws; the lonely man and woman soon forget their mutual hostility and start developing a deep love for one another.



12 Mighty Orphans
7.2

Haunted by his mysterious past, a devoted high school football coach leads a scrawny team of orphans to the state championship during the Great Depression and inspires a broken nation along the way.



The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

While the Civil War rages on between the Union and the Confederacy, three men – a quiet loner, a ruthless hitman, and a Mexican bandit – comb the American Southwest in search of a strongbox containing $200,000 in stolen gold.



Butcher's Crossing
5.86

In the 1870s, a young Harvard dropout seeks his destiny out West by tying his fate to a team of buffalo hunters led by a man named Miller. Together, they embark on a harrowing journey risking life and sanity.



Hobo with a Shotgun

A vigilante homeless man pulls into a new city and finds himself trapped in urban chaos, a city where crime rules and where the city's crime boss reigns. Seeing an urban landscape filled with armed robbers, corrupt cops, abused prostitutes and even a pedophile Santa, the Hobo goes about bringing justice to the city the best way he knows how - with a 20-gauge shotgun. Mayhem ensues when he tries to make things better for the future generation. Street justice will indeed prevail.



On the Waterfront
7.883

A prizefighter-turned-longshoreman with a conscience goes up against labor leaders to expose corruption, extortion, and murder among the union ranks.



Joe
Joe(2014)
6.5

The rough-hewn boss of a lumber crew courts trouble when he steps in to protect the youngest member of his team from an abusive father.



Carne
Carne(1968)
6.284

A woman who works in a meat packing plant is continuously preyed upon by lecherous men.



The Baytown Outlaws
5.95

When three redneck brothers agree to help a woman save her son from an abusive father, they become targets on the run from an odd cast of characters.



This Property Is Condemned

Owen Legate, a railroad official, comes to Dodson, Mississippi to shut down the local railway - the town's main income. But Owen unexpectedly finds love with Dodson's flirt and main attraction, Alva Starr.



Sabata
Sabata(1969)
6.27

Several pillars of society have robbed an Army safe containing $100,000 so they can buy the land upon which the coming railroad will be built. But they haven't reckoned on the presence of the master gunslinger, Sabata.



The Railroad Man
7.7

Train operator Andrea Marcocci has to witness the suicide of a desperate man who jumps in front of his train. Under the influence of this shock he starts making mistakes. A check up by a doctor reveals that he's at the brink of becoming an alcoholic. Due to this evaluation he is degraded and must accept a salary cut.



Atlas Shrugged: Part I

A powerful railroad executive, Dagny Taggart, struggles to keep her business alive while society is crumbling around her. Based on the 1957 novel by Ayn Rand.



Ask the Dust
5.384

Mexican beauty Camilla hopes to rise above her station by marrying a wealthy American. That is complicated by meeting Arturo Bandini, a first-generation Italian hoping to land a writing career and a blue-eyed blonde on his arm.



It Happened to Jane

Jane Osgood runs a lobster business, which supports her two young children. Railroad staff inattention ruins her shipment, so with her lawyer George, Jane sues Harry Foster Malone, director of the line and the "meanest man in the world".



3:10 to Yuma
7.2

In Arizona in the late 1800s, infamous outlaw Ben Wade and his vicious gang of thieves and murderers have plagued the Southern Railroad. When Wade is captured, Civil War veteran Dan Evans, struggling to survive on his drought-plagued ranch, volunteers to deliver him alive to the "3:10 to Yuma", a train that will take the killer to trial.



The Great Silence
7.5

A mute gunslinger fights in the defense of a group of outlaws and a vengeful young widow, against a group of ruthless bounty hunters.



The Last Wagon
6.5

When a handful of settlers survive an Apache attack on their wagon train they must put their lives into the hands of Comanche Todd, a white man who has lived with the Comanches most of his life and is wanted for the murder of three men.



Out of the Furnace
6.572

Two brothers live in the economically-depressed Rust Belt, when a cruel twist of fate lands one in prison. His brother is then lured into one of the most violent crime rings in the Northeast.



The Children's Train
7.424

In late 1940s Italy, a mother makes the difficult decision to send her son to the north, where he catches glimpses of a new life away from poverty.



Australia
Australia(2008)
6.6

Set in northern Australia before World War II, an English aristocrat who inherits a sprawling ranch reluctantly pacts with a stock-man in order to protect her new property from a takeover plot. As the pair drive 2,000 head of cattle over unforgiving landscape, they experience the bombing of Darwin by Japanese forces firsthand.



Man of the West
6.6

Heading east to Fort Worth to hire a schoolteacher for his frontier town home, Link Jones is stranded with singer Billie Ellis and gambler Sam Beasley when their train is held up. For shelter, Jones leads them to his nearby former home, where he was brought up an outlaw. Finding the gang still living in the shack, Jones pretends to be ready to return to a life crime.



All or Nothing
7

Penny works at a supermarket and Phil is a gentle taxi-driver. Penny’s love for Phil has run dry and they lead joyless lives with their two children, Rachel, a cleaner, and Rory, who is unemployed and aggressive.



Hero
Hero(1992)
6.3

Bernie Laplante is having a rough time. He's divorced, his ex-wife hates him and has custody of their son, the cops are setting a trap for him, then to top it all, he loses a shoe whilst rescuing passengers of a crashed jet. Being a thief who is down on his luck, Bernie takes advantage of the crash, but then someone else claims credit for the rescue.



Ace in the Hole
7.9

An arrogant reporter exploits a story about a man trapped in a cave to revitalize his career.



Blood Alley
5.877

An American Merchant Marine captain, rescued from a Chinese Communist jail by local villagers, is "shanghaied" into transporting the entire village to Hong Kong on an ancient paddle steamer.



Train Dreams
7.7

A logger leads a life of quiet grace as he experiences love and loss during an era of monumental change in early 20th-century America.



The Furies
7.176

A New Mexico cattle man and his strong-willed daughter clash over land and love.



The Big Doll House
5.6

Female prisoners in a Philippine jail are being subjected to sadistic torture. Five of the women -- along with the help of two men -- plot an escape.

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