The rebel fist

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Movie
German title The rebel fist
Original title Boxcar Bertha
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1972
length 88 minutes
Age rating FSK 18
Rod
Director Martin Scorsese
script Joyce Hooper Corrington
John William Corrington
production Roger Corman
for American International Pictures
music Give Guilbeau to
Thad Maxwell
camera John M. Stephens
cut Buzz Feitshans
occupation

The Fist of the Rebels is an American film from 1972. The film was based on the book Sister of the Road: The Autobiography of Boxcar Bertha by Ben Reitman .

action

The film is set in Arkansas during the Great Depression of the 1930s. The 16-year-old farmer's daughter Bertha Thompson loses her father in a plane crash. Bertha is now an orphan and she starts a new life on the street. The only friends are Von Morton of color and Big Bill Shelly, the rail union fighter, who seduces them in a railroad car. She spends her first night of love with him. However, the next morning he is gone. However, the penniless girl finds some money in her shoes. This increases them in a game of dice . She gets to know the player Rake Brown. The two become a couple. When Rake Brown was found guilty of cheating in a poker game, Bertha shot Rake's opponent. Bertha and Rake have to flee and jump onto a moving freight car. There Bertha meets Bill Shelly again. Rake realizes that Bertha's affection belongs to Big Bill Shelly. The union fighter gets into police custody with rake and other men. Only Bertha can escape from the police.

In prison, Bill meets Von Morton again. A massacre of the prisoners by the two killers of the railway chief Sartoris, McIver 1 and McIver 2, survive only Bill, Von Morton and Rake. They are sentenced to forced labor. There they are finally freed by Bertha. Bertha and the men now begin their fight against the railway boss Buckram Sartoris. They raid Reader Railroad trains and even rob the guests of a party hosted by the railroad chief. In another attack on Sartoris, he is prepared and the McIvers kill Rake Brown. Bertha escapes, but Bill and Von Morton end up in a forced labor camp again. Bertha makes ends meet as a prostitute and by chance meets Von Morton, who managed to escape from the camp with Bill. They are hiding in a remote hut. Bertha and Bill hug each other, but the McIvers appear. Bill is crucified by the captors on a goods wagon, while Bertha has to watch the murder of her lover. Von Morton appears and shoots the killers and their helpers. The train drives away with the crucified Christ, Bertha walks alongside, but the train is getting faster and faster.

Reviews

"Insistent in the beginning, the socially critical ambition suffocates in brutality and blood."

- Lexicon of international film

"" The Rebels' Fist "is an incredibly interesting film [...] (Scorsese) does the actors and camera well and within the boundaries of this story he manages to realize his own vision."

- Roger Ebert

Production notes

After the success of Bloody Mama , a film about the criminal Ma Barker , Roger Corman wanted to make another film about female gangsters. Julie Corman did some research and came across the story of Boxcar Bertha. Martin Scorsese was hired. The main actors Barbara Hershey, David Carradine and Barry Primus were made available to him. He was also allowed to shoot in Arkansas for 24 days.

Martin Scorsese made a cameo as a suitor in a brothel scene.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The rebel fist. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  2. ^ Rogerebert.suntimes
  3. ↑ Chris Nashawaty, Crab Monsters, Teenage Cavemen and Candy Stripe Nurses - Roger Corman: King of the B Movie , Abrams, 2013 p. 120
  4. ^ Gary A. Smith, The American International Pictures Video Guide , McFarland 2009 p. 33