[2] Made on a low budget, the film is a loose adaptation of Sister of the Road, a pseudo-autobiographical account of the fictional character Bertha Thompson.

Together with Rake Brown, a gambler, and Von Morton, who worked for Bertha's father, they accidentally start train and bank robberies.

Corman, who had seen and liked Who's That Knocking at My Door during its 1970 run in Los Angeles, asked Scorsese to make a sequel to Bloody Mama.

[4] He was given the lead actors, including Barbara Hershey, David Carradine, and Barry Primus, and a shooting schedule of 24 days in Arkansas.

The limited budget of $600,000 forced Scorsese to reduce the size of the script and made him unable to film in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Texarkana.

A joke on the set was the David Carradine was the Scarecrow, Bernie Casey was the Tin Man, and Barry Primus was the Cowardly Lion.

"[16] The New York Times' Howard Thompson found the film to be an "interesting surprise", praising Carradine's "excellent" performance and the "beautiful" direction by Scorsese, "who really comes into his own here.

"[17] Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "What is most impressive about Boxcar Bertha ... is how 28-year old director Martin Scorsese, in his first Hollywood venture, has managed to shape such familiar material into a viable film.

"[18] Arthur D. Murphy of Variety gave the film a negative review, writing, "Whatever its intentions, Boxcar Bertha is not much more than an excuse to slaughter a lot of people ...

The final cut has stripped away whatever mood and motivation may have been in the script, leaving little more than fights, shotgun blasts, beatings and aimless movement.

"[20] Tom Milne of The Monthly Film Bulletin declared: "Abrasively scripted, stunningly shot, and beautifully acted by David Carradine, Barbara Hershey and Barry Primus in particular, Boxcar Bertha is much more than the exploitation picture it has been written off as (by Variety, for instance) and makes a worthy companion piece to both Bloody Mama and Bonnie and Clyde.