YMMV / Boxcar Bertha

• Poor Man's Substitute: A retroactive case of this. Martin Scorsese hadn't started working with Robert De Niro yet, but Barry Primus is reminiscent of De Niro in his performance as Rake Brown, and it's easy to picture De Niro in the role if this had been made after Mean Streets.
• Sophomore Slump: The film is widely considered a step-down from Scorsese's directorial debut, Who's That Knocking at My Door, and weaker than his next film, Mean Streets, which is often viewed as his Growing the Beard moment. As of 2020, it is the lowest-rated film directed by Scorsese on Rotten Tomatoes and the only one with a "rotten" rating.

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