La città si difende (1951)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Pietro Germi

Writers:

Federico Fellini (story) &
Tullio Pinelli (story) ...

Release Date:

3 September 1952 (Japan)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Tagline:

The Sensational Venice Award Winner for the GREATEST ITALIAN FILM OF THE YEAR

Plot:

Four criminals commit a robbery at a soccer stadium, and then split up to try to hide separately from the police.

Plot Keywords:

Police | Robbery | Suicide | Postwar Rome | Murder

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Gina Lollobrigida	...	Daniela
Renato Baldini	...	Paolo Leandri
Cosetta Greco	...	Lina Girosi, moglie di Luigi
Paul Muller	...	Guido Marchi, il professore
Fausto Tozzi	...	Luigi Girosi
Enzo Maggio	...	Alberto Tosi
Tamara Lees	...	La donna del rittatto
Emma Baron	...	La madre di Alberto
Patrizia Manca	...	Sandrina Girosi, figlia di Lina e Luigi
Giuseppe Chinnici
Vincenzo Tocci
Amedeo Trilli
Ferdinando Lattanzi	...	Il padre di Alberto

Also Known As:

Four Ways Out (USA)

Runtime:

Italy:84 min | USA:74 min | Argentina:85 min | West Germany:75 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | Argentina:16

Filming Locations:

Cinecittà Studios, Cinecittà, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Cinès

Trivia:

In Germany, the credits also lists Wolfgang Krüger as the author of the dialogue, Hella Graf as the Dialogue Director, Hedi Rosetz as the Sound Editor, Max Galinsky and Fritz Klenke as the Sound Recordists.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Scorsese on Scorsese (2004) (TV)

Interesting & Effective Cinematic Realism

"Four Ways Out" is an English-dubbed version of an interesting Italian crime film with a different way of following the results of a big robbery. Instead of following the process by which the police try to track down the robbers, it instead concentrates on the ways that the crime affects the lives of the thieves and their families.

A gang of four inexperienced criminals steals the gate proceeds at a big soccer game, and then agrees to split up afterwards, each trying separately to evade the police. We then follow each of the robbers as their "four ways out" proceed to their ultimate conclusions. The story is helped by some nice cinematic touches and solid character acting.

Gina Lollobrigida is top-billed, but her part is really only one of several roles of equal size and importance. The Italian cast members all do a good job of letting us see into their characters' lives and minds.

There is also some solid direction, with several interesting concepts that bring the story alive. The opening sequence is well-done, cross-cutting between an exciting soccer game and the robbery going on inside the stadium. Then, a couple of the stories of the individual robbers and their experiences on the run have some nicely ironic turns. There is also a tense, emotional finale involving the youngest of the thieves.

"Four Ways Out" is interesting and effective, a good piece of cinematic realism recommended to anyone who likes drama and who would appreciate its very personal emphasis.