In post-war Italy, a working-class man's bicycle is stolen. He and his son set out to find it.
Director:
Vittorio De Sica
Popularity
4,901
( 42)
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Title: Bicycle Thieves (1948)
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| Complete credited cast: | |||
| Lamberto Maggiorani | ... | Antonio | |
| Enzo Staiola | ... | Bruno | |
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Lianella Carell | ... | Maria |
| Elena Altieri | ... | The Charitable Lady | |
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Gino Saltamerenda | ... | Baiocco |
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Giulio Chiari | ... | The Beggar |
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Vittorio Antonucci | ... | The Thief |
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Michele Sakara | ... | Secretary of the Charity Organization |
|
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Fausto Guerzoni | ... | Amateur Actor |
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Emma Druetti | ||
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Carlo Jachino | ... | A Beggar |
Ricci, an unemployed man in the depressed post-WWII economy of Italy, gets at last a good job - for which he needs a bike - hanging up posters. But soon his bicycle is stolen. He and his son walk the streets of Rome, looking for the bicycle. Ricci finally manages to locate the thief but with no proof, he has to abandon his cause. But he and his son know perfectly well that without a bike, Ricci won't be able to keep his job. Written by jolusoma
Vittorio De Sica's ground/heartbreaking motion picture, The Bicycle Thief, is based on a very simple ideal for a story- man against the elements. In this case the elements are of a society that is often cruel and unforgiving, and that a job in post-war Rome is looked on as the luckiest of good luck charms.
Such a man as presented by De Sica is Maggiorani (an actor who really is the type of actor right off the street), a father of a little boy who gets a job putting up movie posters along some walls in Rome. To do this he needs a bicycle, or the job will be lost, and he gets one following a pawning of linen sheets. Very soon though, the bicycle is stolen, and from there a sad downward spiral unravels for the man and his son as they scour the streets for the bicycle.
While the score adds basic dramatic tension, everything else on the screen is done to such a pitch of neo-realism it's at times shattering, joyful (scene in the pizzeria the most note-worthy), and with a feeling of day-to-day resonance to those who may have not even felt at or below the poverty level in their lives. Credit due to all parties involved, though I don't think the boy Bruno, played by Staiola, gets nearly enough considering his role as a minor coming of age (that moment after the father and son leave the church nearly brought tears to my eyes). A++