The Bicycle Thief
by Vittorio De Sica
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Enzo Staiola, Gino Saltamerenda, Lamberto Maggiorani, Lianella Carell, Vittorio AntonucciDirector: Vittorio De Sica
Brand: Image Entertainment
Writer: Vittorio De Sica
Writer: Adolfo Franci
Writer: Cesare Zavattini
Writer: Gerardo Guerrieri
Writer: Luigi Bartolini
Writer: Oreste Biancoli
Writer: Suso Cecchi d'Amico
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 1.0; Italian (Original Language), Dolby Digital 1.0; English (Subtitled)
Format: Black & White, DVD-Video, NTSC
Picture Format: Academy Ratio, 1.33:1
Running Time: 93 minutes
DVD Release Date: 1998-11-24
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Image Entertainment
Movie Reviews of The Bicycle Thief
Movie Review: Ladro!
Summary: 5 Stars
De Sica's great film "Bicycle Thieves" still holds up over 60 years after its release. In fact, many today in this recession will identify with the anguish of the main character.
The plot of "Bicycle Thieves" is pretty simple- an unemployed man, Antonio Ricci, in post-War Rome, Italy gets a job putting up posters over the city. To do this job, he needs a bicycle, which he has to get by pawning his linens. Unfortunately, his bicycle is stolen, and the thief gets away. So Ricci looks all over Rome to try to find it, with his loyal son Bruno helping.
After World War II, Italy was in a severe economic downturn. Millions were out of work, and were lucky to have food and a home, let alone a job. Automobiles were not yet widely available except to the very well-off, so a bicycle was the main form of personal transportation for most people. Having one's bicycle stolen would seem like the end of the world to most people, especially for those who had a job that required one, and could not afford to buy another.
"Bicycle Thieves" is probably the most famous film of the Italian Neo-Realist school of the late 40s. The Neo-Realists wanted to move beyond the immediate Post-WW2 euphoria and take a hard look at life as it really was, and used specific stylistic devices to this end. These are seen in Bicycle Thieves. For instance, the film is shot on location rather than in a studio, which was an innovation at the time. In addition, the main characters are not played by big-name actors, and all of the extras were real people. Further, this is a story about real people facing real situations. Ricci is not a Proletarian prop or an airbrushed comic character- he is a 3-dimensional person who really has hopes- and the way he acts out the dashing of those hopes is devestating.
Summary of The Bicycle Thief
A beautiful, simple story of a man in post-war Rome who needs his bicycle in order to work at his job. No sooner does he retrieve it from pawn, then it is stolen. The heartwrenching search teaches the man and his son much about the meaning of life and just how far we will go when pushed to the edge. Winner of a special Academy Award.Vittorio De Sica's remarkable 1947 drama of desperation and survival in Italy's devastating post-war depression earned a special Oscar for its affecting power. Shot in the streets and alleys of Rome, De Sica uses the real-life environment of contemporary life to frame his moving drama of a desperate father whose new job delivering cinema posters is threatened when a street thief steals his bicycle. Too poor to buy another, he and his son take to the streets in an impossible search for his bike. Cast with nonactors and filled with the real street life of Rome, this landmark film helped define the Italian neorealist approach with its mix of real life details, poetic imagery, and warm sentimentality. De Sica uses the wandering pair to witness the lives of everyday folks, but ultimately he paints a quiet, poignant portrait of father and son, played by nonprofessionals Lamberto Maggiorani and Enzo Staiola, whose understated performances carry the heart of the film. De Sica and scenarist Cesare Zavattini also collaborated on Shoeshine, Miracle in Milan, and Umberto D, all classics in the neorealist vein, but none of which approach the simple poetry and quiet power achieved in The Bicycle Thief. --Sean Axmaker
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