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Ladri di biciclette (1948) More at IMDbPro »

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138 comments in total

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71 out of 79 people found the following comment useful :-
Quiet Desperation---Italian Style., 2 May 2003
Author: tfrizzell from United States

In post-World War II Italy poverty is a dire reality for a large portion of the population. Work is scarce and the opportunities for employment are few and far between. "Ladri Di Biciclette" (translated "The Bicycle Thief") is quietly one of the finest films ever produced. It follows one economically distraught man (Lamberto Maggiorani) who is heading down a desperate path fast. Things look up when he gets a job putting posters on walls in town, but he must sell what few meager possessions he and his family have to buy a bicycle to uphold his end of the business bargain. Naturally tragedy strikes immediately as the title character shows up the very first day Maggiorani is on the job. The police are little help, believing the bicycle is not as important as it really is. Thus Maggiorani and young son Enzo Staiola take it upon themselves to look all over town to try and find the bicycle and bring the thief to justice. "The Bicycle Thief" was originally released in 1948 and won an Honorary Academy Award for Best Foreign Language film the following year (the movie was not released in the U.S. until 1949). It is still a production that strikes deep even today. The lengths and desperate measures that some go through is very evident here. Director Vittorio De Sica crafts a film that is much deeper than it appears on the surface. It examines the human condition and questions society, family, law enforcement, alliances and mental anguish perfectly. "The Bicycle Thief" is an excellent production that has aged well and allows the viewer to think about many subjects that go beyond ordinary cinematic depths. 5 stars out of 5.

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61 out of 65 people found the following comment useful :-
No small thing., 11 April 2004
Author: Gerald A. DeLuca (italiangerry@gmail.com) from United States

This movie changed my life. It changed it in the sense that after seeing it I developed a life-long passion for Italian films after first seeing it in 1955 when it appeared at a local movie theatre in a revival five years or so after its original appearance. I was only 13 at the time and somewhat of a precocious chooser of what films to go see. I have seen THE BICYCLE THIEF ("Bicycle Thieves" in England and plural as well in its original Italian title) hundreds of times since and never tire of it. The fact that the film has almost never been out of circulation since its making and is constantly shown in revivals, festivals and film classes attests to its endurance. Martin Scorsese does a glorious appreciation of it in his documentary on the Italian cinema, IL MIO VIAGGIO IN ITALIA.

What makes it so enduring? What is so damn great about the movie? It is not its trenchant portrayal of post-war Italian poverty and misery. Lots of films did that even better. It is not in any sense of real drama, which is very schematic. Nor even the unforgettably truthful acting, that iconic face of pint-sized Enzo Staiola. We get truthful acting and iconic faces all over the place. It is, I believe, its sense of compassion, its sense of poetry. Those are rarer qualities. The movie is compassionate poetry. I don't know if writer Cesare Zavattini or director Vittorio De Sica would have appreciated that phrase. I feel they might have. I feel it is exactly the truth they were after. To be sure, the film is a story of father and little-boy in search of what is lost, a necessity yes, but also a lost dream. The endangered hope for a better life to come challenges this paternal/filial relationship. In that sense, this is a film-poem, God help me, about Everyfather and Everylittleboy.

The most chilling moment in the poem occurs when little Bruno sees his father steal, and a tearful horror glazes his face as a god seems to collapse. The most redemptive moment comes shortly thereafter when the boy slips his hand into his father's. That forgiveness is not cheap or facile. It is unassailable and all-comforting. It is a forgiving embrace of Virgilian dignity. For a magnificent instant the father, Antonio, has become the son; Bruno, the son, has become the father. At the end, when they walk off into the Roman crowd, they are as one.

I have written many thoughts about this film over the years, including an extended exegesis for a local newspaper. I have programmed it in film series, shown it to film classes, Italian classes. I know the movie. Friends, the movie is not about stolen bicycles, indifferent police, bicycle chop-shop gargoyles, mouth-foaming lowlife, desperate actions by the desperate, or mere journalistic human interest that is gone with tomorrow's edition. Its worth resides in its lyric portrayal of the eternal curative power of love. No small thing.

Two addenda: the song being rehearsed at the workers' club Antonio visits to see his friend is called "Ciccio Formaggio." The song being sung and played by the restaurant musicians when Antonio and his son eat together is "Tummuriata nera," about the mulatto offspring of an Italian woman and a black soldier. The lyrics for both songs, in Neapolitan dialect, can be found by Googling the titles. Recordings by Roberto Murolo of both songs are available.

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63 out of 75 people found the following comment useful :-
Heartfelt Drama of Post WWII Poverty a Must-See..., 16 April 1999

Author: Donald J. Lamb from Philadelphia, PA

The Italian neo-realist film movement began around the end of WWII with Roberto Rossellini's OPEN CITY in 1946. It is defined and encapsulated by this striking film directed by Vittorio De Sica. THE BICYCLE THIEF is the best of a group of films that depicted the hardship and despair that Europeans, specifically Italians, went through after the death and destruction of the war. The economy was horrible, and the towns and cities were half-destroyed and decaying. Rome is the location for THE BICYCLE THIEF and De Sica shoots the city in grainy black and white with non-professional actors to get a simple, yet unbearingly emotional point across. A simple thing such as a bike can be someone's entire world at that time and losing it means doing something irrational or perhaps necessary.

The lead in the film is played by Lamberto Maggiorani who seems to be a very good actor. He is not an actor, however, and maybe this is why the film hits its mark so well and comes across so realistically. Maggiorani is of this difficult world and his brooding face is a clear indication of this. His job is to plaster film posters up on the walls of buildings all over Rome. He even hangs a picture that symbolizes the absolute opposite of the misery surrounding him. Rita Hayworth from GILDA is on the walls all over the city, a sign of joy to some, a representation of their own lowly status to others.

When the bicycle is actually stolen, the "title" character is sought after by Maggiorani and his young son (Enzo Staiola), a little kid with so much acting ability, you swear this must be a documentary. A grueling search throughout Rome has the essential parts of the movie, because we see up close the actual people and places the neo-realist film movement came to represent. It is a small, sad world they live in and the bike has to be found so that they can live. The father is put to the ultimate test in front of his son. Will he do the honorable thing or will he do what his mind and heart know is only possible? These are the tense moments of the film's climax.

There is a lot of THE BICYCLE THIEF in Benigni's LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL and some obvious comparisons have been drawn because of the father-son relationship. They are worthy of comparison and have equal artistic prowess. What is different about THIEF is the level of intensity maintained throughout. I felt the key element was the music by Alessandro Cicognini, a simple horn that plays so tragically that it is a main character in the picture. What De Sica does here, as well as other neo-realist directors (Rossellini, Fellini), is create for American audiences a powerful counterpoint to what we are used to. An honest, non-corporate portrait of the struggle for life and self-respect. THE BICYCLE THIEF is one of the finest films ever made.

RATING: 10 of 10

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48 out of 55 people found the following comment useful :-
Another one to add to my top 50- a delicate study of desperation in post war Italy, 8 April 2003

Author: MisterWhiplash from United States

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++

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48 out of 58 people found the following comment useful :-
A revolutionary film, 8 September 2001
Author: (caspian1978@hotmail.com) from Attleboro, MA

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

A film of real life, real emotions, real people. Bicycle Thieves was a film like no other because it was made like no other. With non actors, natural light, filmed on locations, the film captured the truth of Neorealism. The film is made up of a series of "small moments." The fact is, the entire movie is made up of pureness. It tackles issues of class, politics, and post war activities. Overall, the film is about life and hope. The unhappy ending only makes the film more real. If you are a son who loved his father and understood who he was and why he was the way he was........watch this movie.

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37 out of 43 people found the following comment useful :-
Lord of the Rings fanatics should all watch this movie, 14 January 2005

Author: Vladimir from Sydney, Australia

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Lord of the Rings and I respect people's right to obsess over whatever they wish. Nonetheless, it does often irritate the cynic in me that we're teaching a generation of kids that there is a distinct borderline between 'good' and 'evil', between 'justice' and 'injustice', that there exists such a thing as a 'hero', when in reality there is actually nothing of the sort.

Ladri di Biciclette is a shining example of a film that demonstrates this fact. There is no distinction between the 'good guys' and the 'bad guys'. At times we support one character, or the others. But there is never a line drawn between one side or the other because in reality, the only people we see here are simply human - flawed, corruptible and in this case, all suffering the same tragic fate. Our central character Antonio is obviously the protagonist, and he is obviously portrayed in such a way that our sympathies lie with him, but he is far from being a hero. He is simply used as the representation of the tragic misfortune that can befall mankind. This misfortune, also, is not depicted in any black-and-white sense. Antonio and his family's plight is not the only, or even necessarily the most desperate, in this film. In fact, with the exception of the family in the restaurant scene, practically every single character, major or minor, is portrayed as suffering in some way at the hands of capitalism.

Therefore, as obviously tragic as Antonio's story is, the only real reason we side with him is because his particular tragedy is centrally focused. But, as has been discussed so often previously, he is an Everyman character. The bicycle in the film is simply used as an analogy for the loss, or lack of any essential element of life that leads to poverty and suffering. In very simple terms, the film's message is essentially that at some stage in life, we are all shouting "Give me back my bicycle!"

But I digress. This simplistic and amateurish film is far more real and far more true-to-life than practically anything that Hollywood has churned out in the past fifty years. For that reason, the realist in me believes that all those dreamers, people who believe in a happy ending or ideal status quo, could do with the sort of down-to-earth lesson that this film represents.

Yes, it's a distressing and bleak vision. But nevertheless, an utterly profound one.

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35 out of 41 people found the following comment useful :-
Powerful and dramatic, 1 August 2004

Author: FilmOtaku (ssampon@hotmail.com) from Milwaukee, WI

It is post-war Rome and much of the city's residents are impoverished and desperate for work. One man named Ricci who haunts the job lines day after day to provide for his wife and two children, when suddenly his name is called for a well-paying city job. The only catch is that he needs a bicycle for the job, and he has just pawned his bicycle in order to feed his family. Thus begins `The Bicycle Thief', Vittorio de Sica's gritty study in realism. Ricci and his wife sell the sheets off of their beds to get the bicycle back, only to have the bicycle stolen on his first day on the job. In order to keep the job, he and his young son walk around Rome, desperate to find the thief, and more importantly, the bicycle before his next day of work.

de Sica chose non-actors to portray the characters in the film, favoring a further realistic vision by casting amateurs. The result is remarkable, because the pain and emotions conveyed are so true. The relationship between father and son is also compelling and endearing, in that for the most part, Ricci treats his son as an equal, letting him in on his innermost thoughts and fears, until the end, when a particular event causes him to be ashamed, and the roles become defined once again.

`The Bicycle Thief' personifies the refreshing fact that European cinema was more daring and also true in their reaction to post-war life. While America was trying to paint a heavy coat of rosy paint on the times by churning out the saccharine MGM musicals by the dozen, Europe was showing that the effects of a war fought on their home turf did not inspire moments of spontaneously breaking into song, or a choreographed dance number, rather life pretty much sucked, but survival, as difficult and ugly as it can be, is most important. `The Bicycle Thief' has been a critical favorite for decades, and for good reason. It is a must-see film for any cinephile.

--Shelly

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26 out of 27 people found the following comment useful :-
Powerful., 1 February 2005

Author: ACitizenCalledKane from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Some films try to explain multiple aspects of a story or a character by showing several episodes from the character's life. Vittorio De Sica's masterful The Bicycle Thief relies on the power of simplicity to drive home its point. It is a very simple film, relying on film making at its basics. There are no professional actors for us to identify with, but there are plot lines, emotions, and thoughts that no one can help but relate to. Antonio Ricci (Lamberto Maggiorani) has been waiting for a job, but when one finally arrives, he must obtain a bicycle in order to be able to accept the position. His loving and caring wife, Maria (Lianella Carell), hocks the bed sheets in order to be able to afford a bicycle for Antonio. He reports to work as a poster hanger, but while on the job for only a short time, the bike is stolen by a young thief (Vittorio Antonucci). Desperate to get the vehicle back, Antonio seeks the aid of his friend, Baiocco (Gino Saltamerenda), and also receives the help of his devoted son, Bruno (Enzo Staiola). Bruno stays by Antonio's side, no matter what, determined to help his father get back the stolen property. It is a frustrating journey for the father and son, as they receive no help, except that of Baiocco. It seems that no matter what they do, Antonio is left with a fateful decision (shown in one of the most brutally honest scenes in any movie I've ever seen). He must ask himself just how far would he go to put food on the table for his family that he loves so much? There has been controversy over the ending of the film, which I am not going to go into, because it would be cheating you out of a brilliant ending to an extraordinary picture. However, I will say this much - When viewing The Bicycle Thief, ask yourself what you would do in Antonio's situation. What choices would you make? Some of the questions that rise from this film are some of the questions that help us to define ourselves as people, and the fact that this film provides such a clear and honest representation of so many facts of life is what makes it an undeniable masterpiece! This is a film to be cherished!

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36 out of 47 people found the following comment useful :-
The greatest neorealism film ever made, 30 January 1999

Author: EzyRyder from Los Angeles, USA

The Bicycle Thief is without a doubt De Sica's masterpiece of Italian neorealism filmmaking. It is a true landmark in cinema history.

A man who has been unemployed for months is finally given a chance at a job putting up posters. He and his family have been living in poverty for months, and are very exited to hear the news. The only requirement for the job is a bicycle. His wife pawns the sheets off of their own bed in order to buy the bicycle. And, as you can tell from the title, it is stolen on his first day of work. Now, without it, he and his son search the crowded streets of Rome for the only thing that can give him back his dignity as a man.

This is a simple, but very powerful film and I found the relationship between Bruno and his father especially touching. The final scene is a true captivating moment as Bruno witnesses the true nature of man and the world we have created for ourselves.

Don't miss this film, to call it a classic would be an understatement.

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42 out of 59 people found the following comment useful :-
The true point of the film, 14 December 2000
Author: Popcorn-34 from Bartlett, Tn

....is the relationship of the father and son.

Watch the film with your focus on the son, not the father. Watch what happens to the boy, what he sees, how he is influenced, his point of view. The father is so preoccupied with the bicycle he fails to see what is happening to his son. This is the strength of the film. Watch the boy.

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