Wikipedia

Bicycle Thieves

For other uses, seeThe Bicycle Thief (disambiguation).

Bicycle Thieves(Italian:Ladri di biciclette), also known asThe Bicycle Thief,[5]is a 1948Italian neorealistdrama filmdirected byVittorio De Sica.[6]It follows the story of a poor father searching in post-World War IIRome for his stolenbicycle,without which he will lose the job which was to be the salvation of his young family.

Bicycle Thieves
Theatrical release poster
ItalianLadri di biciclette
Directed byVittorio De Sica
Screenplay by
Story byCesare Zavattini
Based onBicycle Thieves
byLuigi Bartolini
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyCarlo Montuori
Edited byEraldo Da Roma
Music byAlessandro Cicognini
Production
company
Produzioni De Sica[2]
Distributed byEnte Nazionale Industrie Cinematografiche
Release date
  • 24 November 1948(1948-11-24)(Italy)
Running time
89 minutes
CountryItaly
LanguageItalian
Budget$133,000[3]
Box office$428,978[4]

Adapted for the screen byCesare Zavattinifrom the 1946 novel byLuigi Bartolini,and starringLamberto Maggioranias the desperate father andEnzo Staiolaas his plucky young son,Bicycle Thievesreceived anAcademy Honorary Award(most outstanding foreign language film) in 1950, and in 1952 was deemed thegreatest film of all timebySight & Soundmagazine's poll of filmmakers and critics;[7]fifty years later another poll organized by the same magazine ranked it sixth among the greatest-ever films.[8]In the2012 versionof the list the film ranked 33rd among critics and 10th among directors.

The film was also cited byTurner Classic Moviesas one of the most influential films in cinema history,[9]and it is considered part of the canon of classic cinema.[10]The film was voted number 3 on the prestigiousBrussels 12list at the 1958 World Expo, and number 4 inEmpiremagazine's "The 100 Best Films of World Cinema" in 2010.[11]It was also included on theItalian Ministry of Cultural Heritage’s100 Italian films to be saved,a list of 100 films that "have changed the collective memory of the country between 1942 and 1978."[12]

Plot

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In post-World War IIRome,Antonio Ricci is desperate for work to support his wife Maria, his son Bruno and his small baby. He is offered a job posting advertising bills but tells Maria that he cannot accept because the job requires a bicycle. Maria resolutely strips the bed of herdowrybedsheets‍—prized possessions for a poor family‍—and takes them to thepawn shop,where they bring enough to redeem Antonio's pawned bicycle.

On his first day of work, Antonio is atop a ladder when a young man steals his bicycle. Antonio runs after him but is thrown off the trail by the thief's confederates. The police file Antonio's complaint but say that there is little they can do.

Advised that stolen goods often surface at thePiazza Vittoriomarket, Antonio goes there with several friends and Bruno. They find a bicycle frame that might be Antonio's, but the vendors refuse to allow them to examine the serial number. They call over acarabiniere,who orders the vendors to allow him to read the serial number. It does not match that of the missing bicycle, but the officer won't allow them to examine it for themselves.

At thePorta Portesemarket, Antonio and Bruno spot the thief with an old man. The thief eludes them and the old man feigns ignorance. They follow him into a church where he too slips away from them.

Antonio pursues the thief into a brothel, whose denizens eject them. In the street, hostile neighbors gather as Antonio accuses the thief, who conveniently falls into a fit for which the crowd blames Antonio. Bruno fetches a policeman, who searches the thief's apartment without success. The policeman tells Antonio the case is weak‍—Antonio has no witnesses and the neighbors are certain to provide the thief with an alibi. Antonio and Bruno leave in despair amid jeers and threats from the crowd.

Their way home takes them by theStadio Nazionale PNFfootball stadium. Antonio sees an unattended bicycle near a doorway and after much anguished indecision, instructs Bruno to take thetramto a stop nearby and wait. Antonio circles the unattended bicycle and jumps on it. Instantly thehue and cryis raised and Bruno – who has missed the tram – is stunned to see his father pursued, surrounded and pulled from the bicycle. As Antonio is being muscled toward the police station, the bicycle's owner notices Bruno in tears and, in a moment of compassion, tells the others to release Antonio.

Antonio and Bruno then walk off slowly amid a buffeting crowd. Antonio fights back tears and Bruno takes his hand.

  • The bike redeemed fromthe pawn shop
  • First dayon the job
  • In search of thestolen bike
  • The thief's neighborsthreaten Antonio
  • All seems lost

Cast

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  • Lamberto Maggioranias Antonio Ricci
  • Enzo Staiolaas Bruno Ricci, Antonio's son
  • Lianella Carellas Maria Ricci, Antonio's wife
  • Gino Saltamerenda as Baiocco, Antonio's friend who helps search
  • Vittorio Antonucci as Alfredo Catelli, the Bicycle thief
  • Giulio Chiari as a Beggar
  • Elena Altierias the Charitable Lady
  • Carlo Jachinoas a Beggar
  • Michele Sakara as the Secretary of the Charity Organization
  • Emma Druetti
  • Fausto Guerzonias an Amateur Actor
  • Giulio Battiferri as a Citizen Who Protects the Real Thief (uncredited)

Production

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Bicycle Thievesis the best-known work ofItalian neorealism,the movement that formally began withRoberto Rossellini'sRome, Open City(1945) and aimed to give cinema a new degree of realism.[13]De Sica had just madeShoeshine(1946), but was unable to get financial backing from any major studio for the film, so he raised the money himself from friends. Wanting to portray the poverty and unemployment of post-war Italy,[14]he co-wrote a script withCesare Zavattiniand others using only the title and few plot devices of a little-known novel of the time by poet and artistLuigi Bartolini.[15]Following the precepts of neorealism, De Sica shot only on location (that is, no studio sets) and cast only untrained actors. (Lamberto Maggiorani, for example, was a factory worker.) That some actors' roles paralleled their lives off screen added realism to the film.[16]De Sica cast Maggiorani when he had brought his young son to an audition for the film. He later cast the 8-year-oldEnzo Staiolawhen he noticed the young boy watching the film's production on a street while helping his father sell flowers. The film's final shot of Antonio and Bruno walking away from the camera into the distance is an homage to many of the films ofCharlie Chaplin,who was De Sica's favourite filmmaker.[17]

Uncovering the drama in everyday life, the wonderful in the daily news.

— Vittorio De SicainAbbiamo domandato a De Sica perché fa un film dal Ladro di biciclette(We asked De Sica why he makes a movie on the Bicycle Thief) –La fiera letteraria,6/2/48

Title

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The original Italian title isLadri di biciclette.It literally translates into English as "thieves of bicycles"; bothladriandbicicletteare plural. In Bartolini's novel, the title referred to a post-war culture of rampant thievery and disrespect for civil order, countered only by an inept police force and indifferent allied occupiers.[18]

When the film was screened in the United States in 1949,Bosley Crowtherreferred to it asThe Bicycle Thiefin his review inThe New York Times,[5]and this came to be the title by which the film was known in English. When the film was re-released in the late-1990s,San Francisco Chroniclefilm critic Bob Graham said that he preferred that version, stating, "Purists have criticized the English title of the film as a poor translation of the Italianladri,which is plural. What blindness!The Bicycle Thiefis one of those wonderful titles whose power does not sink in until the film is over ".[19]The 2007Criterion Collectionrelease in North America uses the titleBicycle Thieves.[20]

Reception

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Critical response

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WhenBicycle Thieveswas released in Italy, it was viewed with hostility and as portraying Italians in a negative way. Italian criticGuido Aristarcopraised it, but also complained that "sentimentality might at times take the place of artistic emotion." Fellow Italian neorealist film directorLuchino Visconticriticized the film, saying that it was a mistake to use a professional actor to dub over Lamberto Maggiorani's dialogue.[17]Luigi Bartolini, the author of the novel from which de Sica drew his title, was highly critical of the film, feeling that the spirit of his book had been thoroughly betrayed because his protagonist was a middle-class intellectual and his theme was the breakdown of civil order.[18]

Contemporary reviews elsewhere were positive. Bosley Crowther, film critic forThe New York Times,lauded the film and its message in his review. He wrote, "Again the Italians have sent us a brilliant and devastating film in Vittorio De Sica's rueful drama of modern city life,The Bicycle Thief.Widely and fervently heralded by those who had seen it abroad (where it already has won several prizes at various film festivals), this heart-tearing picture of frustration, which came to [the World Theater] yesterday, bids fair to fulfill all the forecasts of its absolute triumph over here. For once more the talented De Sica, who gave us the shatteringShoeshine,that desperately tragic demonstration of juvenile corruption in post-war Rome, has laid hold upon and sharply imaged in simple and realistic terms a major—indeed, a fundamental and universal—dramatic theme. It is the isolation and loneliness of the little man in this complex social world that is ironically blessed with institutions to comfort and protect mankind ".[5]Pierre Leprohon wrote inCinéma D'Aujourd'huithat "what must not be ignored on the social level is that the character is shown not at the beginning of a crisis but at its outcome. One need only to look at his face, his uncertain gait, his hesitant or fearful attitudes to understand that Ricci is already a victim, a diminished man who has lost his confidence." Then Paris-basedLotte H. Eisnercalled it the best Italian film since World War II, and UK critic Robert Winnington called it "the most successful record of any foreign film in British cinema."[17]

When the film was re-released in the late 1990s Bob Graham, staff film critic for theSan Francisco Chronicle,gave the drama a positive review: "The roles are played by non-actors, Lamberto Maggiorani as the father and Enzo Staiola as the solemn boy, who sometimes appears to be a miniature man. They bring a grave dignity to De Sica's unblinking view of post-war Italy. The wheel of life turns and grinds people down; the man who was riding high in the morning is brought low by nightfall. It is impossible to imagine this story in any other form than De Sica's. The new black-and-white print has an extraordinary range of grey tones that get darker as life closes in".[19]In 1999,Chicago Sun-Timesfilm reviewerRoger Ebertwrote that "The Bicycle Thiefis so well-entrenched as an official masterpiece that it is a little startling to visit it again after many years and realize that it is still alive and has strength and freshness. Given an honorary Oscar in 1949, routinely voted one of the greatest films of all time, revered as one of the foundation stones of Italian neorealism, it is a simple, powerful film about a man who needs a job ". Ebert added the film to his"The Great Movies"list.[21]In 2020,A. O. Scottpraised the film in an essay entitled "Why You Should Still Care About 'Bicycle Thieves'."[22]

Bicycle Thievesis a fixture on theBritish Film Institute'sSight & Soundcritics' and directors' polls of the greatest films ever made. The film ranked 1st and 7th on critics' poll in 1952 and 1962 respectively. It ranked 11th on the magazine's 1992 Critics' poll, 45th in 2002Critics' Poll[23]and 6th on the 2002Directors' Top Ten Poll.[24]It was slightly lower in the 2012 directors' poll, 10th[25]and 33rd on the 2012 critics' poll.[26]The Village Voiceranked the film at number 37 in its Top 250 "Best Films of the Century" list in 1999, based on a poll of critics.[27]The film was voted at No. 99 on the list of "100 Greatest Films" by the prominent French magazineCahiers du cinémain 2008.[28]

The Japanese filmmakerAkira Kurosawacited this movie as one of his 100 favorite films.[29][when?]As of 2008 the picture was on the Vatican's Best Films List for portraying humanistic values.[30]

Bicycle Thieveshas continued to gain very high praise from contemporary critics, with the review aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoesreporting 99% of 70 reviews as of April 2022 as positive, with an average rating of 9.20/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "An Italian neorealism exemplar,Bicycle Thievesthrives on its non-flashy performances and searing emotion. "[31]

Awards and nominations

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  • Locarno International Film Festival,Switzerland:Special Prize of the Jury,Vittorio De Sica; 1949.
  • National Board of Review:NBR Award, Best Director, Vittorio De Sica; Best Film (Any Language), Italy; 1949.
  • New York Film Critics Circle Awards:NYFCC Award, Best Foreign Language Film, Italy; 1949.
  • Academy Awards:Honorary Award, asThe Bicycle Thief(Italy). Voted by the Academy Board of Governors as the most outstanding foreign language film released in the United States during 1949; 1950.
  • Academy Awards:Nominated, Oscar, Best Writing, Screenplay; asThe Bicycle Thief,Cesare Zavattini; 1950.
  • British Academy of Film and Television Arts:BAFTA Film Award, Best Film from any Source; 1950.
  • Bodil Awards,Copenhagen,Denmark:Bodil, Best European Film (Bedste europæiske film), Vittorio De Sica; 1950.
  • Golden Globes:Golden Globe, Best Foreign Film, Italy; 1950.
  • Cinema Writers Circle Awards,Spain:CEC Award, Best Foreign Film (Mejor Película Extranjera), Italy; 1951.
  • Kinema Junpo Awards,Tokyo,Japan:Kinema Junpo Award, Best Foreign Language Film, Vittorio De Sica; 1951.
  • Best Cinematography (Migliore Fotografia), Carlo Montuori.
  • Best Director (Migliore Regia), Vittorio De Sica.
  • Best Film (Miglior Film a Soggetto).
  • Best Score (Miglior Commento Musicale), Alessandro Cicognini.
  • Best Screenplay (Migliore Sceneggiatura), Cesare Zavattini, Vittorio De Sica, Suso Cecchi d'Amico, Oreste Biancoli, Adolfo Franci, andGerardo Guerrieri.
  • Best Story (Miglior Soggetto), Cesare Zavattini.
  • Listed as one ofTCM's top 15 most influential films list, asThe Bicycle Thief(1947),[32]
  • Ranked #4 inEmpiremagazines "The 100 Best Films Of World Cinema" in 2010.[33]
  • Voted #2 inBBC Culture's pollof 209 critics in 43 countries for the greatest foreign-language film of all time.[34]

Legacy

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Many directors have cited the film as a major influence includingSatyajit Ray,[35]Ken Loach,[36]Giorgio Mangiamele,[37]Bimal Roy,[38]Anurag Kashyap,[39]Balu Mahendra,[40]VetrimaaranandBasu Chatterjee.[41]

The film was noteworthy for film directors of theIranian New Wave,such asJafar PanahiandDariush Mehrjui.[42][43]

The film was one of 39 foreign films recommended byMartin ScorsesetoColin Levy.[44]

It wasparodiedin the filmThe Icicle Thief(1989).

The film features in the 1992Robert AltmanfilmThe Player.In this film Griffin Mill (played byTim Robbins), a Hollywood studio executive, tracks screenwriter David Kahane (played byVincent D'Onofrio) to a screening ofBicycle Thieves,and stages what he represents as a chance meeting with Kahane.

Norman Loftis's filmMessenger(1994) is considered to be aremakeofBicycle Thieves.[45][46]

The episode "The Thief" from theAmericancomedy-dramaseriesMaster of Noneis heavily influenced byBicycle Thieves.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ab"Bicycle Thieves (1948)".The Criterion Collection.RetrievedAugust 1,2021.
  2. ^Gordon, Robert (2008).Bicycle Thieves (Ladri Di Biciclette).New York: Macmillan. p. 26.ISBN9781844572380.Retrieved29 April2018.
  3. ^"Wheels of History".Village Voice. October 6, 1998.RetrievedMay 29,2021.
  4. ^"The Bicycle Thieves (1949)".Box Office Mojo.RetrievedOctober 1,2014.
  5. ^abcCrowther, Bosley(December 13, 1949)."The Bicycle Thief (1948) THE SCREEN; Vittorio De Sica's 'The Bicycle Thief,' a Drama of Post-War Rome, Arrives at World".The New York Times.Archived fromthe originalon February 7, 2022.RetrievedFebruary 7,2022.
  6. ^Scott, A.O.(August 13, 2020)."Why You Should Still Care About 'Bicycle Thieves' - On the unforgettable heartbreak and enduring pleasures of an Italian neorealist masterpiece".The New York Times.RetrievedAugust 16,2020.
  7. ^Ebert, Roger(March 19, 1999)."The Bicycle Thief / Bicycle Thieves (1949) review".Chicago Sun-Times.Archived fromthe originalon February 27, 2009.RetrievedJuly 20,2010.
  8. ^Sight and Sound Top Ten PollArchived2017-02-01 at theWayback Machine,director's list 2002. Last accessed: 2014-01-19.
  9. ^Ebert, Roger."TCM's 15 most influential films of all time, and 10 from me".Chicago Sun-Times.Retrieved8 September2011.
  10. ^Ebert, Roger."The Bicycle Thief / Bicycle Thieves (1949)".Chicago Sun-Times.Archived fromthe originalon 27 February 2009.Retrieved8 September2011.
  11. ^"The 100 Best Films Of World Cinema – 60. Jean de Florette".Empire.2019.
  12. ^"Ecco i cento film italiani da salvare Corriere della Sera".www.corriere.it.Retrieved2021-03-11.
  13. ^Megan, RatnerArchived2007-08-10 at theWayback Machine.GreenCine,"Italian Neo-Realism," 2005. Last accessed: December 30, 2007.
  14. ^Wakeman, John.World Film Directors, Volume 1.The H. W. Wilson Company. 1987. p. 232.
  15. ^Gordon, Robert (2008).Bicycle Thieves (Ladri Di Biciclette).New York: Macmillan. pp. 3–4.ISBN9781844572380.Retrieved17 August2015.
  16. ^Associated Press.Published inThe New York Times.Lamberto Maggiorani Obituary. April 24, 1983. Last accessed: December 30, 2007.
  17. ^abcWakeman. p. 232.
  18. ^abHealey, Robin (1998).Twentieth-century Italian Literature in English Translation: An Annotated Bibliography 1929-1997.Toronto: University of Toronto Press. p. 49.ISBN0802008003.Retrieved17 August2015.
  19. ^abGraham, Bob.San Francisco Chronicle,film review, November 6, 1998. Last accessed: December 30, 2007.
  20. ^"Bicycle Thieves".The Criterion Collection.Retrieved2023-01-10.
  21. ^"Bicycle Thieves".Roger Ebert.19 March 1999.
  22. ^Scott, A.O.(August 13, 2020)."Why You Should Still Care About 'Bicycle Thieves'".The New York Times.RetrievedSeptember 12,2021.
  23. ^"The Sight & Sound Top Ten Poll 2002 The Rest of Critic's List".old.bfi.org.uk.Archived fromthe originalon 2016-08-13.Retrieved2021-05-16.
  24. ^"Sight & Sound Top Ten Poll 2002 The Rest of Director's List".old.bfi.org.uk.Archived fromthe originalon 2017-02-01.Retrieved2014-01-19.
  25. ^"Directors' Top 100".Sight & Sound.British Film Institute. 2012. Archived fromthe originalon 2016-02-09.Retrieved2021-05-16.
  26. ^"Critics' Top 100".Sight & Sound.British Film Institute. 2012. Archived fromthe originalon 2016-02-07.Retrieved2021-05-16.
  27. ^"Take One: The First Annual Village Voice Film Critics' Poll".The Village Voice.1999. Archived fromthe originalon 26 August 2007.Retrieved27 July2006.
  28. ^"Cahiers du cinéma's 100 Greatest Films".Filmdetail.23 November 2008.
  29. ^Thomas-Mason, Lee."From Stanley Kubrick to Martin Scorsese: Akira Kurosawa once named his top 100 favourite films of all time".Far Out Magazine.Retrieved23 January2023.
  30. ^United States Conference of Catholic Bishopswebsite, 2008. Last accessed: May 20, 2008.
  31. ^"The Bicycle Thief (1949)".Rotten Tomatoes.RetrievedApril 27,2022.
  32. ^Ebert, Roger."TCM's 15 most influential films of all time, and 10 from me | Roger Ebert's Journal".Roger Ebert.Retrieved2013-06-29.
  33. ^"The 100 Best Films Of World Cinema".Empire.
  34. ^"The 100 Greatest foreign-language films".BBC Culture.RetrievedJanuary 14,2021.
  35. ^Robinson, A.Satyajit Ray: A Vision of Cinema.I. B. Tauris.2005.ISBN1-84511-074-9.p. 48.
  36. ^Lamont, Tom (16 May 2010)."Films that changed my life: Ken Loach".London: The Observer.Retrieved22 July2019.
  37. ^National Film and Sound Archive:'Il Contratto'onAustralianscreen
  38. ^Anwar Huda (2004).The Art and science of Cinema.Atlantic Publishers & Dist. p. 100.ISBN81-269-0348-1.
  39. ^Akbar, Irena (14 June 2008)."Why Sica Moved Patna".Indian Express Archive.Retrieved4 May2015.
  40. ^Mahendra, Balu (7 September 2012)."சினிமாவும் நானும்..."(in Tamil). filmmakerbalumahendra.blogspot.in.Retrieved9 June2014.
  41. ^"A Manzil of Memories: Rare Memorabilia Of Basu Chatterji's Films".Learning & Creativity. 2014-04-25.Retrieved2014-05-27.
  42. ^"Remarks by JAFAR PANAHI".Film Scouts LLC. Archived fromthe originalon 24 August 2011.Retrieved22 May2012.
  43. ^Wakeman, John.World Film Directors, Volume 2.The H. W. Wilson Company. 1988. 663–669.
  44. ^Bell, Crystal (March 27, 2012)."Martin Scorsese Foreign Film List: Director Recommends 39 Films To Young Filmmaker Colin Levy".Huffington Post.RetrievedJanuary 14,2021.
  45. ^Kehr, Dave (October 20, 1995)."'Messenger' Delivers Stark Film Captures 1995 New York ".The Daily News.RetrievedApril 8,2018.
  46. ^Rooney, David (June 27, 1994)."Messenger".Variety.RetrievedApril 8,2018.
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