Review: Bicycle Thieves (1948)

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Bicycle Thieves

Rating

Director

Vittorio De Sica

Screenplay

Cesare Zavattini, Oreste Biancoli, Suso D’Amico, Vittorio De Sica, Adolfo Franci, Gherardo Gherardi, Gerardo Guerrieri (Novel: Luigi Bartolini)

Length

1h 29m

Starring

Lemberto Maggiorani, Enzo Staiola, Lianella Carell, Elena Altieri, Gino Saltamerenda, Giulio Chiari, Vittorio Antonucci, Michele Sakara, Fausto Guerzoni, Emma Druetti, Carlo Jachino

MPAA Rating

Not Rated

Basic Plot

In order to accept his new job, Antonio must have a bicycle, but someone steals it.

Review

Vittorio De Sica is one of the many directors that filmed during the Italian Neorealist movement. World War II had made film supplies and actors in Italy a rare commodity. Filmmakers were forced to shoot on extremely low budgets, on whatever film stock they could get a hold of and with nonprofessional actors.

“The Bicycle Thief” is a product of the Neorealist movement and is proof that you don’t have to have huge budgets to make a great film.

Antonio Ricci (Lamberto Maggiorani) has just been given a job. He is required to have a bicycle. He returns home desperate to get his bicycle out of hock. His wife, Maria (Lianella Carell), pawns her linen sheets so that Antonio can keep his job and bring in money to support the family.

On his first day on the job, Antonio is pasting a poster featuring Rita Hayworth on the side of a building in the city, when someone comes up and steals his bike. Antonio chases the young man as far as he can, but loses him in the midst of the crowded city streets.

Depressed and violated, he returns to get his bucket and then pick his son, Bruno (Enzo Stajola), up after work. He confesses to his son that someone has stolen the bike and after dropping him off at home, Antonio goes off to wallow in his misery at a local tavern.

What follows is one man’s desperate attempts to retrieve his bicycle and reconcile the loss. Maggiorani is a natural in front of the camera, as are most of the actors. You wouldn’t guess that they were nonprofessional if you didn’t already know.

The big surprise is little Stajola. He gives one of the finest children’s performances in film history. His performance wrings true emotion out of the hearts of viewers.

Vittorio De Sica pulled together a magnificent film that took home the second Academy Award for Foreign Language Film 50 years ago in 1949. Filmed in Italian, “The Bicycle Thief” is a charming and heart-wrenching motion picture.