Bicycle Thieves (1948)

Why so much hype?

hyped garbage

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

On the surface Vittorio de Sica's Bicycle Thieves doesn't appear to have a story worth filming about, since it is about a poor man whose bicycle gets stolen while on the job, but de Sica has somehow given this neorealistic motion picture such depth and such emotion that it has turned into such a great and personal film which is loved by many.It has to be noted that this is a neorealism picture, meaning that none of the actors in the film were really actors, but random people who are usually associated with their respective role. I did not find out about this until after i watched it, and i was not beginning to doubt it since the actors in this film are just as good as professional ones. Lamberto Maggiorani, who was a steel worker, captures the inner struggles and desperation of his character perfectly with his exceptional facial acting and his true energetic relentlessness in searching for his stolen bicycle.One has to ofcourse understand the struggles of post WWII italy in order to relate to the financial situation of this film, since there were a lot of poor struggling families like the one we follow in the film, and their tale of forlorn attempts to improve. We also have some great black and white cinematography which visually also creates a narrative of its own of how poverty seems to reign in Rome, with many shots of poor homes. The screenplay is as simple as the movie but still consists of so many morally questionable and realistic dialogue such as 'There's a cure for everything, except death'. Also worth a mention is the incredible score by Alessandro Cicognini, whose violins accurately enhance the sad story that is being played out on screen.Especially the final thirty minutes are absolute world class, and the final climax ( Without spoiling anything ) shows its inevitable ending so greatly. The events that unfold in the film might be simple, but it's the kind of film that will make a great emotional impact on you even when the simplest things happen due to the truly realistic depressing feeling and the great connection with the characters.

It is the exuberance of the dramatis personae of the movie that exhort me to say that despite having no element of piquancy, this is assuredly a masterpiece of profound ingenuity.

To be completely honest I came to this film as just another movie to cross off the list that everyone talked about. It was almost a joke. If you wanted to get into foreign films it was this and The 400 Blows, and maybe Seven Samurai. And I watched this film with the expectations that it was a CLASSIC, or Untouchable or a film without a peer, after all in Robert Altman's "The Player", the thought of remaking this film is a joke, and as a character says "You'd probably give it a happy ending." So I came into it expecting a depressing, black-and-white-foreign-language film that was completely removed from me and unrelatable in the sense that I would never know what it felt like to be a father in post-war Italy. I was wrong. In plain and simple terms I couldn't have been more wrong. This film, apart from being engaging and full of pathos and tragedy, represented so many disturbing and uplifting facets of the world that for every fear there was angel, for every danger was a comfort. This should always and forever be remembered as the Greatest Street Casting of all time and it should also be remembered as the Greatest Father-Son-Film of all time. Whether you have a wonderful relationship or a strained relationship with your father this film could go a long way to explaining a lot of the simplicities and complexities of relationships that have haunted humans for generations. This is a pure film. It's honest. It's real and it's magnificent. It will stand the test of time, and it unfortunately has never been topped. I can't give you historical reasons or even reasons based on the creators' filmography why this film is so magnificent, I can't even give you a non-emotional reason why this film is just so damn good, all I can say, or recommend is that this film goes deeper than you expect it to, further than you want it to, and represents a slice of life than hopefully none of us will ever know, and in that creates a beautiful piece of art that has lasted 70 years and could easily last 70 more.

4,75 / 5 - This is cinema. Bicycle Thief is probably the best report on the hardship and despair that Europeans, in this case Italians, went through after all death and destruction caused by the WWII. The grainy black and white photography is heartbreaking and the many amateur actors just adds to the truthiness. It was a big surprise to know that the main part is played by an amateur actor, maybe that is why the film hits its mark so well and comes across so realistically. The big question raised on the film is how far misery, hunger, poverty and inequality will push you apart from honor and dignity. Will the father be able to maintain his honor and role as a inspirational role for his son on such an extreme situation?The film is intense from start to end and it will keep you on edge of your seat through the more intense moments. This is a huge counterpoint to what Hollywood was producing at the same period of time. It is an honest portrait of the struggle for life and self-respect.