The Bicycle Thief (1948)
97 %
Reviews Counted: 34 Fresh: 33 Rotten:1 Average Rating: 8.8/10
Runtime: 90 mins
Synopsis: The recipient of international acclaim, Vittorio de Sica's Italian Neorealist masterwork, THE BICYCLE THIEF, is a treasure of world cinema. After nearly two years of unemployment, Antonio (Lamberto Maggiorani) finally finds work posting bills. But he needs a bicycle to do the job.... [More]
Genre: Foreign Films
Starring: Enzo Staiola, Lamberto Maggiorani, Lianella Carell, Gino Saltamerenda, Vittorio Antonucci
Director: Vittorio De Sica
Screenwriter: Vittorio De Sica, Cesare Zavattini, Suso Cecchi D'Amico
Composer: Alessandro Cicognini
Screenwriter: Vittorio De Sica, Cesare Zavattini, Suso Cecchi D'Amico
Composer: Alessandro Cicognini
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Reviews
... a plainspoken, poetic work that is likely to surprise you with its virtues no matter how often you've heard it called a "great film."
Comment
07/11/08
Devastating. Brilliant. Perhaps the most influential film of all time.
07/15/07
there are few characters that are more fully realized and deeply felt as Ricci
02/07/07
Like so many of the films grouped together under the heading of Italian neo-realism, its grainy monochrome images and simple storyline never delve beneath the surface of the characters' lives to reveal the social mechanisms at work there.
02/09/06
A defining landmark of Italian neorealism and a haunting fable of want and desperation… an ideal marriage of form and meaning. Even the title is indispensable.
01/07/05
Both heart- and groundbreaking. But you can't help but wonder if the film wouldn't benefit from a little criticism; critics would.
03/18/04
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.
05/20/03
Top Critic
One of the great films that truly deserves to be called a timeless classic, The Bicycle Thief is a thing of simple beauty.
03/10/03
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