Bicycle Thief

Theatrical Release Date: 1998 10 02 (USA - Rerelease)

UPC: 014381457223

Studio: Image Entertainment

MPAA Rating: NR   Contains:[Adult Situations, Suitable for Children]

Summary: This landmark Italian neorealist drama became one of the best-known and most widely acclaimed European movies, including a special Academy Award as "most outstanding foreign film" seven years before that Oscar category existed. Written primarily by neorealist pioneer Cesare Zavattini and directed by Vittorio DeSica, also one of the movement's main forces, the movie featured all the hallmarks of the neorealist style: a simple story about the lives of ordinary people, outdoor shooting and lighting, non-actors mixed together with actors, and a focus on social problems in the aftermath of World War II. Lamberto Maggiorani plays Antonio, an unemployed man who finds a coveted job that requires a bicycle. When it is stolen on his first day of work, Antonio and his young son Bruno (Enzo Staiola) begin a frantic search, learning valuable lessons along the way. The movie focuses on both the relationship between the father and the son and the larger framework of poverty and unemployment in postwar Italy. As in such other classic films as Shoeshine (1946), Umberto D. (1952), and his late masterpiece The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (1971), DeSica focuses on the ordinary details of ordinary lives as a way to dramatize wider social issues. As a result, The Bicycle Thief works as a sentimental study of a father and son, a historical document, a social statement, and a record of one of the century's most influential film movements. ~ Leo Charney, Rovi

Category: Drama

Awards: Best Film - Any Source – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Foreign Film – null Best Screenplay – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Picture – National Board of Review Best Director – National Board of Review Best Foreign Film – New York Film Critics Circle Best Foreign Film – Hollywood Foreign Press Association

Features: Original Italian dialogue soundtrack with English subtitles
Dubbed English dialogue soundtrack
Theatrical trailer (in English)

Bicycle Thief

Format: DVD

Release Date: 11/24/1998

Audio: 5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1, 1 USA & territories, Canada

Runtime: 89 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English

Subtitles: English

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Side #1--
0. Side #1--
0. Chapter Scenes
1. Main Title; Getting a Job. [6:10]
2. Ricci's Transportation. [4:55]
3. The One Who Sees. [7:37]
4. The Bicycle Thief. [6:43]
5. Baiocco's Help. [4:30]
6. The search. [8:40]
7. Rain Men. [4:04]
8. "It's The Thief!". [5:30]
9. Mass Hysteria. [11:02]
10. Lunch Break. [5:05]
11. Back to the Seer. [4:20]
12. Face to Face. [11:01]
13. Desperate Measures. [8:12]
14. End Credits. [1:04]

Lucia Bozzola

Though not the first Italian Neo-Realist film seen outside of Italy (or even Vittorio De Sica's first Neo-Realist work), The Bicycle Thief (1948) is considered the seminal film of the movement, alongside Roberto Rossellini's Rome, Open City (1945). Following the guiding Neo-Realist precept of drawing stories from the daily life of post-war Italy, De Sica and writer Cesare Zavattini carefully interweave a wider view of Italian culture with a portrait of the bond between a father and son, revealing the impact of poverty and bureaucratic absurdities on one of many struggling families. Shooting on location with non-professional actors in the two leads (well-coached by actor De Sica), De Sica's mobile camera transforms moments of Antonio's odyssey into poetic images of isolation and despair, while never losing sight of the gritty hardships of quotidian experience. An even greater international sensation than his first Neo-Realist film (Shoeshine (1946)), The Bicycle Thief earned a special Oscar for Best Foreign Film and became a signature work for a movement that also included Bitter Rice (1948), Luchino Visconti's La Terra Trema (1948), and De Sica's Umberto D. (1952). Inspiring filmmakers across the world as an alternative to expensive Hollywood fantasy, The Bicycle Thief revealed the potential power of combining local concerns with an unflinching cinematic style. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Fausto Guerzoni  Actor 
Michele Sakara  Actor 
Umberto Spadaro  Actor 
Memmo Carotenuto  Actor 
Nando Bruno  Actor 
O. Biancoli  Screenwriter 
Alessandro Cicognini  Composer (Music Score) 
Suso Cecchi D'Amico  Screenwriter 
Vittorio De Sica  Director 
Vittorio De Sica  Producer 
Vittorio De Sica  Screenwriter 
Cesare Zavattini  Screenwriter 
Adolfo Franci  Screenwriter 
Lamberto Maggiorani  Actor 
Lianella Carell  Actor 
Enzo Staiola  Actor 
Elena Altieri  Actor 
Vittorio Antonucci  Actor 
Gino Saltamerenda  Actor 

Country: Italy