Bicycle Thieves

Movie3 list appearances

Premise: Loosely adapted from Luigi Bartolini's novel, Vittorio De Sica's *Bicycle Thieves* follows unemployed Roman father Antonio Ricci (Lamberto Maggiorani) and his young son Bruno (Enzo Staiola) as they search postwar Rome for the stolen bicycle essential to Antonio's new poster-hanging job Core Thesis: Employing non-professional actors and on-location Roman streets, *Bicycle Thieves* crystallized Italian neorealism into a universal humanist parable of economic precarity, dignity, and father-son bond Neorealist Methodology: Shot on location in postwar Rome with non-professional leads (Maggiorani, Staiola) and a minimalist narrative arc spanning a single desperate quest Inaugural Sight & Sound #1: Topped the very first *Sight & Sound* Greatest Films of All Time poll in 1952

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