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The Bicycle Thief

Lamberto Maggiorani (Actor), Enzo Staiola (Actor), Vittorio De Sica (Director) Rated:
Unrated
Format: DVD
4.4 out of 5 stars 220 customer reviews
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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

A BEAUTIFUL, SIMPLE STORY OF MAN IN POST-WAR ROME WHO NEEDS HIS BICYCLE IN ORDER TO WORK AT HIS JOB. NO SOONER DOES HE RETRIEVE IT FROM PAWN, THEN IT IS STOLEN. THE HEARTWRENCHING SEARCH TEACHES THE MAN AND HIS SON MUCH ABOUT THE MEANING OF LIFE AND JUST HOW FAR WE WILL GO WHEN PUSHED TO THE EDGE.

Amazon.com

Vittorio De Sica's remarkable 1947 drama of desperation and survival in Italy's devastating post-war depression earned a special Oscar for its affecting power. Shot in the streets and alleys of Rome, De Sica uses the real-life environment of contemporary life to frame his moving drama of a desperate father whose new job delivering cinema posters is threatened when a street thief steals his bicycle. Too poor to buy another, he and his son take to the streets in an impossible search for his bike. Cast with nonactors and filled with the real street life of Rome, this landmark film helped define the Italian neorealist approach with its mix of real life details, poetic imagery, and warm sentimentality. De Sica uses the wandering pair to witness the lives of everyday folks, but ultimately he paints a quiet, poignant portrait of father and son, played by nonprofessionals Lamberto Maggiorani and Enzo Staiola, whose understated performances carry the heart of the film. De Sica and scenarist Cesare Zavattini also collaborated on Shoeshine, Miracle in Milan, and Umberto D, all classics in the neorealist vein, but none of which approach the simple poetry and quiet power achieved in The Bicycle Thief. --Sean Axmaker

Special Features

None.

Product Details

  • Actors: Lamberto Maggiorani, Enzo Staiola, Lianella Carell, Gino Saltamerenda, Vittorio Antonucci
  • Directors: Vittorio De Sica
  • Writers: Adolfo Franci, Cesare Zavattini, Gerardo Guerrieri, Gherardo Gherardi, Luigi Bartolini
  • Format: Multiple Formats, Black & White, NTSC
  • Language: Italian (Dolby Digital 1.0), English (Dolby Digital 1.0)
  • Subtitles: English
  • Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  • Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Rated:
    Unrated
    Not Rated
  • Studio: Image Entertainment
  • DVD Release Date: November 24, 1998
  • Run Time: 89 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (220 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: 6305081034
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #71,511 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
  • Learn more about "The Bicycle Thief" on IMDb

Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsA masterpiece for all ages, for all time
By Alabaster Jones on May 29, 2015
Format: DVD Verified Purchase
Very high on my list of favorite films of all time, Vittorio De Sica's Bicycle Thieves packs an emotional punch every time I see it. As opposed to many neorealist films of the time (many of which I also greatly admire) which tended to focus on poverty as though it were an insurmountable force of nature, and which viewed the struggles of the poor working man through an almost morbidly romantic lens, De Sica and screenwriter Cesare Zavattini examine the same subject in a way that points the finger squarely at the individual and at society at large for creating and perpetuating the hardships that the characters endure. This is true not only for Bicycle Thieves, but for De Sica/Zavattini's other neorealist projects as well. The result is a poignant examination of human nature that prods at our own conscience while we are forced to ask ourselves how far we would be willing to lower ourselves to fulfill our own basic needs of survival. De Sica's films are usually devastatingly emotional and quite depressing, but always at their center is a deep and profound love for people and a (perhaps hopeless) wish for everything to work out okay for them. And always in some ways, there are small victories for the protagonists of his films, even if it wasn't the victory they were looking for.

This Criterion edition of the film is fantastic. The print and transfer look better than I've ever seen it look, although the film does certainly show its age, with some scratches and lines showing up from time to time. The audio is fine.. the original mono Italian soundtrack appears to have been cleaned a bit as well, as there is minimal noise or hiss which allows the beautiful score to work its magic free of distractions.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsA great movie about the aftermath of WW2 in Italy
By DRB Manou on July 4, 2013
Format: Amazon Video Verified Purchase
The setting for this movie is Rome at the close of WWII. There were very few jobs available.
Crowds of unemployed men in search of work and a paycheck huddle in the cold around
each and every viable business in the city. In spite of it all, Italians remained a happy, high energy
people. The story line is realistic as are the main characters. The times were tough.
We see what it means to struggle for food and shelter in order to keep
families afloat. The photography is striking and beautifully choreographed
early in the movie. The film's visual prowess takes a back seat
to the story line during the later half of the film. The story is simple, its message
is powerful. I recommended it to my daughter who was born in 1973, approximately 30 years after this film was made.
It is tough for her generation to relate to black and white films
and life in the 1940s -the aftermath of a world war. This was a time that was
somber and grey. The story follows the relationship between a father
in pursuit of work and his young son. The father finds a job but must have a bike in order to get to work.
He can't afford public transportation. This happy, optimistic fellow scrapes together the
funds needed to get his bike out of hock. From this point on, the story unfolds.
His bike is stolen along with his ability to provide for his family. After that, the man
finds himself tempted to steal a bike to save his job. While, I am not inclined to label this
one of the great movies of our times, I recommend it heartily.
It is a poignant film that tells us a great deal about how it was
to live in Rome after World War II with many stores closed,
and both food and jobs were scarce. The man in this story
is a family man. He must come to terms with behaving in a way
that will leave a permanent blot on his father-son relationship.
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3.0 out of 5 starsLife is hard. You take the good with the bad.
By J. R. Jones on August 9, 2015
Format: DVD Verified Purchase
This movie was solid. I understood how much the bicycle meant to the welfare of his family and injustices that come life. However, it was odd that this man sought almost every avenue available to him in order to locate the bike- even theft, but two wrongs don't make a right. It is difficult to say whether or not I would have done the same thing or not. I would have taken more care in safe-guarding the bike, that is, he asked a small child to watch the bike when his wife went in the building to pay the psychic. How was this child to watch the only means he had to support his family.
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5.0 out of 5 starsMasterpiece?
By Mateo S on October 8, 2015
Format: Amazon Video Verified Purchase
Strong, simple story with socio-political undercurrents and a powerful ending. On the surface, it's about a desperate, impoverished man's hunt for a stolen bicycle; getting it back means keeping his job and supporting his family. Dig a little deeper, this Italian neorealist film shows the viewer what it's like to be a poor person up against, swallowed by, then spat out by the system during 40s era war-torn Rome. That ending is really something. Generally hailed as a masterpiece, and I couldn't agree more.
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5.0 out of 5 starsA simple idea wrapped in a complex tapestry
By Lord Schitsdain on March 12, 2009
Format: DVD Verified Purchase
On the surface, this is a film about a man desperate for work to support his family that upon getting hired, needs to pawn his bedding to get his bike out of hock for his new job. It is immediately stolen, and he spends the rest of the movie trying to get it back. Seems simple enough, but through the course of the film, you are witness to the desperation and abject poverty of the times, the struggle to maintain dignity and morals, and the seedy underbelly of society who's parasitic opportunism has dire consequences for their victims. The father takes his son to a nice restaurant for a proper meal and they are scorned by the millionaires living large while much of the population is barely surviving.

The director adds an additional perspective to the importance of getting the bike back when we see the Father looking for his young son and he sees boats dragging the river for a drowned body. He fears his son may be dead. Losing a bike is one thing, but losing your only child would make it pale in comparison. His son is safe, but the point has been made. The father does the math for his son regarding how much money he can earn with his new job and how much it will mean to their standard of living, which is ultimately what's at stake, not the cost of a bike. It also means the difference between him feeling like a failure, and his being able to regain his dignity and provide for his family.

The father is finally faced with the decision of whether or not to steal a bike so that he won't lose his job. He knows it is wrong, but his family's survival, his self-respect and the admiration of his son are all at stake. Maybe this moral dilemma is lost on modern society where the biggest crooks aren't stealing for survival, but are already billionaires working on Wall St.Read more ›
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