What would you do if you were out of money, you had a family to support, your job required a bicycle, and someone steals it your first day at work?
How far would you go to get it back?
That's what Vittorio de Sici sets out to answer in The Bicycle Thief, filmed in Rome in 1948.
Our “hero”, Lamberto, searches all over Rome for his bike — following leads into missions and brothels — until he puts aside his conscience and faces the ultimate humiliation in front of his son.
It's subtitled, in black and white, and not so much about a bicycle as about bigger issues of relationships and poverty. In spite of that, “Ladri di Biciclette” does have lots of scenes of people riding bicycles, mostly with Lamberto watching longingly. Sometimes it's called “Bicycle Thieves,” apparently that's the strict translation.
I rented this movie after reading about it recently at Freewheeling Spirit. There's no way I could find it at the local Blockbuster, but signing up with their online program made many such movies available through the wider online selections.
There's many more bicycle movies out there than just “Breaking Away” (which would be enough, though), “American Flyers,” and “Quicksilver.”
Slated for mailing in the coming weeks are “Beijing Bicycle,” “2 Seconds,” “El Amateur,” “Hell on Wheels,” and the list goes on. They could all make for great movie-watching, if only for something stare at while mind-numbingly spinning away on the trainer.
“Triplets of Belleville” I've already seen, and I don't really need to see “Pee-Wee's Big Adventure.” Hey, wait a minute…. that the same plot as “The Bicycle Thief”!
See selections covered in Biking Bis at Bicycling Movie Page
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