![]() More than 70 years after Crowther’s enthusiastic notice - during which time Vittorio De Sica’s fable of desperation has been imitated, satirized, analyzed and taught in schools - I’m tempted to let my predecessor have the last word.īut why should you see it, or see it again? Why should you (still) care? These are fair questions to ask of any consensus masterpiece - skepticism is what keeps art alive, reverence embalms it - and especially apt in the case of “Bicycle Thieves.” The movie is about seeing and caring, about the danger of being distracted from what matters. It’s “Bicycle Thieves” (“Ladri di Biciclette” in Italian) not only because more than one bike is stolen, but also because the cruelty of modern life threatens to make robbers of us all. The English title has since been adjusted to reflect the original. ![]() ![]() “People should see it - and they should care.” Those are the concluding words to one of the more passionate raves in the annals of New York Times film criticism: Bosley Crowther’s 1949 review of the Italian movie introduced to American audiences as “ The Bicycle Thief.” ![]()
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