Unemployed Antonio is elated when he finally finds work hanging posters around war-torn Rome. However on his first day, his bicycle—essential to his work—gets stolen. His job is doomed unless he can find the thief. With the help of his son, Antonio combs the city, becoming desperate for justice.
The work of screenwriter Cesare Zavattini, director Vittorio De Sica, the nonprofessional actors, and many others is so charged with a common purpose that there's no point in even trying to separate their achievements.
– Jonathan Rosenbaum,
Chicago Reader,
14 Jan 2013
fresh:
Undeniably the most important neorealist film after Rossellini's Open City.
– Don Druker,
Chicago Reader,
14 Jan 2013
fresh:
De Sica carefully balances a generally tragic sensibility with a quiet undercurrent of hope, all the while sucking us into the story with the sheer urgency of the search for a stolen bicycle.
– Hank Sartin,
Time Out,
18 Nov 2011
fresh:
The picture is a pure exercise in directorial virtuosity.
– Variety Staff,
Variety,
6 Jul 2010
fresh:
This film manages to appeal to the better angels of our nature in a way that only deepens as we grow older along with the film.