GOTTA SEE IT # 3 - "IL BIDONE"
“IL BIDONE”
Starring: Broderick Crawford, Giulietta Masina, Richard Basehart, Franco Fabrizi, Sue Ellen Blake, Irene Cefaro, Alberto De Amicis, Lorella De Luca.
Written by: Federico Fellini, Ennio Flaiano, Tullio Pinelli.
Directed by: Federico Fellini
B & W – 1955
91 mins.
Buried treasure – it’s the central prop in the opening scam deftly pulled off by three con men in this sad and haunting Federico Fellini film from 1955. It’s also an apt description for the film itself, which followed and preceded two much more celebrated Fellini films - “La Strada” and “Nights Of Cabiria.”
Three con men – a slick playboy named Roberto (Franco Fabrizi), a childish family man named Picasso (Richard Basehart), and aging and desperate Augusto (Broderick Crawford), make an effective team running elaborate and cruel cons on the peasants of the Italian countryside.
Fellini and collaborators Ennio Flaiano (La Dolce Vita, The Tenth Victim) and Tullio Pinelli (The White Sheik, Boccaccio ’70) invest their three central characters with varying amounts of humanity – from the least, Roberto, to the most, Augusto – and in doing so bring sadness and poignancy to otherwise cheap, pathetic lives. In the end it is Crawford’s film, as his aching, world weary mug pulls you in and makes you care for a man whose humanity is something he keeps locked away until it is too late. Crawford plays Augusto with broken intensity - he’s all sad faces and pained expressions. He’s a lion who has grown too old and heartsick for the jungle he, nevertheless, continues to roam.
There are several beautifully constructed and executed scenes, but the highlight is a New Year’s Eve party thrown by an old con colleague of Augusto’s named Rinaldo (played with nihilistic oiliness by Alberto De Amicis) who has made it big and is now rubbing his old friend’s face in it. Few filmmakers were as good as Fellini at shooting large gatherings. Here, in a spacious and crowded apartment, his camera is always moving, always capturing the contained chaos of the revelers as well as a few choice contrasting moments – couples having a blast while Rinaldo and his mistress fight; Picasso and his wife Iris (Giulietta Masina) sharing a kiss at the stroke of midnight while Augusto stands painfully and awkwardly alone. The scene ends on an embarrassing and defining note that stings our trio of tricksters - most especially Augusto.
Fellini went on to bigger budgets, more complex narratives and images that presented remarkable, dense, dream-like worlds where seemingly anything was possible. Here, though, in this harsh sketch of a film, he contrasts the selfish, cruel world of the con and the humble, hardworking life of the peasant with moving results. As the final moments slip by, when redemption seems only a car ride away, cruelty is no longer an elaborate con, but, instead, it is a dirt road and an honorable life just out of reach.
Starring: Broderick Crawford, Giulietta Masina, Richard Basehart, Franco Fabrizi, Sue Ellen Blake, Irene Cefaro, Alberto De Amicis, Lorella De Luca.
Written by: Federico Fellini, Ennio Flaiano, Tullio Pinelli.
Directed by: Federico Fellini
B & W – 1955
91 mins.
Buried treasure – it’s the central prop in the opening scam deftly pulled off by three con men in this sad and haunting Federico Fellini film from 1955. It’s also an apt description for the film itself, which followed and preceded two much more celebrated Fellini films - “La Strada” and “Nights Of Cabiria.”
Three con men – a slick playboy named Roberto (Franco Fabrizi), a childish family man named Picasso (Richard Basehart), and aging and desperate Augusto (Broderick Crawford), make an effective team running elaborate and cruel cons on the peasants of the Italian countryside.
Fellini and collaborators Ennio Flaiano (La Dolce Vita, The Tenth Victim) and Tullio Pinelli (The White Sheik, Boccaccio ’70) invest their three central characters with varying amounts of humanity – from the least, Roberto, to the most, Augusto – and in doing so bring sadness and poignancy to otherwise cheap, pathetic lives. In the end it is Crawford’s film, as his aching, world weary mug pulls you in and makes you care for a man whose humanity is something he keeps locked away until it is too late. Crawford plays Augusto with broken intensity - he’s all sad faces and pained expressions. He’s a lion who has grown too old and heartsick for the jungle he, nevertheless, continues to roam.
There are several beautifully constructed and executed scenes, but the highlight is a New Year’s Eve party thrown by an old con colleague of Augusto’s named Rinaldo (played with nihilistic oiliness by Alberto De Amicis) who has made it big and is now rubbing his old friend’s face in it. Few filmmakers were as good as Fellini at shooting large gatherings. Here, in a spacious and crowded apartment, his camera is always moving, always capturing the contained chaos of the revelers as well as a few choice contrasting moments – couples having a blast while Rinaldo and his mistress fight; Picasso and his wife Iris (Giulietta Masina) sharing a kiss at the stroke of midnight while Augusto stands painfully and awkwardly alone. The scene ends on an embarrassing and defining note that stings our trio of tricksters - most especially Augusto.
Fellini went on to bigger budgets, more complex narratives and images that presented remarkable, dense, dream-like worlds where seemingly anything was possible. Here, though, in this harsh sketch of a film, he contrasts the selfish, cruel world of the con and the humble, hardworking life of the peasant with moving results. As the final moments slip by, when redemption seems only a car ride away, cruelty is no longer an elaborate con, but, instead, it is a dirt road and an honorable life just out of reach.
