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Il Bidone
 
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Il Bidone

Broderick Crawford (Actor), Richard Basehart (Actor), Federico Fellini (Director) | Rated: Unrated | Format: DVD
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

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In Fellini's sardonically humorous, yet powerfully dramatic "Il Bidone," three small-time crooks impersonate priests in Rome to con poor people out of their money. Academy Award winner Broderick Crawford is extraordinary as the group's world weary leader, whose chance meeting with his daughter opens his eyes to his wrongdoing. Too late, he suffers a crisis of conscience in this absorbing tale of hope, desperation and, finally, redemption. One of Fellini's most realistic films, "Il Bidone" begins as an Italian comedy of errors, its swindles reminiscent of "The Sting," yet there is true sting in its harsh portrayal of greed and squalor. The middle chapter in Fellini's "trilogy of loneliness" between "La Strada" and "Nights of Cabiria," this classic film will tug at your heart and astonish you with its aching sense of compassion. Music by Nino Rota (The Godfather, Rocco and His Brothers).

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Customer Reviews

Most helpful customer reviews
Nothing to go crazy over Sep 5 2004
Format:DVD
This is a simple film. Not really any thinking involved here. Not a bad film eithor. Don't get me wrong it's good but it just doesn't have the feel of some of his other films.
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I liked it Jun 28 2002
By chimni
Format:DVD
My friends hassled me for starting off my Fellini collection with Il Bidone but I've seen the classics and have pretty easy access to seeing them any time. Something a little bit more obscure like this one is harder to track down, so I figured that I'd buy it based on the reviews here. I wasn't disappointed. people were pretty accurate in their impressions. The story is told well, the acting is good and it's something that I lok forward to watching many more times.
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Simple and elegant May 19 2002
Format:DVD
Il Bidone is a stark, gritty, unyielding portrait of the life of small time con men in Rome. Augusto sees those who've escaped the rounds about him, at forty eight he is far past his prime and just beginning to realize that he has no idea to escape the rut. The movie is very spare, the cons not particularly interesting as cons, but very weighty in symbolism. The script is playful, sly and heartless, until Augusto bumps into his estranged daughter and begins to work his way back towards humanity. That it will cost him dearly is rarely in doubt, but the passage is fascinating to watch.

If you've heard comparisons to The Sting, forget about them. That would be like calling the South Pacific and Lord of the Flies similar since they're both set on islands. Il Bidone does not function as a story of revenge, or as an example of the grand old life of con men. As a piece of neorealism, we can expect a somber mood and only passing happiness, but it is well worth watching the awakening and demise of Augusto - not as a lesson in morals, but as one in storytelling. Il Bidone carries an emotional punch, half a century later and if you're an admirer of La Strada, here is a harsher, perhaps better, companion piece.

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