Part of Essential Fellini.
Between the international triumphs of LA STRADA and NIGHTS OF CABIRIA, Federico Fellini made this fascinatingly unique film that’s been long overlooked. Largely eschewing the poetic flourishes of the more famous works that bookend it, IL BIDONE is a dark neorealist crime drama starring a commanding Broderick Crawford as one of the most complex characters in the director’s canon: an aging con man who, having made a career preying on the desperation of poor peasants, suddenly finds that his crooked ways have begun to catch up with him. Masterfully entwining the story’s human grit with elements of humor and pathos, Fellini crafts a searing portrait of a man reckoning with the consequences of his life’s choices that hits with the force of a profound moral tragedy.
The Cineteca di Bologna and The Film Foundation restored the 1955 Venice Film Festival version for the Fellini 100 Project from elements provided by Titanus, with funding from the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation.
“A vivid work crafted by one of the grandest artists of the cinematic form. Every cinephile, not just the Fellini completists, should seek it out.” —Ryne Clos, Spectrum Culture “Some have referred to the film as Fellini's darkest examination of human nature, yet Fellini balances that darkness with his usual comic sensibility and a tremendous sense of heart that lasts long after one has watched the film.” —Richard Propes, theindependentcritic.com “...May have had the least success, but when seen now, it really is a great Fellini film and probably the darkest examination of human nature he ever attempted.” —Peter Fuller, KULTGUY “Contains some very strong Fellini phases and accumulations of moods that make it well worth seeing…Fellini's skill at recognizing subtle ironies in the behavior of cheap, pretentious people is amusingly exercised here.” —Bosley Crowther, New York Times (Nov 20, 1964)
