I Vitelloni (1953)

Fellini's Vitelloni is considered(sadly)to often as one of the films not belonging to the better half of his creations. O.k. it may lack the flawless level of technical and artistic accomplishment of later works,however in my opinion it is a small and unrighteously overlooked,forgotten,under-appreciated masterpiece. A short and essential form of exercise and training for his largely acclaimed successes,in spite of the minor subject and some minor flaws capturing most of the "fellinesque" essence,probably willingly restraining and understating it. There is less baroque,deeply symbolical(in a :philosophical,pantheistic,hermetic sense of the word),lush and disturbing imagery,however in La Strada,Notte Di Cabiria or Il Bidone Fellini proved that he can turn even day-to-day subjects into great films,without idealizing nor vulgarizing reality,without using expensive costumes,sets or special effects,natural yet never boring. The same goes about this film:it's the story of five young men living in a small town(most likely Fellini's birthplace Rimini) in post-second-world-war Italy. There is even a storyteller and what struck me from the first scene was the resemblance with Scorsese using the same story-telling technique in Goodfellas or Casino,in order to make the story more actual,credible and more accessible to the viewer,to better get in the mood(no wonder that Scorsese adored this film and probably even used it as a source of inspiration).In a warm,typically Italian,partly poetic,partly ironic tone the five are introduced in such a way that the viewer gradually gets the feeling of having known these characters since childhood. Both for their own fault but(probably even more)for the lack of real social,cultural and economical perspectives the grim and old-fashioned town is providing,all of them have,in spite of their distinctive personalities,a lot in common:they are all well out of their teens,biologically adults yet socially quite immature,they all lack a permanent,full-time jobs,yet don't see themselves as unemployed,rather bohemians or careless playboys,they all are somewhat noisy,conceited yet harmless whereabouts,all trying to escape the town's utter boredom engaging in "a bit of everything"(amateur art,petty crime,small business,casual love-affairs,gambling,partying or the so Mediterranean&aristocratic preoccupation of "Dolce far Niente"). They aren't bad boys,nor hoodlums(both as some would know from Scorsese's films)however they major mistake,the one that influences all of them in a negative way(however without leading to their downfall or some serious moral crisis)is their incapacity to rid themselves of their idleness and to act-but that's what makes them enjoyable too... Fellini is obviously self-centered,individualistic,coming to terms with his own strong and uneven ego,so this film is,as some might expect,autobiographical,all the five men being more or less an alter-ego or at least inspired by persons closely connected to him,his childhood&youth,Rimini-every time Fellini fictionalizes his own self,he creates a masterpiece,a Dorian Grey-sort of self-indulgent myth that gets it's value from being this way.While other filmmakers,even accomplished ones would just be hilarious repeating the same sort of characters under different names and plots,Fellini keeps us wanting more and more of his personality,every piece of this intricate puzzle-whether it's this film,La Dolce Vita,81/2,Amacord or several others-providing the intellectual excitement of having d

Fmovies: I Vitelloni was Federico Fellini's third film, and it shows very well how he was maturing in his style, and likewise very well how he was not yet fully mature. His next film would be La Strada, one of the world's great films. I Vitelloni, although many who have had the chance to see it champion it as one of his best, is a tier down from La Strada and his other melodramatic masterpiece, Nights of Cabiria (his other masterpieces, IMO, are La Dolce Vita, 8 ½, and Amarcord of those I've seen, which are all of the ones that are generally considered to be great; I'd also make a case for And the Ship Sails On). The film's flaws are mostly in the script: it is sloppy. There are several great scenes, a couple of the best, especially in a visual aspect, that Fellini ever created, but more often the actions of the characters are difficult to understand. The characters themselves aren't all that well defined - in a scene that has since become common, the five title characters are introduced to us by a narrator, who tells us certain primary traits for each of them. Sadly, we only learn a bit more about most of them. What really harms the film, though, is the fact that a few of these main characters are difficult to distinguish from one another. To make things worse, as time moves on in the film, the characters constantly change the style of their facial hair!

The film is quite episodic, which is actually Fellini's most common way of going about it, but most of the events in his better films seem to bear more weight on the emotions of the films. I Vitelloni is still a very good film, but, given its unavailability, it's unnecessary to knock yourself down searching it out. Perhaps Criterion will release it on DVD soon. Maybe, if it has some good extras, I'll purchase it. 8/10.

In a small seaside town in Italy, Moraldo Rubini (Franco Interlenghi), Alberto (Alberto Sordi), Fausto Moretti (Franco Fabrizi), Leopoldo Vannucci (Leopoldo Trieste) and Riccardo (Riccardo Fellini) form a group of idle friends that spend their time together doing nothing but drinking, flirting and going to parties. When Fausto's girlfriend Sandra Rubini (Eleonora Ruffo) gets pregnant, he is pressed by his own father to marry her. However, the irresponsible Fausto remains unfaithful to Sandra, cheating her with many women and almost leading his family to a tragedy.

"I Vitelloni" is an Italian melodrama with the signature of Federico Fellini: excellent production, great music score, outstanding interpretations, wonderful cinematography. The story is dated in the present days, it is not my favorite Fellini's film, but it is still a magnificent movie. I am not sure whether the story of this group of "Peter Pans" is autobiographic or not, but it is a good screenplay related to Italian culture of the 50s. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Os Boas Vidas" ("The Bons Vivants")

I Vitelloni fmovies. "I Vitelloni" is an early, somehow autobiographical Fellini movie that tells the story of five young men hanging around in a provincial town and trying to make ends meet. In the movie, we get to see what the life of grown-ups who still live in their parents' house (something very common in Italy) is like. The story itself is rather simple and, while it mainly focuses on one character (Fausto), quite tedious although there are some comedian aspects in it (as Fausto betrays his wife and how his employer throws him out). Although Fellini wanted to give some depth to this movie - e.g. by showing the fateful encounter of Moraldo and the boy working at the local railway station - he somehow missed the point. The dialogs are not profound enough, action and reaction of the characters remain predictable and the "spice", which we can find in other Fellini movies, seems to be missing in this one.

This is a wonderful film. The BFI have got their act together and made a new print, so finally I get to se this - and to be honest I preferred it to La Dolce Vita (despite absence of Mastrionni - sexiest man in history of cinema). Anyway, some of these scenes were just breath-takingly beautiful, especially the aftermath of the carnival, where Angelo looks drunkenly at the clowns (about to become a key Fellini motif). What especially impressed was the soundtrack, which lurched from a fairly typical 'melodrama' score to brilliant use of natural sound, especially the cold wind whipping around the streets off the sea. This sound adds pathos, and helps you understand that sandra and Faustos' 'happy end' is merely temporary: this is a desolate place which makes for desolate lives. It differs from neo-realist classics such as Bicycle Thieves in that it places malaise into the spiritual and emotional realm rather than the financial, although you still get some sense that the boys' economic hardship is maybe not entirely voluntary. Really genuienely enjoyable on your first watch, something I don't think you can say about all Fellini's films, beautifully shot and wonderfully paced, you feel as if you have witnessed a little miracle watching this film.

I Vitelloni, directed by Fellini in 1953 was his first international success.Although it is largely autobiographical in nature there is no obvious mention of Rimini,an Italian coastal town where Fellini was born.There are things to be learned from this film such as erratic behavior of a generation which grew up after second world war.This was the one of the rare post war films which spoke of conflicts within family.It is true that Italian master has drawn an honest portrait of aimless youngsters who were not fit for anything but what might be intriguing to an average viewer is to ascertain as to why Fellini decided not to throw some light about why his protagonists were like that ? This is the reason why Fellini has left all important reasoning task for viewers to decide about strengths and weaknesses of his protagonists.I Vitelloni is a film in which there is no escape for anyone neither for its young heroes nor for their family members who like them are also trapped in their own dreary existence.