Il Bidone (1955)

• Year: 1955
• Released: 01 Oct 1962
• Country: Italy, France
• Adwords: 2 nominations
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047876/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/il_bidone
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: Italian, Latin, English
• MPA Rating: Not Rated
• Genre: Comedy, Drama
• Runtime: 92 min
• Writer: Federico Fellini, Ennio Flaiano, Tullio Pinelli
• Director: Federico Fellini
• Cast: Broderick Crawford, Richard Basehart, Giulietta Masina

	7.5/10
	100% – Critics
	79% – Audience

Il Bidone Storyline

Augusto, Carlo, and Roberto are scam artists who often work together. Middle-age divorced Augusto is the oldest, most seasoned in the business, and the trio’s spiritual leader. They either are immune to the notion that most of their victims are not wealthy–most uneducated, rural peasants–or don’t care that they make at most a few hundred thousand lira at a time. Each of the three is at a different stage of life, which makes Carlo and Augusto examine what they’re doing more critically, each stemming from a specific incident. Roberto, the youngest, still lives solely for the here-and-now and will take any money willingly. Carlo would like to make a living as an artist, hence his nickname of Picasso, if only it would support him, his loyal wife Iris, and their adolescent daughter Silvania. Carlo has told Iris that his frequent absences is in his work as a traveling salesman with Augusto, but she can no longer bury her head in the sand about what he’s doing upon a last-minute social evening out with his associates on New Year’s Eve. Augusto’s examination of his life begins upon a chance encounter with his young-adult daughter Patrizia, whom he had not seen in years and didn’t even recognize. Augusto is torn between what his money can afford in getting Patrizia on her feet as she contemplates extending her expensive education, versus being a role model to her.

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Il Bidone Movie Reviews

Before you find “Il Bidone” sympathetic, keep in mind it’s part of their ‘job’ …

“Il Bidone” is the cinematic illustration of the middle-child syndrome, misunderstood and underrated, lost between two masterpieces. But I guess after a movie like “La Strada”, the best way for Fellini to handle his immediate worldwide popularity was to surprise, to make something completely different, which, in my opinion, he successfully did. Now, let’s go back to “Il Bidone”, ‘The Swindlers’.

At first sight, “Il Bidone” starts a like the Italian version of “The Sting”, it’s about three men whose sordid business is swindling. The main character is Augusto, the veteran and leader who, after years of practice, got the expertise but not the spirit anymore. Broderick Crawford, who won an Oscar 6 years before for his gripping performance as Willie Stark in “All the King’s Men”, carries with his droopy tired-looking eyes, the tormenting weight of an ambiguous guilt. Is he bitter because he ruined people’s lives or because he still has to do it when some others retired and are having the great life, like an old colleague, Rinaldo. The ambiguity is crucial to prevent us from falling into the trap and root for any of these guys, remember : pretending to be, is part of their job, so is their trustful look.

Speaking of that, Augusto’s second partner is Picasso, played by Richard Basehart who kept something of “La Strada”‘s Fool in his performance. Smiling, generous, funny, you’d really believe anything that would come from this young angel-faced father, maybe the only alibi to justify how his wife, Guiletta Masina, in a smaller role, still trusts him. And there’s Roberto, Franco Fabrizi, a solidly built blonde guy, whose joviality hides his totally unscrupulous nature, he’s the happiest character because contrarily to his partners, he never feels guilty and is ironically the ‘sincerest’ of the bunch. The trio may look sympathetic but from the audience’s view, despite the ingenious creativity displayed in their activities, like dressing up as Vatican clergy to cheat on poor peasants, or pretending to be government workers to take the money from homeless people, there’s no comparison with “The Sting”‘s con men.

The trio is ‘bad people’ and Fellini trades all the extravagance and poetry of his previous films to create a powerful social commentary denouncing the inner injustices of the post-War Italian system. The contrast between the setting chosen for the business and the places were it is rewarded highlights this sad reality, I’m speaking of the famous New Year’s Eve party in Rinaldo’s house, a sequence that shows all the decadence and depravity planted on the ashes of so many burnt lives, and the smoke smell, sadly, doesn’t seem to bother anyone. This part has the music, the musicians, the dance, but not Fellini’s heart, we’re not invited to join but to disdainfully observe the party. There, an interesting episode happens after Roberto steals a golden cigarette pack. Before he leaves, Rinaldo blocks him the way and cordially invites him to give it back, and pretend it was a joke not to lose face. Roberto finally resigns himself, literally spilling his humiliation over Augusto’s reputation. But Roberto doesn’t care.

The film, somewhere loses its track in the middle, going in many directions when it should have focused on Augusto’s character. Is he really losing his touch because he’s gaining humanity? When his daughter discussed her future with him, he understands that she needs money. WHile this powerful moment could have enlightened Augusto about the value of earning money, in fact, in his rotten mind, he’s already planning to help her, through a con. Providence sends him a warning when he is publicly recognized in front of his daughter, by an ex-victim. He spent some time in jail, and at his release, instead of starting a new life, he wants to end his career with a coup d’éclat, knowing that Roberto already surpassed him and is doing well in Milan. Roberto didn’t care of being humiliated, neither did Augusto.

Augusto replays the clergy trick and receives again an ultimate warning when a young peasant’s daughter, polio-handicapped since the age of 9, seems smiling, full of life, and thanks God for what she got, unknowing his family is being cheated by men pretending to speak in the name of God. This scene works as an ultimate test for Augusto, to decide if he’s got a conscience or not. I almost felt it was God warning Augusto, offering him a last chance of redemption. But Augusto failed, not only did he take the money but also kept it away from his partners, pretending he let it to the family, out of guilt. That’s a twist you’d never seen before, and from good, the movie became great. Augusto broke the codes of con men the worst way, because his colleagues would have banned him, but not punished him if he really left the money. We know, he did it for his girl, but this act sealed his status as a miserable man, and the punishment he received was immediate.

And the scene explains the anticlimactic way Picasso left the business, he had a daughter too, and in a way, we see the future he prevented himself from or the past Augusto could have lived. Roberto , with his professional charisma and detachment, would probably become a future Rinaldo. While Augusto, like a martyr of his own condition, cheating on cheaters for selfish purposes, incarnated the total absence of integrity. To play a character like with such poignancy is incredible because we still feel sorry for him, we know there are people worse than him, who won’t get punished …

“Il Bidone”, is an almost Scorsesian examination of a tormented soul totally unable to make up for its sins, annihilating any chance of redemption in a pervert world where the only Robin Hoods steal from the poor to the rich, and ultimately for their own pockets … no room for Fellinian poetry in such a sad, cynical, reality

Brilliant and poignant. A must for all Fellini fans!

This is a richly poetic film, a stark portrait of three con-men who make their living by swindling the poor out of what little money they have. The film moves back and forth between the scams they pull in the countryside and their lives in the city between jobs. The group’s leader is Augusto, played expressively by the great Broderick Crawford. The other two con men are Roberto (Fabrizi), a lady chaser and risk-taker, and Picasso (Basehart), a family man and painter. Picasso’s wife Iris is played by the great Giulietta Masina. Crawford (who won an Oscar for “All the King’s Men,” a film I need to see) is really excellent as Augusto, who begins addressing the matter of his conscience when by chance he runs into the daughter he has abandoned.

The party and dance scenes in the film’s first half are really fantastic and crazy, full of men and women dancing to Nino Rota’s music, crazy situations and fights arising, lots of drinking, lots of people looking at the camera (including a photographer who bounces up from the bottom of the frame, takes a picture, and kneels back down out of sight…that’s typical Fellini there). For all of the fun that’s present in this film, it takes some very moving and sad turns…and the amazing thing is how Fellini balances something funny and surreal to something truly heartbreaking (the film’s final 15 minutes are stunningly touching).

Nino Rota’s score is, as always, marvelous and really nails the feel and tone of the film. There are many themes, including a somber theme for Augusto’s daughter, a really eccentric circus march theme, and lastly a terrific emotional theme that especially pulls into sharp effect in the film’s closing moment. All of his themes are cleverly adapted in many variations bouncing between different styles of music- from mambo to wildly eccentric dance to rather Arabian to his typical circus-like music to just as often something very dramatic and emotional. This great score was released by CAM records just a couple years ago, it includes most of the music that’s in the film, and is a great listen for Rota fans.

`Il Bidone’ is the most ignored and overlooked film in Fellini’s body of work, which is unfortunate. It’s truly unforgettable how it depicts struggle, loneliness, and utmost guilt in the loveliest and most poignant ways imaginable.

simple and exceptional–and extremely unlike Fellini’s later works

While I do NOT love many of Fellini’s more famous films, I loved Il Bidone. That’s because this film is very conventional and doesn’t sink to the excesses of some of Fellini’s later works (such as SATYRICON). Instead, the film is slightly reminiscent of a Film Noir flick. Oddly, like some Italian films of the 50s and 60s, it starred an American who was dubbed into Italian (like Anthony Quinn and Richard Basehart in LA STRADA). The unpleasantness that eventually occurs to Broderick Crawford in this movie is well-deserved, as he is 100% scum–right down to the bone–like many Noir leading men. And I really, really appreciate how the writer did NOT give way to the typical clichés and offer him some sort of redemption. No, Crawford is a sociopathic slug,…and oh so believable in this role.

An excellent example of Italian Film Noir–one of Fellini’s finest yet one of his soonest overlooked due to its rather conventional nature. I, for one, DON’T think Fellini’s films must be weird and surreal to be enjoyed.