Il bidone (English: The Swindle and The Swindlers) (1955) is an Italian film directed by Federico Fellini. It features Broderick Crawford, Richard Basehart, Giulietta Masina, among others.
Released one year after the director's internationally successful La strada, Il bidone continues with many of the same socially-conscious, neorealist-inspired themes while minimizing the poetic realism and extravagant vitality that is today is known as "fellini...
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Il bidone (English: The Swindle and The Swindlers) (1955) is an Italian film directed by Federico Fellini. It features Broderick Crawford, Richard Basehart, Giulietta Masina, among others.
Released one year after the director's internationally successful La strada, Il bidone continues with many of the same socially-conscious, neorealist-inspired themes while minimizing the poetic realism and extravagant vitality that is today is known as "felliniesque" in favor of a more pointed political stance.
The film follows the exploits of a group of swindlers, focusing on their aging leader Augusto, as they go about their "business," reaping both rewards and consequences.
It is episodic, with scenes of various swindles (such as dressing up as clergy to cheat an old woman out of her money, or pretending to be government workers to pull a con amongst the poor and homeless) followed by scenes of the aftermath.
Film critic Bosley Crowther, gave the film a mixed review calling it "a cheap crime...
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