I watched the movie “Bicycle Thieves” (or “The Bicycle Thief”) last night, and thought it was awesome. It’s a 1948 movie about an Italian guy who gets his bike stolen and searches Rome for it; a ton of famous and important people say it’s the best film of all time, etc. etc., and I think it’s worth it to put up some screen caps I found for it.

More after the jump.

The movie is about this guy, “Ricci,” who is probably the second most Italian person ever to play an Italian in a movie. Apparently the director refused to cast actors and this guy was just some labourer, which is exactly what he was in the film.

Ricci’s son “Bruno” is the most Italian person ever to play an Italian in a movie. The kid is super funny, and Ricci isn’t a particularly good parent; they go “feasting” on mozzarella and bread and the dad urges the kid to get drunk and pours him wine. Italians are awesome, or at least they were in 1948.

They go to some bicycle markets to look for Ricci’s bike, and my god, I would love to go to those markets.

Of course there are a ton of rad bikes in the movie, and anyone that appreciates old bikes should watch it. I don’t think that Ricci’s bike’s brand “Fides” actually existed; does anyone know?

Apparently you can see some Campy parts in this frame grab, which is cool.

Anyways, go watch the movie.