"I vitelloni" is an Italian/French co-production that is of course in the Italian language from beginning to end and it is also set in Italy, so the French factor is really only there in theory you could say. The main reason why this film is still see by many these days is that the director is Federico Fellini and he is also one of the three writers in charge of the story and screenplay here. Even if Fellini was just in his early 30s when he made this movie, he was far from a rookie and already had several Oscar nominations before he added another here. But an official winner he never as. Foreign Language Feature did not go to the person, otherwise he would have many trophies. Not much later, he won for the first time in this category, but this movie here did not only makes waves in Italy back then, but also in America and also not just at the Oscars, but in New York where this film won a prestigious award together with two other films, one of them being considered a real classic today and Japan was certainly one of the defining nations around that time when it came to which country produced the best movies. Anyway, let's not drift away. This one here runs for 100 minutes roughly, so it is certainly not among Fellini's longest movie by any means. And it is a black-and-white film still, which should not be taken for granted for the years 1953 as there were color films from much earlier, but black-and-white movies were still very dominant in terms of quantity. And actually quality as well in my opinion. I am not an Italian film buff, but a German film buff, so I cannot really say too much about the cast here, but of course what immediately catches the eye is the inclusion of the young Alberto Sordi, who may not have been on a level when it comes to Italian actors as Fellini is for Italian filmmakers, but who is nonetheless considered one of the best and most memorable actors the country ever had. Perhaps rather thanks to his charisma and recognition value than through versatility, but that's alright. He played one of the characters at the very center of the movie and the other was played by Franco Fabrizi I guess. Those two had most of the action and screen time in here. First credit went to another actor, but this one played a really quiet character, who did not have as many inclusions as you may think he did. But he is pretty present at the very end again. And there are more. The title, whhich is also translated as "spivs" here on imdb, makes obvious that there is a gang of young men at the center of the film, who may not be the most reliable fellows.
We follow them throughout this film from beginning to end and how some of them change for the better and others not so much. This mostly refers to the way how they treat women. You can definitely say that the very first scene (one that makes every #metoo supporter furious in anger and me too a little bit at least, even if I am not one of them) already is a prime example of that when one character talks to a girl, even gets a bit physical with her although she does not want to and eventually gets away from him reminding him and us how there is another woman he did not treat too well. This would be the one who wins a beauty contest at the very start and not much later, we find out that the guy got her pregnant and as a consequence of that, he tries to get away packing his suitcase because he is clearly scared of the responsibility that comes with it. However, everybody knows by then and he is held back and has to deal with his duties as a family man for a while. However, he keeps flirting with other women. Almost all the men do in here really and it is very telling. The cinema scene is the perfect example. How he uses his feet to approach somebody else while holding his girl (the stunning Leonora Ruffo, hard to believe you could want somebody else when having her safe) in his arms. And then follow her even. Pretty resilient this fella. There are more scenes like this, but this was maybe the most memorable (for most outrageous) one of them all. Still, there is a transfoormation for the better. When he meets the lady from the theater later on again, he is not too interested anymore. Instead, he is worried about finding his significant other and finally he really seems to care for her. This was maybe also the most dramatic scene here as we don't know what happened to her and could be worried, but honestly this film never really had me on the edge of my seat at any point. It is definitely far more of a comedy than a drama, but it was just never funny. It is frequently Fellini's approach to go more for a dolce vita feeling and a lifestyle he depicts to entertain the audience instead of going really for jokes and funny moments, but if this approach is not wlorking (and it didn't for me), then there is almost nothing really. Admittedly, the scene when he gets (almost) punished violently towards the end for how he treats women (or one in particular) was fairly funny I cannot deny with the face expressions from the characters and honestly, he really deserved it. Also how he almost manages to get out and open the door and the funny dude who stands out there and easily pushed him back in was hilarious as well. But for a 100-minute film, this just wasn't enough from any perspective in terms of the quantity of moments that entertained me well. I also think people who may not know Sordi in contrast to me (although most do probably, if they are interested in old Italian films like this one here), may have an even harder time to keep the central characters apart.
Fellini's typical approach sometimes comes through, especially in terms of the aforementioned dolce vita moments, but also the moments when we hear music and there is some kind of celebration going on. There is always in his films, at least once per movie. The music there comes from the people you see, even if there is also a soundtrack/score in here and sometimes it is impossible to overhear, too much actually for my liking. And the narration he goes for in here is also nothing that he never did on other projects before or after this one. And there are always so many characters in his films. Sometimes it works when he has three hours to elaborate on them all in a sufficient manner, but not if he has barely more than half of that like it is the case for this film here. I felt that they thought we would really care about almost everybody and their one or two scenes, but they simply did not get the proper elaboration/presentation they should have in order to really make audiences care about them. The females are really the best example. Most of them, even those with more screen time and not just one or two scenes, are restricted to crying and complaining, maybe begging even, but they never play a real role story-wise and in my opinion this film is really a perfect example of how female characters should not be written in a film. This is one of the films Fellini made before he started working really regularly with Mastroianni and his wife Masina in key roles. I think I prefer the ones starring the latter. I definitely do not prefer this one here. In my opinion, the rating here on imdb is way too high and the Oscar nomination is also not deserving at all. The film feels pretty messy and all over the place at times and definitely could have needed much better focus. I have zero intention to ever watch it again to be honest. Like I said, here and there we get an okay comedy moment, but the flaws are just too frequent for me to even think about giving this film a thumbs-up and positive recommendation. If you want to start taking a look at Fellini's many works, then this would be a bad choice to pick to start going.I give it a thumbs-down. Watched this one like several others on the big screen for the first time (some not the first time, but this one yes) on the occasion of a Fellini retrospective here in Berlin on the occasion of the man's 100th birthday and it was the weakest of them all. Skip.
We follow them throughout this film from beginning to end and how some of them change for the better and others not so much. This mostly refers to the way how they treat women. You can definitely say that the very first scene (one that makes every #metoo supporter furious in anger and me too a little bit at least, even if I am not one of them) already is a prime example of that when one character talks to a girl, even gets a bit physical with her although she does not want to and eventually gets away from him reminding him and us how there is another woman he did not treat too well. This would be the one who wins a beauty contest at the very start and not much later, we find out that the guy got her pregnant and as a consequence of that, he tries to get away packing his suitcase because he is clearly scared of the responsibility that comes with it. However, everybody knows by then and he is held back and has to deal with his duties as a family man for a while. However, he keeps flirting with other women. Almost all the men do in here really and it is very telling. The cinema scene is the perfect example. How he uses his feet to approach somebody else while holding his girl (the stunning Leonora Ruffo, hard to believe you could want somebody else when having her safe) in his arms. And then follow her even. Pretty resilient this fella. There are more scenes like this, but this was maybe the most memorable (for most outrageous) one of them all. Still, there is a transfoormation for the better. When he meets the lady from the theater later on again, he is not too interested anymore. Instead, he is worried about finding his significant other and finally he really seems to care for her. This was maybe also the most dramatic scene here as we don't know what happened to her and could be worried, but honestly this film never really had me on the edge of my seat at any point. It is definitely far more of a comedy than a drama, but it was just never funny. It is frequently Fellini's approach to go more for a dolce vita feeling and a lifestyle he depicts to entertain the audience instead of going really for jokes and funny moments, but if this approach is not wlorking (and it didn't for me), then there is almost nothing really. Admittedly, the scene when he gets (almost) punished violently towards the end for how he treats women (or one in particular) was fairly funny I cannot deny with the face expressions from the characters and honestly, he really deserved it. Also how he almost manages to get out and open the door and the funny dude who stands out there and easily pushed him back in was hilarious as well. But for a 100-minute film, this just wasn't enough from any perspective in terms of the quantity of moments that entertained me well. I also think people who may not know Sordi in contrast to me (although most do probably, if they are interested in old Italian films like this one here), may have an even harder time to keep the central characters apart.
Fellini's typical approach sometimes comes through, especially in terms of the aforementioned dolce vita moments, but also the moments when we hear music and there is some kind of celebration going on. There is always in his films, at least once per movie. The music there comes from the people you see, even if there is also a soundtrack/score in here and sometimes it is impossible to overhear, too much actually for my liking. And the narration he goes for in here is also nothing that he never did on other projects before or after this one. And there are always so many characters in his films. Sometimes it works when he has three hours to elaborate on them all in a sufficient manner, but not if he has barely more than half of that like it is the case for this film here. I felt that they thought we would really care about almost everybody and their one or two scenes, but they simply did not get the proper elaboration/presentation they should have in order to really make audiences care about them. The females are really the best example. Most of them, even those with more screen time and not just one or two scenes, are restricted to crying and complaining, maybe begging even, but they never play a real role story-wise and in my opinion this film is really a perfect example of how female characters should not be written in a film. This is one of the films Fellini made before he started working really regularly with Mastroianni and his wife Masina in key roles. I think I prefer the ones starring the latter. I definitely do not prefer this one here. In my opinion, the rating here on imdb is way too high and the Oscar nomination is also not deserving at all. The film feels pretty messy and all over the place at times and definitely could have needed much better focus. I have zero intention to ever watch it again to be honest. Like I said, here and there we get an okay comedy moment, but the flaws are just too frequent for me to even think about giving this film a thumbs-up and positive recommendation. If you want to start taking a look at Fellini's many works, then this would be a bad choice to pick to start going.I give it a thumbs-down. Watched this one like several others on the big screen for the first time (some not the first time, but this one yes) on the occasion of a Fellini retrospective here in Berlin on the occasion of the man's 100th birthday and it was the weakest of them all. Skip.