Film Forum

Italy, 1946
Directed by Vittorio De Sica
With Franco Interlenghi, Rinaldo Smordoni, Annielo Mele, Bruno Ortenzi, Emilio Cigoli
In Italian and English with English subtitles
Approx. 91 min. DCP.

Sciuscià boys Franco Interlenghi (later adult star of Fellini’s I VITELLONI) and Rinaldo Smordoni polish the boots of occupying American GIs and dabble in the black market to make a bare living, but what they’re really scrimping for is the hour of horseback riding at the Villa Borghese stables — but what if somehow they could own a horse of their own? De Sica and frequent screenwriting collaborator Cesare Zavattini (THE BICYCLE THIEF) shadowed real kids through the streets and prisons for a year: their first work of pure neo-realism, a smash hit worldwide, and winner of a special Academy Award.

Restored in 4K by The Film Foundation and Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna at L’Immagine Ritrovata, in association with Orium S.A. Restoration.

Funding provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation.

A JANUS FILM RELEASE

Reviews

“A juvenile delinquency film with a difference. Hailed as a shocker when it opened in the United States in 1947, yet paradoxically perhaps the least-seen of canonical neorealist movies.”
 – J. Hoberman, The New York Times
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“IF PEOPLE CAN’T FEEL SHOESHINE, WHAT CAN THEY FEEL?”
– Pauline Kael

“A MASTERPIECE without pretentiousness: wonderfully rich and supple, bursting at the seams with humane sympathy, wisdom and creative energy.”

– James Agee