# Il bidone > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Il_bidone > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Il_bidone.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Il_bidone > Source revision: 1353085891 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) 1955 Italian film Il bidone Theatrical release poster Directed by Federico Fellini Screenplay by Federico Fellini Ennio Flaiano Tullio Pinelli Produced by Mario Derecchi Starring Broderick Crawford Giulietta Masina Richard Basehart Franco Fabrizi Cinematography Otello Martelli Edited by Mario Serandrei Giuseppe Vari Music by Nino Rota Production companies Titanus Société Générale de Cinématographie Distributed by Titanus Distribuzione Release date 9 September 1955 (1955-09-09) (Venice Film Festival) Running time 109 minutes Country Italy Languages Italian English ***Il bidone*** [\[il biˈdoːne\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/Italian), a.k.a. ***The Swindle***, is a 1955 Italian [drama film](/source/Drama_film) directed by [Federico Fellini](/source/Federico_Fellini) starring [Broderick Crawford](/source/Broderick_Crawford), [Richard Basehart](/source/Richard_Basehart) and [Giulietta Masina](/source/Giulietta_Masina).[1] ## Plot In the country outside Rome, a group of swindlers dress up as clerics and con poor farmers out of their savings. Another scam in a shanty town is to pretend they are officials taking deposits for apartments. The proceeds are spent on flashy cars, champagne and nightclubs. One member of the gang, Carlo – nicknamed [Picasso](/source/Pablo_Picasso) in being an aspiring artist – pretends to his faithful wife Iris that he is a traveling salesman, but she gradually stops believing him. His conscience is pricked and he decides to quit. Another member is Roberto, who finds scamming poor people diverting and has fun spending the loot and going to parties, where he attempts to steal some jewels.The head of the gang, Augusto, meets his teenage daughter Patrizia who he has not seen for years, and his conscience is also awakened. However he is recognized in a cinema with her, arrested and jailed. When released he joins a new gang along with a sleazy man, Vargas, known as "The Baron". They repeat the clergy scam among peasants. After swindling a large sum out of a farming family in the windy Apennine Mountains, he talks, pretending to be a priest, to their sick teenage daughter. Her plight touches him, and when the gang come to share out the gains he says he gave it all back. A row develops and he is battered to the ground by Vargas and his cronies. Stripping him, the crooks find he has concealed the takings in his clothes. On a barren and rocky hillside, they leave him to a slow death. The next morning Augusto hears a group of peasant women with children passing close by, singing and whistling. His last words are "wait for me" before he dies. ## Cast - [Broderick Crawford](/source/Broderick_Crawford) as Augusto Rocco - [Giulietta Masina](/source/Giulietta_Masina) as Iris - [Richard Basehart](/source/Richard_Basehart) as Carlo - [Franco Fabrizi](/source/Franco_Fabrizi) as Roberto Giorgio - Sue Ellen Blake as Anna - [Irene Cefaro](/source/Irene_Cefaro) as Marisa - Alberto De Amicis as Rinaldo - [Lorella De Luca](/source/Lorella_De_Luca) as Patrizia - Giacomo Gabrielli as Il Baron Vargas - [Riccardo Garrone](/source/Riccardo_Garrone_(actor)) as Riccardo - [Xenia Valderi](/source/Xenia_Valderi) as Luciana ## Production Fellini had intended [Humphrey Bogart](/source/Humphrey_Bogart) for the role of Augusto, but, learning of Bogart being ill with cancer, finally chose Broderick Crawford for the part.[2] ## Reception On the occasion of its nine-year delayed US premiere, critic [Bosley Crowther](/source/Bosley_Crowther) gave the film a mixed review, calling it "a cheap crime thriller". He added, "For this film, which is often mentioned in estimations of the master's works, is notable as a false step in his movement toward the development of a type of story material ... But it contains some very strong Fellini phases and accumulations of moods that make it well worth seeing. And it is generally well played ... Broderick Crawford's performance as the swindler is heavy and sodden, with a particular flair for postured histrionics in the swindle scenes."[3] ## References 1. **[^](#cite_ref-bondanella_1-0)** Bondanella, Peter (2002). *The Films of Federico Fellini*. Cambridge University Press. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780521575737](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780521575737). 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Alpert, Hollis (2000). *Fellini*. Simon & Schuster. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780743213097](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780743213097). 1. **[^](#cite_ref-nyt_3-0)** [Crowther, Bosley](/source/Bosley_Crowther) (20 November 1964). ["Fellini's 'Bidone':9-Year-Old Film Has Premiere in U.S."](https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?_r=1&res=990DE1D61E3FEE32A25753C2A9679D946591D6CF&oref=slogin) *[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)*. Retrieved 26 January 2008. ## External links - [*The Swindle*](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047876/) at [IMDb](/source/IMDb_(identifier)) - [*The Swindle* (1955)](https://www.allmovie.com/movie/the-swindle-am43417) at [AllMovie](/source/AllMovie) - [*Il bidone*](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/il_bidone) at [Rotten Tomatoes](/source/Rotten_Tomatoes) - [*Il bidone*](https://web.archive.org/web/1/https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/92125/enwp) at the [TCM Movie Database](/source/Turner_Classic_Movies#TCMdb) (archived) - *[Il bidone](https://www.criterion.com/films/28631-il-bidone)* at [The Criterion Collection](/source/The_Criterion_Collection) v t e Federico Fellini As director Variety Lights (1950) The White Sheik (1952) I Vitelloni (1953) Love in the City (1953) La Strada (1954) Il bidone (1955) Nights of Cabiria (1957) La Dolce Vita (1960) Boccaccio '70 (1962) 8½ (1963) Juliet of the Spirits (1965) Spirits of the Dead (1968) Fellini: A Director's Notebook (1969) Fellini Satyricon (1969) The Clowns (1970) Roma (1972) Amarcord (1973) Casanova (1976) Orchestra Rehearsal (1979) City of Women (1980) And the Ship Sails On (1983) Ginger and Fred (1986) Intervista (1987) The Voice of the Moon (1990) As writer only The Last Wagon (1943) Rome, Open City (1945) Paisan (1946) Flesh Will Surrender (1947) Bullet for Stefano (1947) L'amore ("The Miracle" segment, 1948) Without Pity (1948) In the Name of the Law (1949) City of Pain (1949) The Mill on the Po (1949) The Flowers of St. Francis (1950) Path of Hope (1950) Four Ways Out (1951) Cameriera bella presenza offresi... (1951) The Bandit of Tacca Del Lupo (1952) Fortunella (1958) Works about E il Casanova di Fellini? (1975 documentary) Federico Fellini: His Life and Work (1987/2002 biography) Fellini: I'm a Born Liar (2002 documentary) I'm a Born Liar (2003 book) How Strange to Be Named Federico (2013 documentary) Related Giulietta Masina (wife) Fellini Museum Asa Nisi Masa Paparazzi v t e Ennio Flaiano Books written A Time to Kill (1947) The Via Veneto Papers (1973) Feature films written Special Correspondents (1943) L'abito nero da sposa (1945) Escape to France (1948) Variety Lights (1950) Cops and Robbers (1951) The White Sheik (1952) Cavalcade of Song (1953) Finishing School (1953) I Vitelloni (1953) Camilla (1954) Modern Virgin (1954) La Strada (1954) Woman of Rome (1954) Il bidone (1955) The Sign of Venus (1955) Too Bad She's Bad (1955) Toto and Carolina (1955) Lucky to Be a Woman (1956) The Rocket from Calabuch (1956) Nights of Cabiria (1957) Fortunella (1958) Girls for the Summer (1958) Piece of the Sky (1958) La Dolce Vita (1960) Love in Rome (1960) La Notte (1961) Ghosts of Rome (1961) 8½ (1963) The Executioner (1963) Tonio Kröger (1964) The 10th Victim (1965) The Blood of the Walsungs (1965) Juliet of the Spirits (1965) Run for Your Wife (1965) The Protagonists (1968) Sundance and the Kid (1969) The Syndicate: A Death in the Family (1970) Liza (1972) The Inquiry (1986) Segments written "Elisabeth" in Daughters of Destiny (1954) "Outdoor Life" in A Slice of Life (1954) "The Temptations of Doctor Antonio" in Boccaccio '70 (1962) Legacy Premi Flaiano Authority control databases International VIAF GND National United States France BnF data --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Il bidone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Il_bidone) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Il_bidone?action=history)). 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