246 I vitelloni

[Martha]

I Vitelloni



Five young men linger in a postadolescent limbo, dreaming of adventure and escape from their small seacoast town. They while away their time spending the lira doled out by their indulgent families on drink, women, and nights at the local pool hall. Federico Fellini’s second solo directorial effort (originally released in the U.S. as The Young and the Passionate) is a semiautobiographical masterpiece of sharply drawn character sketches: Skirt chaser Fausto, forced to marry a girl he has impregnated; Alberto, the perpetual child; Leopoldo, a writer thirsting for fame; and Moraldo, the only member of the group troubled by a moral conscience. An international success and recipient of an Academy Award® nomination for Best Original Screenplay, I vitelloni compassionately details a year in the life of a group of small-town layabouts struggling to find meaning in their lives.

Special Features

- New high-definition digital transfer, with restored image and sound
- Vitellonismo: an exclusive documentary featuring interviews with late actor Leopoldo Trieste, actor Franco Interlenghi, assistant director Moraldo Rossi, Fellini biographer Tullio Kezich, Fellini friend Vincenzo Mollica, and director of the Fellini Foundation, Vittorio Boarini
- Collection of still photographs, posters, and memorabilia
- Original theatrical trailer
- New and improved English subtitle translation
- Optimal image quality: RSDL dual-layer edition
- Plus: a new essay by writer Tom Piazza (My Cold War: A Novel, Blues and Trouble: Twelve Stories)

Criterionforum.org user rating averages

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[Guest]

Never much enjoyed Fellini, but this is one of his most straight foward films, and I think it's MAYBE semi-autobiographical. I'm not strictly basing that on anything (ooops, just notice that it mentions that above, well I'm glad someone else notices. It think you can tell so by the attention to detail he makes with such full rounded characterisation). It marks that point between hanging on to the joys of youth and taking on the realities of adulthood splendidly. Sadly it never gets much of a look in.

[lord_clyde]

Never much enjoyed Fellini, but this is one of his most straight foward films, and I think it's MAYBE semi-autobiographical.

Fellini was guilty of that on a few occasions.

[Fletch F. Fletch]

Fellini was guilty of that on a few occasions.

Hah. yeah, he was so self-indulgent.

[BWilson]

Hah. yeah, he was so self-indulgent.

It's all like Mcluhan has said so many times...

[BWilson]

You know nothing of his work.

Look, I happen to have Marshall Mcluhan right here and he agrees with me.

[lord_clyde]

You know nothing of his work.

Look, I happen to have Marshall Mcluhan right here and he agrees with me.

Er, in person or his writings?

You know nothing of his work.

Look, I happen to have Marshall Mcluhan right here and he agrees with me.

Er, in person or his writings?

Oh right, the part where he's standing in line. . .

[Gregory]

I sometimes get a minor kick from knowing of divergent ways a title has been translated in cases where there's some nuance that's difficult or impossible to capture. Thus I'd filed in the back of my mind years ago that this film's title was rendered in English as The Wastrels, The Spivs (previously my favorite, since ruined by the recent British fiick of the same name), and The Young and the Passionate (yack!). So imagine my delight while reading the booklet for Passe ton Bac d'abord in stumbling upon three new English translations: The Vitelloni, The Sucklecalves, and The Fellas. The Vitelloni is an odd half-translation, and The Fellas is jocular and slightly quaint. But The Sucklecalves! I've never come across this term anywhere -- I love it.

[zedz]

So imagine my delight while reading the booklet for Passe ton Bac d'abord in stumbling upon three new English translations: The Vitelloni, The Sucklecalves, and The Fellas. The Vitelloni is an odd half-translation, and The Fellas is jocular and slightly quaint. But The Sucklecalves! I've never come across this term anywhere -- I love it.

I think that's a (dumbly literal) direct translation, but what a word! Great band name. I'm surprised nobody thought to call it Prime Veal.