Rating: 
Summary: Fellini: Brilliant; Masina: Archetypal
Review: This is a good film to begin with for those of us who have experienced only great filmmakers and exceptionl actresses. In "La Strada," director Federico Fellini blends himself with the person of his wife, Giulietta Masina, to produce the first of his so-called lonliness trilogy. The result is understated and magnificent, carrying all the themes (in innocent, embryonic form) he would develop in future films like "La Dolce Vita" and "8 1/2." Fellini often used non-actors in his movies because he wanted to explore the true characters of true people. From that perspective, the best direction he gave in this film was simply to turn the camera on Masina.
You have probably read much more about the director than his oft-overlooked wife, so the suggestion here is to enjoy the film (happilly now available on DVD), but don't miss the opporunity to explore yourself through your responses to Masina as Gelsomina. Note her character when she is not speaking. Her facial and bodilly expressions say more than the very sparse script. (This is an easy subtitle-read for that reason.) She is contrasted with Anthony Quinn's equally non-verbal--but incomunicado--Zampano. Here is an actress who becomes herself through her roles more than any actor or actress I have watched. Is Gelsomina merely charicature or is she cosmic archetype? I think she is the latter--and less distinguishable from Masina than any character I know of--except Cabiria, lead role in the 3rd of this trilogy, "Nights Of Cabiria." There, Masina is at her heart-opening best, her heart-warming and heart-breaking best. "La Strada" is, no less, a true classic of literary drama.
Fellini is probably one of the 4 or 5 five most provocative filmakers in cinema's history and certainly the best at what he did. The same is NOT true of Giulietta Masina. She is NOT one of the best actresses in the history of cinema and cannot be compared to any other actor or actress. She is, by contrast, the ONLY actress who did what she could do and is a class by herself--an actress with enough room in her spirit to cover the spectrum of Gelsomina and Cabiria, lovely, sage, and innocent.
Please see "La Strada" and "Nights of Cabiria." Your heart will be better for it.
Rating:
Summary: NIno Rota's unforgettable
Review: four-theme score, the main motif played by a trumpet also made this into a Legend. The trumpet stays in your head as Gelsomina brings tears to yer eyes. One somehow also must feel saddened by Zampano: poor brute, he can't help himself either!
*
Definitely one of top Five Fellini films. Number five I think (tonight).
Rating:
Summary: Spirit, Mind and Body
Review: This is my favorite Fellini movie.He takes you on an incredible journey on..the road. And its a ride worth taking.(bring along a handkerchief)
And I LOVE the vehicle.The house on a motorcycle!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Accessible Fellini
Review: Federico Fellini's "La Strada" (1954) may appear to be a film full of joy. It is filled with images of laughing children, clowns, circuses, and parades. However, this film is actually a meditation on the darker side of human nature. It is a film that shows how cruelty inflicted on others can come back and haunt us for the rest of our lives. The film begins with circus strongman Zampano (Anthony Quinn) looking for a new assistant for his act. He purchases a young woman named Gelsomina (Giulietta Masina) from a poor widow. Gelsomina is a simple-minded woman and Zampano is cruel to her from the outset. Yet, she still manages to retain the proper degree of innocence and naivete to keep her sanity in light of the torment she is experiencing. During one stop on their performing circuit, a rival perfromer called the Fool (Richard Basehart) enrages Zampano. In time this rage leads to an act of violence that forever destroys the lives of all three characters. "La Strada" is surprisingly conventional for a Fellini film. The confusing symbolism and metaphors characteristic of later films like "8 1/2" (1963) are absent which makes watching "La Strada" that much easier to understand and enjoy. Special recognition must be given to Masina who gives a magical and unforgetable performance as Gelsomina. There are stretches of the film where you literally cannot take you eyes off her. She infuses so much life and passion into her character that the ending is that much more emotional because you've grown so attached to her. The only downside to the film is the dubbing. Quinn is dubbed over in the Italian version so his mouth is not in synch with the dialogue. This proves distracting at times and is even more troublesome if you're really familiar with how Quinn's voice really sounds. Whoever dubbed his voice did a serviceable job but it isn't the deep, commanding voice of Quinn himself. Yet, this is a minor quibble and certainly not enough of a problem to not recommend the film.
Rating:
Summary: La Strada in context
Review: Yes this movie is accessible, and simple, and beautiful, but to say that this is his one Masterpiece, or to belittle his other films as "out there," is an easy solution for people who are missing the truly amazing thing about this film maker. Fellini is profoundly beautiful because of his painful, inspired, growth that is so obviously documented in his films, from the White Sheik to his climax at 8 1/2 and beyond. The creative blood and sweat that he puts into his films, and his willingness to go way out on a limb, giving his films a work-in-progress feel, are what make them so human and what make him superior as a film maker to Orson Wells, who's brilliance allowed him to make a cold, flawless film at a very young age, but who career depresses rather than inspires. La Strada was the product of Fellini's raw talent, his craft. 8 1/2 was the product of a man who had lived.
Rating:
Summary: One of Cinema History's All-Time Greats!
Review: If you pick only one film with subtitles to view in your entire life, make it this one! -- Giulietta Massina plays a dim-witted young woman "sold" by her impoverished family into a marriage with brutish Anthony Quinn who takes her along on his small time circus tours. Although very different, they eventually get along -- until, in a fit of jealousy, Quinn murders a circus clown (played by Richard Baseheart) whom Massina befriended, leaving Massina completely insane. Years later, Quinn realizes his wrong and breaks down sobbing. -- The song of the street has circled the world over since Federico Fellini has made this masterpiece in 1954. This is likely one of the 10 most critically acclaimed films of all time. Nothing short of perfection! The haunting theme melody will remain with you long after viewing this cinematic marvel. Films don't get much better than this!
Rating: 
Summary: La Strada
Review: Beware this version of the famed Fellini classic, La Strada. The label says it was distributed by Public Media Home Vision. Cover says New Subtitles -- by that they mean the Italian has been over-dubbed in English making it almost unintelligible. You've been warned! If I find a version elsewhere with actual sub-titles I'll try to post it here. We'll see if it gets published!
Rating:
Summary: The greatest movie ever produced
Review: This masterpiece would be the greatest movie ever produced it it had been made in the United States. The movie was produced in Italy however and is in black and white--an art movie. The music score is beautiful but poorly engineered. The transitions in this movie are incredible. One is taken into scenes of raw poverty and expertly led into its professional acting. These transitions are so well done that one finds it very difficult to seperate the two. The acting is performed by Anthony Quinn, who plays a circus strongman, Giulietta who plays his 'wife' and assistant and Richard Basehart who plays a daredevil fool. There is too much to this movie to describe. One could teach a class with this single classic. To do a little compare and contrast, the movie starts with a young worthless lady on a beach and ends with a worthless man on a beach. Between this beginning and end, Gelsomina, played by Guilietta, grows up while chatting with the circus clown and 'fool' about her relationship with her tyrannical strongman mate. The scenes in this movie demonstrate how Gelsomina is trapped as a poor, young Italian woman. This movie captures a place and time and burns it forever into film. Great movie.
Rating:
Summary: See it but prepare yourself
Review: La Strada tells a lot about separation..... G liked Z, but Z couldn't accept her love for him. So G tried to stick around, and readily accepted the fool's explanation of why Z didn't show affection ("He's like dogs. They want to talk to you, they can only bark.") But when Z killed the Fool, the one who had even "apologised' for him, she couldn't believe Z loved at all anymore. She would whimper and not eat, and say "the Fool is sick (malato)." The rationalization / magical thinking? for Z's behavior was gone. After ten days on the road, estranged, Z and G eat, and she helps him season the soup. She falls asleep outside, telling Z it was "better outside" (not with him) because the "Fool is dead." Z leaves G sleeping in the cold. Maybe he was a coward, he couldn't face the agony of wondering whether or not she still might love or betray him (to the cops) after that act. They both ended up at the beach, where their story began. She is alone and still playing her song, that she heard somewhere else but made her own. The song doesn't give away anything except emotion -- it has no name. Z is like a robot onstage, going through the motions, and offstage drinks and is only a husk of his old "self." But then he walks on the beach and realizes how alone he is. How terrible his life is and he is literally facing the howling wind, the void. He breaks down and cries. After thinking about it this way, I'm not sure I like this movie, because it's a bummer. But it's really well done and the performances are great.
Rating: 
Summary: It's Quinn's movie for me
Review: When I see this move now I am fast-forwarding past certain scenes that are too propagandistic. Quinn is the beautiful one in this move, to my mind they "used" his energy and purity to frame Fellini's wife as a "star." Quinn is the real heartbreaking one here and you can see it all over the screen. Just my opinion.
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