Featured Audience Ratings

• familiar s

  
  If you can ignore a few major plot-holes herein, I guess you'll enjoy the tragic journey (which hardly leads anywhere) of a girl in this classic movie.

• Melvin W

  
  My first Fellini movie, but definitely not my last. La Strada is an amazing film. At times it is very fun to watch and at others it is almost painful. It brings about an array of emotions that change throughout the entire movie.

• Stella D

  
  master showman and producer dino de laurentiis died today aged 91. he produced over 160 films including la strada and nights of cabiria (both of which won oscars for best foreign film), blue velvet, manhunter, evil dead II and army of darkness, barbarella and danger: diabolik as well… More
  master showman and producer dino de laurentiis died today aged 91. he produced over 160 films including la strada and nights of cabiria (both of which won oscars for best foreign film), blue velvet, manhunter, evil dead II and army of darkness, barbarella and danger: diabolik as well as many notorious flops. quite a career. rip

• Anthony L

  
  La Strada tells the age old story of the frailty of innocents, 'The Road' can be a long and tough journey. It is a beautiful film, I love 8 1/2 and regard it as Fellini's best but I would always watch this one over the other every time. Fellini can take half of the… More
  La Strada tells the age old story of the frailty of innocents, 'The Road' can be a long and tough journey. It is a beautiful film, I love 8 1/2 and regard it as Fellini's best but I would always watch this one over the other every time. Fellini can take half of the credit though in my mind as it is Giulietta Masina who really makes La Strada the masterpiece that it is, she's worth 1000 Marilyn Monroe's in my opinion (even though she has a face like an Artichoke!)

• Leigh R

  
  An array of feelings fill me. I don't know wether to like or dislike this film. I would say I would watch it again so I may need to side more on the liking end of it. Masina was, for lack of a better word, BRILLIANT! She can take the stage and tell you everything you need to… More
  An array of feelings fill me. I don't know wether to like or dislike this film. I would say I would watch it again so I may need to side more on the liking end of it. Masina was, for lack of a better word, BRILLIANT! She can take the stage and tell you everything you need to know without speaking a word. FANTASTIC!

• danny d

  
  the story seems so simple until you realize that by the end the film has taken you through a gauntlet of emotions. all the acting was good, but masina steals the show with great timing and perfect facial expressions for every scene, emotion, and thought. its like you can read her… More
  the story seems so simple until you realize that by the end the film has taken you through a gauntlet of emotions. all the acting was good, but masina steals the show with great timing and perfect facial expressions for every scene, emotion, and thought. its like you can read her characters mind through her face. the film almost feels like two halves of a film but in a good way, as we see the ups and downs of road life for circus folk, and we get to take it in with excellent cinematography and some excellent lanscapes. a wonderful film.

• Devon B

  
  In La strada, Fellini shows the contrasting attitudes of lifestyles: between the joyless and mirthful, between the brutish and the meek, and between husband and wife. Anthony Quinn plays the great Zampanò, a one-trick circus strongman who travels across the countryside in a… More
  In La strada, Fellini shows the contrasting attitudes of lifestyles: between the joyless and mirthful, between the brutish and the meek, and between husband and wife. Anthony Quinn plays the great Zampanò, a one-trick circus strongman who travels across the countryside in a makeshift, motorcycle-pulled gypsy wagon. His first assistant, Rosa, has died, so he travels back to her family to buy (yes, buy) another assistant, her sister, Gelsomina. Her tearful mother explains that Gelsomina is slow and weird, and she most certainly is, but she's also a charmer (although her charms are largely ignored by the humorless Zampanò). The two set off on a tour, traveling from village to village. Zampanò treats Gelsomina like a dog, even as she tries desperately to relate to him on some level. Things only get worse when they join a traveling circus. Il Matto, the highwire act and circus fool, takes great pleasure in teasing and torturing Zampanò. Il Matto is a multi-talented and gifted circus performer who sees Zampanò for the great, lumbering humorless bore that he is, and rides him mercilessly (he admits he cannot help himself, that he's driven to mock Zampanò, even at his own peril). Gelsomina seems a cross between Harpo Marx and Lucille Ball, all exaggerated facial expressions and wide eyes (the term "Chaplin-esqe" has also been used to describe her). Anthony Quinn's Zampanò is the beastlike man, slow-witted and perpetually angry, and yet the entire world seemingly revolves around him, or at least answers to his beck and call. Il Matto is just as mean to Gelsomina as Zampanò is, but his viciousness is less potent. Both Zampanò and Il Matto act out in impotence, Il Matto because he feels physically inferior and Zampanò because he feels mentally inferior. They're two opposing forces who must always fight one another. The film's title translates into "the road" in english, and La strada is definitely a journey. It represents the journey into adulthood where we destroy our childish things. We can't run away from life forever, eventually the road comes to an end.

• Arash X

  
  The best I've seen by Fellini

• Randy T

  
  I'm sure I'll incur the wrath of hard-core Fellini fans for saying this but, here goes, <i>La Strada</i> is my all-time favorite Federico Fellini film. (Yes, it's true - I like it even more than I like <i>8 1/2</i>). Even though Anthony Quinn… More
  I'm sure I'll incur the wrath of hard-core Fellini fans for saying this but, here goes, <i>La Strada</i> is my all-time favorite Federico Fellini film. (Yes, it's true - I like it even more than I like <i>8 1/2</i>). Even though Anthony Quinn and Richard Basehart are fantastic in this film, every scene is stolen by the incredible Giulietta Masina. She's naive, sexy, comic and tragic all at the same time. Her dialog is limited and yet she says so much with her expressions and gestures. <center><div style="width:180px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com/actor/giulietta-masina/photos?p=10922610"><img src="http://content8.flixster.com/photo/10/92/26/10922610_gal.jpg" border="0"/></a><div style="text-align:center;font-size:10px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com">Giulietta Masina</a>- La Strada</div></div></center> Masina's persona is a little Debbie Reynolds, a little Shirley MacLaine, and a touch of Charlie Chaplin. She's completely loveable and absolutely perfect for this role.

• Lanning :

  
  No question, this is my favorite Fellini. Masina is always good, but she truly shines in this one. I've seen terms as unkind as "retarded" and as kind -- if you can call it kind -- as "simple" used to describe her character here. Flixsters, I'm here to… More
  No question, this is my favorite Fellini. Masina is always good, but she truly shines in this one. I've seen terms as unkind as "retarded" and as kind -- if you can call it kind -- as "simple" used to describe her character here. Flixsters, I'm here to argue that her character is neither retarded nor simple, and is certainly not "addle-brained." <p> Up to the point of the murder, Gelsomina is what I would call innocent. The word "sophisticated" used to mean something quite unlike what it means today. Nowadays, when we say someone is sophisticated, we are generally being complimentary. We mean that this person is quite worldly wise. Originally, however, if you were labeled sophisticated, the connotation was not flattering. If you were called sophisticated, it meant that you were viewed as, roughly, being "ruined by the world." Your innocence was far behind you. You were damaged goods, and irreparably so. <p> So up to the point where Quinn murders Basehart, Gelsomina is innocent in the ways of the world, lacking in life experiences which disabuse us of our innocence. But from that point on she is ruined by the real world, sophisticated in the truest sense of the word, irreparably damaged by that experience. It is her psychic state post-murder that might -- might -- be termed "addled." <p>Quinn is great in this one, and Basehart is astonishing. If you only ever see one Fellini, flixsters, this is the one I'd strongly recommend.

• Pierluigi P

  
  Fellini's biggest achievement. a profoundly sweet and moving masterwork. exceptional performances, soundtrack, screenplay, direction. overall astonishing in every department.

• Universal D

  
  gutsy, powerful, tender, romantic, and true, sadly true, a story of the inhabitants of a lonely planet on the edge of the galaxy, their dreams and disappointments, their lives in the dirt...untouchable.

• Christopher M

  
  This is a beautiful, tragic piece of filmmaking. This is the first Fellini film I have seen, but I can see just from this why he is considered one of the masters. His direction is just so brilliant in this. Anthony Quinn and Giulietta Masina were incredible - I loved Masina's… More
  This is a beautiful, tragic piece of filmmaking. This is the first Fellini film I have seen, but I can see just from this why he is considered one of the masters. His direction is just so brilliant in this. Anthony Quinn and Giulietta Masina were incredible - I loved Masina's energy and expressions. It's a great, great story with great acting and direction, it's just perfect, more or less.

• Jeremy S

  
  La Strada, which is the Italian word for The Road. Fedrico Fellini's best film. La Strada won the Academy Award for Best foreign film, even though it is far better than most English films. I shall never forget Masina's face, the most remarkable of faces, she performs a… More
  La Strada, which is the Italian word for The Road. Fedrico Fellini's best film. La Strada won the Academy Award for Best foreign film, even though it is far better than most English films. I shall never forget Masina's face, the most remarkable of faces, she performs a moving protryal, and Quinn is egqually unforgettable both actors make the film crackle with their chemistry. La Stada is one of the most beautiful films and one of the most tragic films ever.

• Byron B

  
  The performances are wonderful from the three main characters, so the humor and tragedy is believable. Fellini is beginning to move away from his early influence by the Italian neo-realism movement. Parts still owe something to neo-realism, but other parts are a bit more… More
  The performances are wonderful from the three main characters, so the humor and tragedy is believable. Fellini is beginning to move away from his early influence by the Italian neo-realism movement. Parts still owe something to neo-realism, but other parts are a bit more fantastical. With these Italian pictures of the 40's and 50's audio tracks were not recorded simultaneously with the film, so whether the audio is changed to English dialog or is heard in the original Italian, it is all dubbed. I noticed more with this movie than some other Italian films I've seen from around this time that the dialog and trumpet and violin audio and video don't quite line up. I expect a little more from listening to the original audio on the collector's edition I viewed, but I suppose that was just the technology of the times and it contributes to the fantasy aspects of the story.

• John B

  
  Fellini's wife Giulietta Masina is absolutely incredible in this tale of a traveling carnival with a dark side. Heart felt and poignant.

• Matthew Y

  
  Over the years I've become convinced that Fellini and I are just never going to work. I do adore La Dolce Vita but, other than that film, he is easily the director of whom I've partially watched the most films. I just can't get through the darn things. Older films… More
  Over the years I've become convinced that Fellini and I are just never going to work. I do adore La Dolce Vita but, other than that film, he is easily the director of whom I've partially watched the most films. I just can't get through the darn things. Older films can sometimes be a bit of a challenge especially when you're not all that interested in the subject matter. Add on a language and cultural barrier and every time I watch one of his films I feel like the guy who has been dragged to the Opera even though he absolutely hates Opera. He then has to sit there bored for hours and to top it all off has to listen to everyone rave about how good the thing was (FYI: I love Opera). La Strada is one of the films I somehow made it from beginning to end and I just don't see where the acclaim comes from. Fellini seems to be known more for his ability to get memorable performances from his actors and his craftsmanship of story rather than for his use of the camera. Giulietta Masina and Anthony Quinn are perfectly fine but I just don't grasp what is so compelling about this tale of the brutish strongman and his shy, often reluctant, girlfriend. Other than the scenes where Masina does some Chaplin and Lucille Ball homages there's nothing meaty enough to support the nearly two-hour run-time for me. OK now I gotta muscle through the rest of 8 1/2.

• Daniel D

  
  The main problem in Fellini's La Strada is the annoying main character. She was like an annoying Charlie Chaplin, I understand Fellini wanted a naive character but why annoying. This is definently the weakest film of Fellini I've seen. The imagery was superb but the concept… More
  The main problem in Fellini's La Strada is the annoying main character. She was like an annoying Charlie Chaplin, I understand Fellini wanted a naive character but why annoying. This is definently the weakest film of Fellini I've seen. The imagery was superb but the concept was not. A long sad story that ultimately led to something very disappointing. You'd expect Fedrecio to have a trick up his sleeve, but he just made you feel like he had one.

• Hal M

  
  One of the all-time great films. Stars Anthony Quinn and Giulietta Massina. What a debut for her! Hard to imagine who else could play that Gelsomina role. This movie made director Fellini famous beyond Italy. Yet La Strada is in the neorealist style, grimly realistic, in… More
  One of the all-time great films. Stars Anthony Quinn and Giulietta Massina. What a debut for her! Hard to imagine who else could play that Gelsomina role. This movie made director Fellini famous beyond Italy. Yet La Strada is in the neorealist style, grimly realistic, in monochrome; NOT a "felliniesque" film. That adjective is owing to later films in his career, like La Dolce Vita and Juliet of the Spirits. Massina--by then Fellini's wife--stars also in that latter film, Juliet of the Spirits, in a totally different persona we might guess is much truer to her real self.

• Gevvy S

  
  The two leads give great performances. The film however is ineffective at times and not as powerful as Nights of Cabiria. The circus scenes lag a little and the symbolism is very in your face. This is a good early effort from Fellini though as he would incorporate many stylistic… More
  The two leads give great performances. The film however is ineffective at times and not as powerful as Nights of Cabiria. The circus scenes lag a little and the symbolism is very in your face. This is a good early effort from Fellini though as he would incorporate many stylistic features in his later films.

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