Federico Fellini’s “I vitelloni”, which means “The slackers” in Romagnol slang, is a dry but funny comedy drama film about a group of young but pathetic village slackers. Although it may not be one of Fellini’s best works in my inconsequential opinion, the movie is still compelling to watch for showing Fellini’s gradual transition from the Italian neorealism to his own artistic territory during the 1950s, and it is surely one of crucial steppingstones in Fellini’s early filmmaking period.

The movie mainly revolves around five aimless lads living in a little beach village on the Adriatic coast: Fausto (Franco Fabrizi), Leopoldo (Leopoldo Trieste), Riccardo (Riccardo Fellini, who is incidentally the brother of Fellini), Alberto (Alberto Sordi), and Moraldo (Franco Interlenghi). During the opening scene unfolded in the middle of a local beauty contest, the movie quickly establishes these five young characters one by one, and then it suddenly pushes one of them into a very serious situation. Fausto’s girlfriend Sandra (Leonora Ruffo), who is also Moraldo’s sister, turns out to be pregnant shortly after being announced as the winner of the beauty contest, but Fausto only comes to show what a lousy boyfriend he is – before being eventually forced to take the full responsibility for Sandra’s big trouble.

Meanwhile, the movie leisurely observes how the lads spend days and nights without much thought on what to do with their life. While Riccardo and Alberto are not particularly interested in getting any job to earn their living, Leopoldo is mostly occupied with writing his ambitious play whenever he is left alone, and Moraldo, who turns out to be more aware of their current pathetic existence, remains indecisive about his future as continuing to hang around with his friends as before.

When the time for carnival comes later, the mood becomes a lot more cheerful among them and many others in the village, and this part gives us some foreshadowing of Fellini’s later works as he throws lots of spirit and excitement onto the screen. As the score by Nino Rota, who began to collaborate with Fellini in Fellini’s previous film “The White Sheik” (1952), often energizes the screen, the main characters are joyously mingling with many others in a big local theater, but then the mood becomes quite melancholic when the night is almost over, and that impression is further accentuated by a few main characters still trying to have more fun.

As reflected by that memorable moment, it becomes more apparent to Moraldo and his friends that their jolly good time is being over, no matter how much they try to look away from that hard fact of their reality. While Alberto is so absorbed in having a fun with his friends, it turns out that there is a big domestic problem involved with his sister, and there is nothing he can do when he belatedly realizes her subsequent decision. While he seems settled with Sandra and her family for a while, Fausto remains reckless and thoughtless as before while believing that he can get away with anything via his usual charm, and, not so surprisingly, that gets himself into a trouble more than once. Watching his almost incorrigible behaviors in the film, I could not help but think of that famous line from Orson Welles’ “Citizen Kane” (1941): “If it was anybody else, I’d say what’s going to happen to you would be a lesson to you. Only you’re going to need more than one lesson. And you’re going to get more than one lesson.”

While it may have some pity on its young main characters, the Oscar-nominated screenplay by Fellini and his co-writers Ennio Flaiano and Tullio Pinelli never overlooks how silly and pathetic they are, and that is where many of its sharp laughs come from. In one of the most amusing scenes in the film, Leopoldo cannot help but gush on and on about his precious play in front of some famous theater, who happens to drop by the village for a special performance of his. That star actor seems to be really interested in his artistic passion and talent for a while, but then Leopoldo belatedly comes to sense what he is actually more interested in.

As observing more of how his friends are not very good companions to hang around with, Moraldo is naturally more disgusted and disillusioned than before, and that is why it is touching to see a couple of sensitive scenes showing his genuine friendship with a little local boy who looks up to him like an older brother. They may have nothing much in common, but Moraldo can be more sincere and honest to that boy than he can to his other friends, and their little but meaningful relationship later comes to function as the emotional base of the finale.

Compared to more ambitious and flamboyant works in Fellini’s filmmaking career such as “La Dolce Vita” (1960), “I vitelloni” looks rather modest while clearly influenced by the Italian neorealism as reflected by its shabby but realistic mood and details. Nonetheless, it shows that Fellini was already a confident filmmaker bound for greatness even though it was only his second solo directorial work after “The White Sheik”, and, as many of you know, he subsequently moved onto a string of awesome achievements ranging from “Nights of Cabiria” (1957) to “Amacord” (1973).

By the way, when I watched the film at a local theater during this afternoon, I noticed that Moraldo’s surname is Rubini, which is incidentally the surname of Marcello Mastroianni’s gossip journalist hero in “La Dolce Vita”. I do not know whether “I vitelloni” can really be regarded as a sort of prequel to “La Dolce Vita”, but now I want to wish more good luck on Moraldo.