Fellini never disappointed. What a great movie!

A great Italian film. Fellini is an awesome director. The movie is about circus performers and mainly focuses on a strongman and a female clown. It was nice to see Italy in the film.

Watch sawdust and tinsel instead, came out a year prior and has a similar theme just with better writing and acting. Zampano and the fool were the only interesting characters in the movie. Calling it Fellini's masterpiece is an insult to him.

A heart wrenching masterpiece from Fellini's classical era. As good as tragic cinema gets.

Fellini’s story concerning an odd couple of traveling carnies (Giulietta Masina & Anthony Quinn) showcases what happens when a “blank slate” Gelsomina (Masina) is hoicked into the wagon of an irascible brute, Zampanò (Quinn). Zampanò makes a precarious living traipsing the countryside and gathering townsfolk to watch his act, which mainly centers around him being able to break a chain that is tied around his back and across his chest. Gelsomina, whose sister, Rosa (whom we never meet), had been the man’s previous assistant and died on during the travels. How she died is never addressed, but Zampanò returns to the same beachside home to purchase Gelsomina from a mother with “too many mouths to feed”. At first, we think he’s purchasing a wife, but Zampanò openly sleeps with other women without ever making a move on the waifish Gelsomina. In fact, he recoils at the thought of marrying her. I suppose there’s an atavistic charm to Zampanò that Gelsomina just can’t quit, as the girl falls deeper in love with him despite the beatings and other immoral behaviors. A puckish character referred to only as “The Fool” (Richard Basehart) is a foil to both Zampanò and Gelsomina and toys with the ruffian even if it leads to his eventual, inevitable demise. Through Gelsomina, we see someone who has experienced nothing so everything is exciting and new, even the sleepiest provincial town. What attracts Gelsomina so much to Zampanò is also what breaks her in the end, not physically, as would be expected, but psychologically. La Strada does that thing where the actors speak their own language (here, Quinn and Basehart use English) and are dubbed while the native speakers, of course, are not. Luckily, it isn’t too distracting, unlike the original Suspiria. Moreover, Quinn’s face somehow becomes more handsome and weathered, like a Bulgarian rose picker, as the movie goes on. It’s been described as partially Italian Neo-Realism, so expect the ending to be tragic and unsatisfying, like the lives these characters lead.

So far my favourite film by Federico Fellini.

Pretty grim stuff by today's standards in terms of how women are treated, even moreso than the other Fellini films I've seen. But it's from a different era. A sad take on the beauty and the beast trope, with good performances and the beginning ingredients of what they call fellini-esqe films. And Giulietta Masina is wonderful.

fellinis best and one of my all time favorites. the character Gelsomina is one of the greatest characters i can remember seeing.

An unconventional yet captivating friendship -- and sort of romance -- that depicts an excellent contrast between gullible innocence and brute strength, that thanks to Federico Fellini's filmmaking talent and the well-matched leads, it becomes one of the greatest films of postwar Italy.

In Federico Fellini's La Strada, Gelsomina (Giulietta Masina), a young and simple peasant girl, is sold to Zampano (Anthony Quinn), a brutal street entertainer, as his assistant. Together, they travel the Italian countryside, scrounging to make ends meet and struggling to come to terms with their volatile relationship. It is an often beautiful and sometimes ugly examination of the meaning of being, filled with striking images, a touching score, and a strong performance from Quinn. Some will find Masina's performance overbearing at times, but she effectively captures the innocent nature of her character. The final shot of Zampano on the beach coming to terms with his lot in life is nothing if not memorable.

A very hard to describe movie. It sort of reminded me of "Requiem for a Dream" in the feeling of it. Very good movie that you will not soon forget.

A classic in sheer boredom. It's a long road to get to the end of this sombre piece. Can't recommend.

It is not like watching a movie but it is like watching a life with all its shades blinking, winking and whimpering to one's own soul.

Yet another film in which Fellini spoils the neorealism with his consummate obsessions over one excellent script. 4/10

Federico Fellini's ‘La Strada' is full of life and friction - stark - an unpragmatic must-see!

From the first moment of the first scene I could tell this was something of quality, I have no idea how but I just could and overall this film is of high quality. It is also very Italian - intense passion, crude roughness and culture all rolled into one - Italy in a nutshell. Unfortunately for me the film was ruined by one thing and that is completely and utterly ruined beyond redemption and that thing was Gelsomina and her acting. The character appeared to have no depth or meaning whatsoever and are we supposed to find her amusing just because she makes funny faces and walks in a funny way. I need a bit more to a character than expression and gait and spent the whole film thinking someone should have really told her that she isn't Charlie Chaplin. She irritated me utterly. I tried to enjoy other parts of the film, which were good but just couldn't because I had to look at her, even when they appeared to be developing another aspect of the film it would then cut to a close up of her making some expression as though completely unaware that we had to watch these painful, over-acted, unnatural contortions, there was no escape. The truest line in the whole film was when she was told she had a face like an artichoke. I actually quite liked the other characters, Zampano included, not that maybe I liked them as people but as characters, cliched admittedly but at least they seemed to have some sort of meaning and authenticity about them and the fool even have something useful to say. They could have done Gelsomina so much better - either the oppressed woman powerless and basically sold into slavery, or the trapped women escaped to take on the free life of a gypsy rover; as it happened they tried both, did neither and any attempt was usually cut short by having to look at her funny faces and ridiculous gait. I don't know much about Chaplin but there must be something about him though I do wonder if this style is better left to silent cinema. All this combined with how they tried to develop the other characters both as individuals and as archetypes meant perhaps this film was trying to do too much which is in credit to its makers and of interest to professional critics and film students but to me just made it unenjoyable. It was a good premise and if they had done more in a Saragossa type style this could have been an 8/9/10 out of 10 film. As it was: 6/10

Possibly the best performances by both Anthony Quinn and Richard Basehart.

La Strada is an early step for Fellini, and though not as fully realized as some of his later work, it's still a step in the right direction. History has chosen this film as one of the premier representatives of a classic dynamic, the innocent youth and the jaded pragmatist. Here, they are each treated with a sense of morbid tragedy, as the former lacks self-sufficiency and the latter is doomed to dissatisfaction and self-loathing. The two leads are exceptionally well-suited to their respective roles, with Masina exuding a wide-eyed naiveté while Quinn brings forth surprising depth from his role, displaying at various points cold indifference, covetousness, and ultimately a consuming regret that forces him to recognize his own cruel nature. Those searching for the layers of subtext that Fellini interjects into his work so often will have a field day with this one, as the simplicity of its overall narrative allows for endless interpretation. More conventionally structured than his later films, La Strada shows the director/writer's strengths in pulling from personal experience to tug the heartstrings. (4/5)

While the plot for La Strada could work well for a light hearted comedy, the multi-layered film ventures into the blackest depths of human emotion.

Rarely have I encountered so much of life - and death - packed into one film. Comedy, tragedy, hope, despair, cruelty and love represented by astonishing performances, superb cinematography, a stunning score. A master at work.