What It's About:

Set in the tiny seaside town of Rimini, this film observes the day-to-day lives of five mischievous youths, including leader Fausto (Fabrizi), wanna-be writer Leopoldo (Leopoldo Trieste), and Moraldo (Interlenghi), all of whom are on the cusp of manhood but live aimlessly, preferring the security of group drift to the responsibilities of a grown-up existence. Ultimately, each must decide for himself whether to stay in a stifling but familiar birthplace or strike out into the larger world.

Why I Love It:

Fellini's touching, semiautobiographical first feature-the title translates to "wastrels" or "layabouts"-is the quintessential recounting of a now-clichéd tale, so it's no surprise that Coppola, among others, borrowed the premise for his "American Graffiti." Drawing on his own beginnings, Fellini creates one of the crowning coming-of-age stories, a meditation on the bonds of loyalty, friendship, and home that features early glimpses of the maestro's fascination with all things carnivalesque, and a memorably bittersweet farewell. This, Fellinin's breakthrough film, is one of the director's more human and accessible works.