In a small, poverty-stricken village in the South of Italy, Antonio, Francesco, and Sergio are three unemployed young men with uneventful lives. They while their time away roaming the streets and chasing girls, constantly hatching half-hearted plans but hopelessly trapped in their own lethargy.

Ten years after Federico Fellini’s I Vitelloni, Lina Wertmüller crafted her own striking portrait of Italian youth in limbo. Marked by righteous anger at the plight of these smart but aimless men, this compassionate debut feature has its director’s flair for tragicomedy already in full view.