According to the American Film Institute, La Strada is one of the most popular films in cinema history. The performances of Giulietta Masina as the waif Gelsomina, Richard Basehart as the Fool, and Anthony Quinn as the strongman Zampano, who buys Gelsomina from her mother and takes her with him on the road, have been acclaimed for their power and sometimes ridiculed for their sentimentality. The debates over what these characters and the story they...