Being hired barely dispels Antonio’s bleak sense that in depressed post-War Rome 'Everything’s a dead loss’ — he’s pawned his Fides ('Faith’) bicycle, so his wife has to pawn their bedsheets to get it out of hock. Still, his pride starts to return when he dons his new uniform and pedals off with ladder and bucket. Thus when criminals pinch it while he’s pasting up a Rita Hayworth poster, it feels like the end of the world.