Roger Ebert included the film in his selection of Great Movies, writing that "Vittorio De Sica's Umberto D (1952) is the story of the old man's struggle to keep from falling from poverty into shame. It may be the best of the Italian neorealist films--the one that is most simply itself, and does not reach for its effects or strain to make its message clear."

Ebert review rogerebert.com 2002: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-umberto-d-1952

Martin Scorsese included it on a list of "39 Essential Foreign Films for a Young Filmmaker."

Scorsese video intro to film:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVa7_u34tn0

Ingmar Bergman: "[D]en film som jag kanske älskar mest av alla och som jag väl har sett hundra gånger vid det här laget: det är Umberto D, de Sicas film." That is: "[T]he film that I perhaps love most of all and that I have seen a hundred times by now: it is Umberto D., de Sica's film."