Top 100 Italian Films, a list by GalacticBoy

8.8

/881268/

85

/13572/

84

/9335/

4.5

/660478/

97

/76/

97

/11687/

90

/7/

3.0

age 15+

While the Civil War rages on between the Union and the Confederacy, three men – a quiet loner, a ruthless hitman, and a Mexican bandit – comb the American Southwest in search of a strongbox containing $200,000 in stolen gold.

83

8.6

/802823/

86

/13315/

84

/13713/

4.4

/670938/

80

/92/

96

/15224/

58

/32/

3.5

age 13+

A touching story of an Italian book seller of Jewish ancestry who lives in his own little fairy tale. His creative and happy life would come to an abrupt halt when his entire family is deported to a concentration camp during World War II. While locked up he tries to convince his son that the whole thing is just a game.

83

8.5

/380779/

82

/5931/

82

/4723/

4.4

/252296/

96

/67/

94

/4737/

82

/9/

2.5

age 14+

As the railroad builders advance unstoppably through the Arizona desert on their way to the sea, Jill arrives in the small town of Flagstone with the intention of starting a new life.

87

8.5

/313776/

84

/4805/

84

/4690/

4.5

/417211/

90

/84/

96

/5148/

80

/21/

3.5

age 14+

A filmmaker recalls his childhood, when he fell in love with the movies at his village's theater and formed a deep friendship with the theater's projectionist.

89

8.4

/27343/

82

/460/

80

/589/

4.3

/17292/

94

/62/

98

/603/

89

/28/

4.0

After a fateful encounter in the summer of 1966, the lifepaths of two brothers from a middle-class Roman family diverge, intersecting with some of the most significant events of postwar Italian history in the following decades.

82

8.2

/296631/

80

/5871/

80

/4281/

4.2

/232136/

92

/38/

94

/2663/

74

/8/

3.0

age 12+

Two bounty hunters both pursue the brutal and sadistic bandit, El Indio, who has a large bounty on his head.

89

8.2

/190797/

80

/2662/

82

/2574/

4.3

/249922/

99

/67/

94

/2155/

4.0

age 12+

Unemployed Antonio is elated when he finally finds work hanging posters around war-torn Rome. However on his first day, his bicycle—essential to his work—gets stolen. His job is doomed unless he can find the thief. With the help of his son, Antonio combs the city, becoming desperate for justice.

84

8.1

/389519/

79

/6290/

77

/3051/

3.9

/133034/

91

/188/

94

/12273/

79

/40/

4.0

age 15+

Inspired by true events, this film takes place in Rwanda in the 1990s when more than a million Tutsis were killed in a genocide that went mostly unnoticed by the rest of the world. Hotel owner Paul Rusesabagina houses over a thousand refuges in his hotel in attempt to save their lives.

88

8.1

/30293/

79

/526/

79

/721/

4.2

/43205/

98

/41/

93

/453/

92

/9/

4.0

When elderly pensioner Umberto Domenico Ferrari returns to his boarding house from a protest calling for a hike in old-age pensions, his landlady demands her 15,000-lire rent by the end of the month or he and his small dog will be turned out onto the street. Unable to get the money in time, Umberto fakes illness to get sent to a hospital, giving his beloved dog to the landlady's pregnant and abandoned maid for temporary safekeeping.

86

84

8.1

/18158/

79

/360/

80

/734/

4.3

/39393/

100

/10/

91

/80/

Two neighbours — a persecuted journalist and a resigned housewife — forge a strong bond on the day of Adolf Hitler's historic 1938 visit to Rome.

81

63

8.0

/3704/

75

/73/

75

/123/

4.1

/5532/

90

/10/

89

/18/

In the late 19th century, a former high school teacher turned unionist tries to organize workers laboring with inhuman conditions at a textile factory in Turin, Italy.

85

8.0

/14920/

79

/456/

82

/848/

4.2

/32927/

100

/14/

94

/81/

89

/10/

3.0

Rome, Italy. After committing a heinous crime, a senior police officer exposes evidence incriminating him because his moral commitment prevents him from circumventing the law and the social order it protects.

73

8.0

/73010/

80

/1526/

82

/2377/

4.0

/34536/

58

/40/

91

/1388/

58

/28/

2.5

The story of a virtuoso piano player who lives his entire life aboard an ocean liner. Born and raised on the ship, 1900 learned about the outside world through interactions with passengers, never setting foot on land, even for the love of his life. Years later, the ship may be destroyed, and a former band member fears that 1900 may still be aboard, willing to go down with the ship.

84

76

7.9

/7529/

75

/125/

76

/168/

4.2

/16720/

100

/10/

93

/91/

With his family mired in financial troubles, Domenico moves to Milan, Italy, from his small town to get a job in lieu of furthering his education. A lack of options forces him to take a position as a messenger at a big company, where he hopes to receive a promotion soon. There, Domenico meets Antonietta, a young woman in a similar situation as himself. The two form a tentative relationship, but the soulless nature of their jobs threatens to keep them apart.

83

82

7.9

/26119/

79

/466/

79

/718/

4.3

/70544/

84

/31/

91

/241/

A day in the life of an unfaithful married couple and their steadily deteriorating relationship in Milan.

81

7.9

/250541/

78

/6518/

78

/4555/

4.0

/318789/

98

/56/

91

/3308/

65

/7/

age 11+

The Man With No Name enters the Mexican village of San Miguel in the midst of a power struggle among the three Rojo brothers and sheriff John Baxter. When a regiment of Mexican soldiers bearing gold intended to pay for new weapons is waylaid by the Rojo brothers, the stranger inserts himself into the middle of the long-simmering battle, selling false information to both sides for his own benefit.

82

78

7.9

/8566/

80

/279/

81

/729/

4.0

/9004/

91

/1086/

Four inseparable friends try to face their midlife crisis with daytrips and pranks at the expense of their families and the people around them.

86

7.9

/38405/

76

/665/

76

/736/

4.2

/65400/

98

/58/

90

/658/

100

/11/

A weak-willed Italian man becomes a fascist flunky who goes abroad to arrange the assassination of his old teacher, now a political dissident.

81

79

7.8

/15062/

75

/306/

77

/409/

4.0

/30254/

96

/24/

86

/117/

In the ruins of post-WWII Berlin, a twelve-year-old boy is left to his own devices in order to help provide for his family.

83

82

7.8

/22985/

75

/383/

76

/718/

4.0

/38795/

100

/29/

90

/242/

87

/10/

Five young men dream of success as they drift lazily through life in a small Italian village. Fausto, the group's leader, is a womanizer; Riccardo craves fame; Alberto is a hopeless dreamer; Moraldo fantasizes about life in the city; and Leopoldo is an aspiring playwright. As Fausto chases a string of women, to the horror of his pregnant wife, the other four blunder their way from one uneventful experience to the next.

81

62

7.8

/3363/

67

/61/

72

/57/

4.0

/1932/

100

/5/

91

/17/

Five stories center on a werewolf, a feudal landlord, peasants, a ghost, and a mother and her sons.

81

7.8

/9227/

78

/136/

76

/231/

4.1

/7787/

95

/19/

86

/69/

3.0

On a turn-of-the-20th-century northern Italian farm, a group of sharecroppers eke out a threadbare existence. A priest advises Batisti and his wife Batistina that their young son Minec should be formally educated, so they sacrifice his help in the fields and send him to school. When Minec's wooden shoe breaks one day, Batisti--in an act of desperation--puts the family's future at risk to replace the clog.

83

7.8

/41073/

77

/626/

79

/1188/

4.0

/30185/

94

/36/

94

/968/

81

/13/

3.5

age 13+

Simple Italian postman learns to love poetry while delivering mail to a famous poet; he uses this to woo local beauty Beatrice.

84

7.8

/50996/

75

/822/

78

/1176/

4.1

/65328/

88

/49/

90

/772/

4.0

age 17+

In an Italian seaside town, young Titta gets into trouble with his friends and watches various local eccentrics as they engage in often absurd behavior. Frequently clashing with his stern father and defended by his doting mother, Titta witnesses the actions of a wide range of characters, from his extended family to Fascist loyalists to sensual women, with certain moments shifting into fantastical scenarios.

66

7.8

/135904/

77

/3526/

78

/2981/

3.8

/49851/

56

/32/

77

/360/

49

/17/

1.5

Virgil Oldman is a world renowned antiques expert and auctioneer. An eccentric genius, he leads a solitary life, going to extreme lengths to keep his distance from the messiness of human relationships. When appointed by the beautiful but emotionally damaged Claire to oversee the valuation and sale of her family’s priceless art collection, Virgil allows himself to form an attachment to her – and soon he is engulfed by a passion which will rock his bland existence to the core.

79

62

7.7

/3854/

76

/81/

76

/110/

4.0

/9283/

90

/25/

Set in Fascist Italy before the outbreak of World War II, the story centers on Tunin, a farmer turned anarchist who stays in a brothel while preparing to kill Benito Mussolini.

77

63

7.7

/3321/

70

/61/

75

/87/

3.9

/3938/

87

/1285/

In his first collaboration with renowned screenwriter and longtime partner Cesare Zavattini, Vittorio De Sica examines the cataclysmic consequences of adult folly on an innocent child. Heralding the pair’s subsequent work on some of the masterpieces of Italian neorealism, The Children Are Watching Us is a vivid, deeply humane portrait of a family’s disintegration.

84

7.7

/36647/

74

/604/

75

/737/

4.1

/70000/

94

/52/

88

/620/

4.0

Claudia and Anna join Anna's lover, Sandro, on a boat trip to a remote volcanic island. When Anna goes missing, a search is launched. In the meantime, Sandro and Claudia become involved in a romance despite Anna's disappearance, though the relationship suffers from guilt and tension.

79

69

7.7

/5977/

73

/87/

78

/241/

3.9

/8926/

80

/5/

89

/40/

Film director Blasetti is looking for a little girl for his new movie. Along with other mothers, Maddelena takes her daughter to Cinecittà, hoping she’ll be selected and become a star. She is ready to sacrifice anything for little Maria.

80

73

7.7

/9966/

74

/148/

74

/242/

4.0

/18048/

89

/9/

88

/110/

A middle-aged man meets a young woman who is waiting on a canal bridge for her lover's return.

80

79

7.7

/24013/

75

/408/

77

/519/

4.0

/51306/

87

/30/

89

/325/

This romantic drama by Michelangelo Antonioni follows the love life of Vittoria, a beautiful literary translator living in Rome. After splitting from her writer boyfriend, Riccardo, Vittoria meets Piero, a lively stockbroker, on the hectic floor of the Roman stock exchange. Though Vittoria and Piero begin a relationship, it is not one without difficulties, and their commitment to one another is tested during an eclipse.

78

64

7.7

/4850/

75

/62/

71

/90/

4.0

/3395/

90

/10/

76

/26/

In the fascist Italy of 1935, a painter trained as a doctor is exiled to a remote region near Eboli. Over time, he learns to appreciate the beauty and wisdom of the peasants, and to overcome his isolation.

80

7.7

/6969/

76

/101/

74

/146/

4.0

/9955/

67

/21/

88

/116/

4.0

Pasqualino Frafuso, known in Naples as "Pasqualino Seven Beauties" is a petty thief who lives off of the profits of his seven sisters while claiming to protect their honor at any cost, Pasqualino is arrested for murder and later sent to fight in the army after committing sexual assault. The Germans capture him and he gets sent to a concentration camp where he plots to make his escape by seducing a German officer.

76

68

7.7

/4941/

76

/215/

75

/613/

3.8

/5503/

The frustrating adventures of a humble employee who all the time has to fullfill the wishes and desires of his bosses.

82

7.7

/118325/

75

/2734/

75

/1842/

3.9

/80082/

86

/126/

88

/1366/

76

/15/

4.0

age 14+

A dramatic history of Pu Yi, the last of the Emperors of China, from his lofty birth and brief reign in the Forbidden City, the object of worship by half a billion people; through his abdication, his decline and dissolute lifestyle; his exploitation by the invading Japanese, and finally to his obscure existence as just another peasant worker in the People's Republic.

83

65

7.6

/3472/

77

/201/

74

/186/

3.9

/23421/

100

/9/

95

/9/

The troubled relationship between Gianni and Nino, set in the narrow-minded and prejudicial Sicily of 1982.

71

51

7.6

/2899/

70

/42/

69

/80/

3.7

/2378/

57

/7/

84

/17/

Determined to survive at any price, Edith, a young Jewish woman deported to an extermination camp, manages to survive by accepting the role of kapo, a privileged prisoner whose mission is to ruthlessly guard other prisoners.

70

7.6

/28805/

73

/451/

78

/664/

3.9

/19146/

52

/23/

84

/386/

70

/14/

2.0

The epic tale of a class struggle in twentieth century Italy, as seen through the eyes of two childhood friends on opposing sides.

81

7.6

/3249/

70

/58/

74

/57/

3.9

/3235/

96

/49/

80

/79/

88

/21/

3.5

When a good-natured factory supervisor living in Milan with his Northern wife returns to his native Sicily, a decades' old oath forces him to fulfill a nightmarish obligation.

77

60

7.6

/3632/

72

/78/

74

/151/

3.9

/4992/

87

/26/

Prior to a city council election, the collapse of a building leaves a land developer and his political backers defending themselves against a scandal.

75

65

7.6

/5879/

72

/79/

75

/162/

3.8

/7307/

71

/14/

81

/40/

A sugar-refinery worker flees his Northern Italy town after a woman refuses his marriage proposal.

77

60

7.6

/2244/

76

/79/

79

/295/

3.7

/2752/

83

/67/

Eugene, a young nobleman, asks two penniless idlers to impersonate his noble relatives to help him marry Gemma, the daughter of an enriched cook.

79

59

7.6

/2175/

75

/43/

76

/75/

3.7

/1869/

97

/56/

A nearly sightless boy is sent to a school for blind children, where he secretly discovers the possibilities of the recorded sound.

75

54

7.6

/3266/

71

/38/

70

/72/

3.7

/3002/

88

/22/

In a French nightclub, choreographed song and dance routines are performed, rather than a streamlined narrative. They tell the story of Parisian culture and politics from the 1920s—1980s. A disparate, anachronistic series of characters, including an ordinary waiter, a Nazi collaborator, resistance fighters, and 1960s student protestors gather to celebrate and satirize 20th century France's icons, demons, and social changes.

72

44

7.6

/2834/

71

/45/

73

/148/

3.8

/2004/

68

/4/

An aging American millionairess journeys to Rome each year with her chauffeur George to play the card game scopone with destitute Peppino and his wife Antonia.

80

70

7.6

/4617/

76

/127/

78

/364/

4.0

/12583/

91

/351/

After losing a finger in a work accident, an Italian worker becomes increasingly involved in political and revolutionary groups.

79

7.5

/40785/

74

/797/

77

/1145/

3.9

/36702/

92

/26/

83

/726/

77

/5/

At the beginning of the 1913 Mexican Revolution, greedy bandit Juan Miranda and idealist John H. Mallory, an Irish Republican Army explosives expert on the lam from the British, fall in with a band of revolutionaries plotting to strike a national bank. When it turns out that the government has been using the bank as a hiding place for illegally detained political prisoners -- who are freed by the blast -- Miranda becomes a revolutionary hero against his will.

63

7.5

/6474/

71

/103/

74

/174/

3.9

/6928/

33

/12/

89

/52/