Who doesn’t know Italian films? It is impossible not to love them. With all the variety of masterpieces that the cinema of Italy has presented to the world, we will try to highlight the best tapes of different genres and the time of creation.

Best italian retro movies

To start the story about what Italian retro films are, perhaps, they stand with one of the most famous films of the late 40s - the painting “Obsession”. The excellently staged film was banned for showing in the country by the Duce Mussolini himself. The tape has everything that can be in a passionate Italian plot: love, death, the pangs of repentance. The leitmotif going through the whole picture is eternal and simple: a young man carried away by a married woman loves so that passion ends with the murder of the husband of the chosen one. After that, the couple overcomes repentance, and the guilt for their deed does not leave them until the very end of life.

Old Italian films are black and white, but how carefully, artistically and beautifully they are shot! Take at least the 1951 film Miracle in Milan, directed by Vittorio de Sica. A touching story about a woman who raised someone else’s baby and after death gave him a dream magic bird capable of fulfilling wishes.

“Bad, good, evil” - the film directed by Sergio Leone appeared at the box office in 1961, immediately becoming a classic of the Italian western. An excellently shot action movie with Clint Eastwood in the title role still looks at one go.

“Life is beautiful” - in this picture, the director Roberto Benigni also starred as the main character. The plot is based on real events taking place in the family of the director himself - the difficult fate of Italians of Jewish descent who endured the torment of genocide.

The masterpiece of the great Fellini called “Sweet Life” displays Marcello Mastroiani, who starred as a journalist who, for a week in Rome, has been trying to find his love. Many believe that the best Italian comedies began with this particular film.

We will see the same actor in another movie masterpiece of those years - “Italian Divorce,” where Mastroiani masterfully played a cheater-husband who decided to divorce his wife to possess a young woman under the guise of a betrayal he had arranged.

Italy's modern cinema about love

Rarely what kind of tape does without love experiences, because the very atmosphere of this amazing country is filled with eroticism, romance and love. Modern cinema comprehends this topic no less actively than directors of previous years. Italian films about love are always passionate, unexpected, bright.

The film “The Stranger” tells how a great feeling can be revived in the soul of even someone who has lost his main love and has been humiliated and insulted for many years. The victim of the modern slave trade Irena, it seems, will never forget the humiliation that fell to her lot. Only love can save and help change such a difficult fate ...

“Tiger and snow” - this picture tells of a poet in love with his art and his own invented muse. She comes to him in a dream, but once he happened to meet her in real life.

“Remember me” - the picture is full of passion and worry, because the protagonist, having experienced the bitterness of disappointment, finally meets his youthful love, and Alessia becomes his inspiration.

“Do not leave” is another film that talks about deep emotions and feelings. In the center of events is the story of a successful doctor, an exemplary family man, who suddenly has feelings for an unknown emigrant girl. He was still able to cope with the surging emotions, and the mind eventually prevailed. One question remains - does love forgive betrayal?

Comedy List

Italian comedies are always funny and kind. Speaking about the comedies of Italian cinema, one cannot but recall the 70-80 years in which this genre flourished and produced many films that were loved by viewers of more than one generation.

First of all, this is a dozen wonderful funny tapes about the adventures of the humble accountant Fantozzi, who is haunted by setbacks and various comic absurdities, and the accountant himself is so modest that even his spouse does not notice his disappearance. The famous comedian Paolo Villaggio starred here and in the entire series of comedies about Hugo Fantozzi.

In the same genre and with the same actor, another comedy was released in 1976, which became a hit in the USSR (the viewing amounted to 50 million people). This “Signor Robinson” is a funny story about modern Robinson, who found himself on an uninhabited island and found his lovely Friday there.

“Bluff” is a funny film story about a magnificent and brilliantly arranged scam with the participation of two crooks played by Adriano Celentano and Anthony Quinn. The plot keeps the whole movie in suspense up to the last frame.

Another Italian movie star, Ornella Muti, paired with Adriano Celentano, makes a magnificent duet in the funny love comedy Taming of the Shrew. A sparkling tandem and a win-win story about winning the heart of a rude provincial by a visiting beauty became a favorite film of a whole generation.

A similar story formed the basis of another tape with the participation of these actors. The movie “Madly in Love”, released in 1981, tells the love story of the famous heartthrob Barnaba, a simple driver and self-confident guy who inflamed feelings for Princess Christina, who was visiting Italy.

Films about the Italian mafia

This is today the cinema halls were filled with fantasy and mystical melodrama, but ten or twenty years ago, people froze when watching TV shows and feature films about the Italian mafia.Representatives of the clans known at that time were brilliant actors - Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro. And even Johnny Depp managed to be noted in such a role, for which he and all previous screen gangsters can express some gratitude. They created images not only scary and convincing, but also extremely attractive.

There are so many films about the mafia in Italy that you can only identify the most famous and popular:

  • The Godfather is a two-part saga that fully and convincingly conveys the whole atmosphere that prevailed at that time. The cult work of director Francis F. Coppola on the life of the Carleone dynasty received seven Oscars.
  • “Fight” - thanks to the excellent cast and famously twisted plot, this film managed to get many different international awards, and most importantly - the love and recognition of a huge number of viewers. He talks about the uncompromising struggle of the policeman and the mafia.
  • “The Untouchables” - this is the name the police team gets in the confrontation with the famous mafia leader Al Capone. The film was awarded an Oscar, starring R. De Niro, K. Köstner and S. Connery;
  • “Cocaine” - a film with the participation of D. Depp, awarded theatrical prize. A fairly recent movie (2001) about smugglers.
  • “Doni Brasco” - another tape with the participation of Depp in the cast. The name is the nickname of the FBI secret agent, who was introduced into a criminal gang that hunts for smuggling.

In general, films about the Italian mafia are so diverse that the list could include series such as the famous "Octopus", as well as a selection of documentaries about the Italian Cosa Nostre.

Italian detectives

Very often, Italians shoot detective films in collaboration with foreign colleagues, and then great joint masterpieces are obtained.

We list the most famous films of different years, shot in the detective genre:

  • "Adventure" - a rather old film from 1960, telling about a girl who disappeared on a Mediterranean island. He is filmed in the genre of drama and detective story jointly by France and Italy;
  • Bicycle Thieves is a movie even older. It was shot in 1948, but it is interesting because the director Vittorio de Sica used only non-professional actors in it;
  • “In the bright sun” - a joint Italian-French picture with incredibly charming Alain Delon in the title role. The film is based on the book "Talented Mr. Ripley";
  • “Nikita” - the cult film directed by Luc Besson about a special agent combines elements of a criminal story, an exciting action movie and melodrama;
  • “Profession: Reporter” - a picture taken by the classic of Italian cinema Michelangelo Antonioni with Jack Nichols in the title role. It tells about a reporter who was disappointed in life and would like to change everything. Fate provides such a chance: he takes the documents of a deceased neighbor and begins a new life. Will it be easier?

Horror selection

Horror films made in Italy are slightly different from American ones. They have more violence and overt erotica. So it can be said without exaggeration - these are horrors for adults.

Here's what you can offer to fans of such a chilling genre:

  • "Demons" - the film is a classic horror film, where the version of the apocalypse with attractive actors, a share of black humor and a placer of "tin" takes place;
  • "Zombie 2" - a movie about the risen dead. The action takes place on an island in the tropics, where the heroine finds herself in search of her missing father and finds herself in the center of an unfolding epidemic. The film was shot very spectacular, believable and exciting;
  • “Beyond the Darkness” is a horror movie in which a madly in love taxidermy decides to embalm his passion. Unable to get rid of attachment, he rapes and kills his lovers in the presence of a dead body.The film is not only horrible according to the script, but filled with a certain philosophy - the past should be buried in time for its dead;
  • “Undertaker in Love” is an explosive mixture of eroticism, black humor and all kinds of psychedelic tricks. The excellent work of the young Rupert Everett, who starred in the role of that undertaker;
  • “Beyond the Darkness” is a little philosophical film about a Protestant priest who opened the gates to hell in his new home and set about combating evil with a Catholic colleague.

The most popular actors of Italy

Italian cinema gave the world many amazing names of actors, but today we have chosen only those who have had a special influence on its history.

Let's call the best of the best:

  • Roberto Benigni - on his account a lot of films, but the main one, perhaps, is “Life is Beautiful”;
  • Raul Bova - known to the Soviet audience for the movie "Octopus";
  • Toto - the king of the comedy genre, the great comedian and actor;
  • Marcelllo Mastroiani is a world celebrity whose path to success was not easy;
  • Adriano Celentano is a man who combines the talent of an actor, comedian, singer.

It’s not easy to choose the best among women, because Italian actresses are not only talented, but also incredibly beautiful.

We will name only a few:

  • Claudia Cardinale;
  • Gina Lollobrigida;
  • Sophia Loren;
  • Anna Maria Ferrero;
  • Rosanna Schiaffino;
  • Ornella Muti;
  • Stephanie Sandrelli;
  • Monica Bellucci.

The history of Italian cinema is diverse, it has its ups and downs. It is believed that after the heyday of the 60s, Italian cinema was no longer able to repeat the breakthrough that fell on this "golden age" of Apennine cinema. However, young directors are more confidently declaring themselves and, perhaps, in the near future we will still see a new galaxy of authors of amazing masterpieces.

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