What's your favorite Italian movie?

Fbaezer, your list is fine as far as it goes...but why no Italian
films before 1960? This seems bizarre to me. You are missing the great age of neorealism (Rossellini and DeSica) plus many of Fellini's best movies like I VITELLONI, THE
WHITE SHEIK, LA STRADA, and NIGHTS OF CABIRIA. Also,
why no Antonioni?

Larry, they just didn't happen to be among the top ten.

IMO, the best film by De Sica is "Umberto D", from 1952.
A very powerful film by Rosselini: "Roma: città aperta", from 1945.
Fellini's "La strada" is also great: charming and terrible. The end is ungforgettable.
"Bellissima" (Visconti, I think: 1950 or 1951) hasn't lost grit nor actuality.
"Riso amaro", by De Sanctis, also made in the 50s, is a great workers' thriller.

"Le notti di Cabiria" is maybe 1000 times better than the American remake "Sweet Charity". Giulietta Massina was so sweet!

I like some of Antonioni's works, specially "Professione: Reporter" and "Il grido". Others bored me.

Unfortunately, I haven't seen "I vitelloni" or "Lo Sceico Bianco".

We All Loved Each Other So Much is one of my favorite all time movies. I even own a copy, bought when my video store was changing hands, for a few dollars.

Glad to see "We All Loved Each Other So Much" endorsed by fbaezer and ossobuco. The characters in this movie will remind you of people you know and maybe even yourself. It is a wise comedy/drama that I would recommend to anyone.

And if you liked that, you may or may not like Down and Dirty, as I know it, or Brutto, Sporchi e Cattivi, or something like that, as Fbaezer knows it. I think Ettore Scola did that too. I've seen it five times now..

And, wande, welcome to a2k...

I'm the resident mad italophile, with Kickycan catching up with me, and Eva giving me a run for my lire. Others here on the site know lots more about italy than we do, including fbaezer, luukas, loislane, and many quieter folks... and a very quiet fellow from Germany who hardly ever posts, except on art once in a while, since he doesn't have his own computer - Mistral. Mistral has walked most of italy.

Not a film, but tunes from Fellini's films, Amarcord, Juliet of the Spirits, 8 1/2, La Dolce Vita, Satyricon, Roma, La Strada.. mainly composed by Nino Rota are very good to listen. They are listened to through a vinyl record "Amarcord Nino Rota" (Produced by Hal Willner for Deep Creek Productions Ltd.).
Of course I love those films.

Well, key scene, the motorcycles...

not to build it up, it wasn't all that overwhelming. Fit at the time. Part of Navona for me.

I went out and bought Amarcord yesterday. The father of that insane family was hilarious!

I have several CD's of Nino Rota's scores for Italian cinema, the best being Ricardo Mata's. I'd have to find it but it should be in my movie sountrack storage racks. Hey, kickycan, a great movie to own. The famous scene is, of course, the peacocks in the snow. "Ice Storm" owes a lot to Fellini.

I'm glad Larry mentioned the early Italian realists films and "La Strada" is a must for kickycan -- it has a Nino Rota score that is poignant and one of the most perfectly matched soundtracks to a story every composed for film. There's even a ballet which was performed to the music (I believe that's on the Mata CD).

Fbaezer, I don't understand how you can list some of the best Italian movies ever...after saying one of them belong in the top 10. Something is wrong with either your taste or your logic, my friend!

Quite simple and geekish, Larry.

I rate and classify ALL the films I see.

The great pre-1960 Italian films I briefly commented just happen to be barely out of my "top ten" at the moment.

I saw Brutti, Sporchi e Cattivi last night on tape. It confirmed
my opinion that Ettore Scola is an incompetent filmmaker
who belongs at the bottom, not the top, of the list of Italian
dirtectors. We All Loved Each Other So Much is a sentimental
mess too.

Oh, well.

Good ol' Larry is at full gear, again .

Yes, Scola is sentimental, and not always very good. But sometimes, he strikes it right for many of us, without being too mellowy.

Besides "C'eravamo tanto amati", I also enjoyed "Una giornata particolare", perhaps the last time Marcello and Sophia made a great dramatic couple.
"Osteria" is a great slap-stick short; "L'uccello della Val Padana" and "Cittadino esemplare" are also quite good (all segments of "I nuovi mostri").
"Il dramma della gelosia: tutti i particolari in cronaca" (AKA "The Pizza Triangle") is an OK comedy.
On the other side, I think "Le bal" (except for a couple of haunting images), "Cinema Splendor" and "Brutti, sporchi e cattivi" are overvalued. I find "Brutti, sporchi e cattivi" particularly disgusting and demagogical (sorry, osso).
Of his reknown films, I haven't seen "La Famiglia", "Letters from Palestine", "The Night of Varennes" or "Passione d'amore" (which my wife loves).

We'll wait for Kicky's take....

I admit b/s/c was proto obnoxious, but I loved it.

And - thank you for the list, fb.

Alas, I have seen La Famiglia, but don't remember it offhand. (having a sense of liking it).

And do remember liking Night of Varennes... but can't talk about it without looking it up.

OK, we have geek and freak here. Any other takers?

It is amazing to me that we are taking Scola seriously when there are so many more gifted directors of his generation...
Bertolucci and Bellocchio to name only two.