as promised here is an abridged list of counter-counter-culture films of the 1970/80/90 with relevant notes.
Once upon a time, there was a big, big film studio called Cinecitta (cinema city), that received mucho dinero from the italian government; Mussolini understood that films and propaganda were a very important cultural tool, for both unification and promoting italy as a modern country.
This led to a situation where making films was much easier in italy than most everywhere else, often easier than in hollywood too, due to the lower costs of cinecitta, both in studio time and in wages.
Many a US production was shot there, which also contributed, with sets and costumes being recycled for other productions.
Italy also has quite the history with theater too, and a huge host of low cost actors who are fairly decent.
Now, originally italian film was mostly known for the Italian Comedy, or Commedia All' Italiana.
These were serious films, generally depicting the less fortunate - same as the many tragedies listed before - and the main theme is how the wily, smart and resourceful (if unlucky) italian manages to survive the socio-political chaos by various schemes and scams.
this big wikipedia list:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commedia_all'italiana
Most of these films are funny, but they are essentially dramas. A few notable exceptions are:
L'Armata Brancaleone -
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060125/reference
absolutely hysterical mock-medieval film (the characters act as if they are in the past, but the costumes, dialogue and sets don't even begin to attempt to seem realistic), of a quixotical knight who sets out on a quest for a treasure completely made up by a bunch of vile, traitorous peasants.
Dialogue is a mishmash between old style theatrical and modern (1960s) slang, the absurdity of this is one of the biggest selling points of the film.
Obviously, if you watch this with subtitles, you'll miss out on most of the fun. And the same is for nearly all italian comedy, it's more dialogue based than others.
They also made a second film, Brancaleone Alle Crociate, which is somewhat more slapstick and cheaper fun, but still good.
Both films have a dark streak, as it should be by now the obvious recurring theme, but it only comes out occasionally.
Vittorio Gassman stars in the lead role; he's been acting since 1945, and most of the films he acted in are quite famous, you've probably seen some, but you should grab this one.
next, is
Il Medico Della Mutua -
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063288/reference
Alberto Sordi stars as a crooked doctor, who gets paid by the government for each patient he treats. He sets up a scheme where he manages to steal all the patients from the other local doctors to make more money.
Later followed by
"Villa Celeste" -
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064846/reference
which is when the now rich doctor sets up a clinic, again in order to scam people.
Again the dark streak is there, but the film highlights the problems with the italian care system, and for once we root against the protagonist, not for him.
Both great films (watch them together, like Kill Bill), mostly thanks to the lead.
Sordi was one of the strongest, most influential italian actors. The characters he portrays are very humane, weak, often incapable of controlling their own lives.
Again, you probably know many of his films, and while they are all worth watching, most will leave you sad. Because someone, at some point, thought that in order to make italians change their way, the best way was to portray how impossible it is for an italian to change anything.
(didn't work)
Less serious, and therefore imho far more enjoyable, is what i call the "papal cycle", a series of films set in papal rome (pre-napoleon), easy to film as essentially the city itself was the set.
Nell'Anno Del Signore -
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064718/reference
In Nome Del Papa Re' -
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076185/reference
In Nome Del Popolo Sovrano -
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099836/reference
loosely covers the period of the carboneria (anti-papal sentiment) and the subsequent popular revolts.
Il Conte Tacchia -
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0166544/reference (less serious in style, not that strong of a lead; also in
I Picari -
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095866/reference with Gassman)
and last but not least
Il Marchese Del Grillo -
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082714/reference
10/10
Truly a masterpiece; this film is so massively important in italy, nearly everyone has seen it. Most italians will be easily able to quote from the film without fault. I simply recommend this to the the first italian film anyone watches.
Again you will miss a good portion of the fun; when i first was in the US, me and a friend drove down to Virginia .. for fun. I found it shocking that we could drive for a whole day and the people we met still spoke the same language. In italy, if you drive a couple hours, you'll have a hard time understanding anyone, due to the extreme differences between the official language and the local slang. There is a strong significance, in italian films, having a character speak a specific slang. It implies both social status, and the characteristics which that character has .. so if your character speaks with a Milan slang, you know you must assume he has characteristics typical of Milan people, regardless if that characters displays them or not.
There are other films which are significant; but as i have said, they have this theme throughout which i am trying to avoid in this list. We've had many serious film directors and actors but they obscure the other italian films which most italians actually enjoy watching.
Now, i'm done with part 1. These films i have listed are funny, but still serious. next up, the really really real fun films.
But yeah, you should watch these films despite me early saying they were bad.