10 La strada, 1954

Gelsomina lives a quiet life with her mother and three sisters. However, this sheltered existence is shattered when a travelling showman, Zampano, pays her mother so that Gelsomina will travel with and work for him. She is initially a reluctant participant in his line of work but soon tries to make the most of it, even learning some new skills. However, she has to contend with his brutish, unfeeling behaviour.

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9 Bicycle Thieves (Ladri di biciclette), 1948

Antonio Ricci, an unemployed man in the depressed post-WWII economy of Italy, finally gets a job hanging up posters, but he needs a bicycle. But when his bicycle is stolen,, he and son walk the streets of Rome looking for it. Antonio finally manages to locate the thief, but with no proof he must abandon his cause. But he and his son know perfectly well that without a bike, Antonio won’t be able to keep his job.

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8 The Legend of 1900 (La leggenda del pianista sull’oceano), 1998

Danny Boodmann, a stoker on an American passenger liner, Virginian, finds a baby abandoned on the ship. He names the child Danny Boodmann T.D. Lemon Nineteen Hundred ‘1900’ and raises the child as his own until his death in an accident on the ship. The child never leaves the ship and turns out to be a musical genius, especially when it comes to playing the piano. As an adult he befriends a trumpet player in the ship’s band, Max Tooney. After several years on the ship Max leaves, and tells the story of 1900 to the owner of a music store.

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7 La notte, 1961

In Milan, after visiting dear friend Tommaso Garani who is terminally ill in a hospital, write Giovanni Pontano goes to a party for the release of his latest book, and his wife Lidia visits the place where she lived many years ago. That night they go to a nightclub, then to a party at tycoon Gherardini’s mansion. Through the night Giovanni flirts with his host’s daughter Valentina Gherardini while Lidia flirts with playboy Roberto and receives a proposal to work for him in the area of communication and write the history of his company.

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6 Rocco and His Brothers (Rocco e i suoi fratelli), 1960

Having recently been uprooted to Milan, Rocco and his four brothers each look for a new way in life when a prostitute comes between Rocco and his brother Simone.

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5 Cinema Paradiso (Nuovo Cinema Paradiso), 1988

A filmmaker recalls his childhood when falling in love with the pictures at the cinema of his home village and forms a deep friendship with the cinema’s projectionist.

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4 For a Few Dollars More (Per qualche dollaro in più), 1965

Manco is a bounty killer chasing El Indio and his gang. During his hunt he meets Colonel Douglas Mortimer, another bounty killer, and they decide to make a partnership, chase the bad guys together, and split the reward. During their enterprise, there will be lots of bullets and funny situations. In the end, one of the bounty hunters shows the real intention of his hunt.

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3 Once Upon a Time in America, 1983

Epic, episodic tale of the lives of a small group of New York City Jewish gangsters spanning over 40 years. Told mostly in flashbacks and flash-forwards, the movie centers on small-time hood David ‘Noodles’ Aaronson and his lifelong partners in crime: Max, Cockeye, and Patsy, and their friends from growing up in the rough Jewish neighborhood of New York’s Lower East Side in the 1920s to the last years of Prohibition in the early 1930s, through to the late 1960s, where an elderly Noodles returns to New York after many years in hiding to look into the past.

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2 The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo), 1966

Three different men of three different temperaments and tastes get involved in a long and adventure-filled battle in order to find a fortune in gold. While the first man, an ex-bounty hunter and a forgiving person, knows the name of the grave inwhich the gold is buried, the second, a fast-tempered greedy man, knows the name on the cemetery. But the third person, a cruel, cold-blooded murderer, knows about the gold first, but must find the location from the first two.

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1 Life Is Beautiful (La vita è bella), 1997

A gentle Jewish-Italian waiter, Guido Orefice, meets Dora, a pretty schoolteacher, and wins her over with his charm and humor. Eventually they marry and have a son, Giosue. Their happiness is abruptly halted, however, when Guido and Giosue are separated from Dora and taken to a concentration camp. Determined to shelter his son from the horrors of his surroundings, Guido convinces Giosue that their time in the camp is merely a game.

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