Robert De Niro names the greatest Italian movies ever made: “This is just terrific”
In 2004, Robert De Niro found himself struggling to successfully secure Italian citizenship despite his family heritage, all because of opposition from the Order of the Sons of Italy in America.
The group urged the Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, to prevent De Niro from being honoured with Italian citizenship, specifically because the actor had “made a career of playing gangsters of Italian descent”. In the end, though, De Niro was granted full citizenship, further connecting him to the country that is so important to his family.
Rather unsurprisingly, then, De Niro’s appreciation for the country manifests in the kinds of movies he likes, and during a recent appearance in the Criterion Closet, the actor happened to select several works from Italian filmmakers that he particularly loves. The first was Big Deal on Madonna Street, a 1958 comedy from Mario Monicelli, which follows a group of criminals trying to rob a pawn shop. It’s an Italian classic, with De Niro calling it a “terrific movie”.
He added, “I mean, it’s been so many years since I saw it, but it was just terrific.”
This led De Niro to discuss another classic Italian film, Mafioso, although this one feels much more relevant to De Niro’s own filmography. A highly influential Mafia movie starring Alberto Sordi, the film no doubt paved the way for future gangster flicks that De Niro would appear in, like The Godfather Part II and Goodfellas. Tinged with black comedy, Mafioso, directed by Alberto Lattuada, brought a distinctive grittiness to an era of Italian filmmaking that was otherwise rather comedic (known as Commedia all’italiana, to be precise).
It’s hard to imagine these modern gangster movies emerging without the influence of Mafioso, in fact, with De Niro explaining, “that was also terrific”. He even revealed that he and his close collaborator and good friend Martin Scorsese “talked about doing a remake of that”. Maybe one day.
Then there’s Divorce Italian Style, Pietro Germi’s 1961 film starring Marcello Mastroianni as a man who tries to scheme his way out of an unhappy marriage, since divorce is illegal. He would rather be with his 16-year-old cousin, so he tries to find a lover for his wife to cheat on him with, subsequently allowing him to kill her and receive a lighter sentence (because, somehow, adultery makes murder less severe?).
It’s certainly a dark comedy, but it won audiences over, even winning ‘Best Original Screenplay’ at the Academy Awards. You can probably guess how De Niro described the movie.
“Yeah, this was a terrific movie. Terrific,” he said.
De Niro also spotlighted a movie from Italian filmmaker Michelangelo Antonioni, although it’s technically a joint British and Italian production, as well as being performed in English. Blow-Up, from 1966, is too good not to mention, though, with its unique take on the post-war battle between art and commercialism, and the fine line between reality and fabrication – all set against the backdrop of Swinging London.
“It was a more popular movie, I think. It was, in those days, an ‘art film,’ but more people saw it. It was a terrific movie,” the actor claimed. To be fair, De Niro has a point. Every movie he picks is pretty terrific.
