view
Gli intoccabili [Machine Gun McCain] (Giuliano Montaldo, 1969)
Jul
30
1968
Man's hands hold up the July 30, 1968 San Francisco Chronicle. The headline reads GANGLAND FEUD EXPLODES: TWO CUT DOWN BY MACHINE GUN. It's a Tuesday. DP: Erico Menczer.
“It's a lot of work, ya know, just staying alive.”
– Rosemary Scott
view
Il sorpasso [The Easy Life] (Dino Risi, 1962)
Jul
26
a boys' night out
Bruno (Gassman) and Roberto (Trintignant) driving along Italy in their sports car (via). DP: Alfio Contini.
A boys' night out: men having fun on their own*
“Bruno, I've spent the best two days of my life with you… I mean it!”
– Roberto Mariani
Serious law student Roberto (Jean-Louis Trintignant) goes on an accidental road trip with bon vivant Bruno (Vittorio Gassman).
view
Dillinger è morto [Dillinger Is Dead] (Marco Ferreri, 1969)
Jul
25
1934
view
Estate violenta [Violent Summer] (Valerio Zurlini, 1959)
Jul
25
1943
A large radio on a small pedestal. A perpetual wall calendar next to it reads DOMENICA 25 LUGLIO. DP: Tino Santoni.
view
La grande bouffe (Marco Ferreri, 1973)
Jul
21
A character pigging out*
“The most revolting film I have ever seen”
Four hedonistic gourmands throw a party of the flesh, of meat, of lust, and death.
view
La piscine [The Swimming Pool] (Jacques Deray, 1969)
Jul
20
“I thought you'd be hungry, maybe.”
Schneider and Ronet's characters go get their groceries in a tiny, surprisingly well-stocked-with-Asian-food-items French corner shop, ánd manage to find all the ingredients needed. One rookie mistake: Uncle Ben's. Of all the rice in the world…
view
Estate violenta [Violent Summer] (Valerio Zurlini, 1959)
Jul
19
Roberta (Eleonora Rossi Drago) and Carlo (Jean-Louis Trintignant). DP: Tino Santoni.
Characters go on a date, or fall in love*
“It would be thrilling if you were willing,
and if it can never be, pity me,
for you were born to be kissed,
I can’t resist, you are temptation,
and I am yours!”
– Nacio Herb Brown & Arthur Freed, Temptation (1933)
On a beautiful summer day in Rimini, Carlo, the handsome son from a bourgeois home, saves a little girl and becomes infatuated with the girl's mother, a young widow years his senior. Set in July 1943, the events in the outer world (poss. spoilers) and the faith of the two uneven lovers slowly come to their logical conclusion.
view
L'eclisse [The Eclipse] (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1962)
Jul
10
Mon
Vittoria (Monica Vitti, bottom left) at the Borsa – the Rome Stock Exchange. A clock top-right indicates it's Monday, July 10, 12:31 pm.. DP: Gianni Di Venanzo.
“Everything's crashing here.”
– Vittoria's mother
view
Divorzio all'italiana [Divorce Italian Style] (Pietro Germi, 1961)
Jul
3
A closeup of a man's hand holding up a diary. It's the third of July. DPs: Leonida Barboni & Carlo Di Palma.
Additionally, IMDb writes that “director Pietro Germi filmed a close-up of the front page of a newspaper announcing Yuri Gagarin's flight around the earth on April 12th 1961.”
view
Il mare [The Sea] (Giuseppe Patroni Griffi, 1962)
Jul
1
The actor (Umberto Orsini) looking out over the island. The claustrophobic framing of the hotel windows contrasts sharply with the openness of the sea. DP: Ennio Guarnieri.
My ideal vacation spot, country, city, town, or resort*
An island, in this case Capri (granted I've never been there), off-season, in a space and time lost in the mists. It'll occasionally rain and it's cold enough to dress up.
