29 Movies Directed by Mario Monicelli

Cops and Robbers

Cops and Robbers

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1951-11-29

Languages:

Italian, English, French

Countries:

Italy

Runtime:

105 min

IMDB Ratings:

7.7 (738 Reviews)

Genres:

ComedyDrama

Cast:

Writer:

Vitaliano Brancati (dialogue)

Aldo Fabrizi (dialogue)

Ennio Flaiano (dialogue)

Ruggero Maccari (dialogue)

Mario Monicelli (dialogue)

Steno

Piero Tellini

Fullplot:

Esposito is a thief who cons tourists in Rome. A lengthy persecution by police Bottoni, who manages to catch it starts. In an oversight Esposito manages to flee again. Bottoni superiors inform him that if no catches him will lose his job.

Donatella

Donatella

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1956-10-28

Languages:

Italian

Countries:

Italy

Runtime:

103 min

IMDB Ratings:

7.6 (34 Reviews)

Director:

Mario Monicelli

Genres:

Comedy

Cast:

Writer:

Roberto Amoroso

Sandro Continenza

Ruggero Maccari

Mario Monicelli

Piero Tellini

Fullplot:

A Tailor's Maid

A Tailor's Maid

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1959-09-01

Languages:

Italian

Countries:

Italy, France

Runtime:

92 min

IMDB Ratings:

7.1 (89 Reviews)

Director:

Mario Monicelli

Genres:

Comedy

Cast:

Writer:

Leonardo Benvenuti (screenplay)

Luigi Emmanuele (screenplay)

Agenore Incrocci (screenplay)

Agenore Incrocci (story)

Mario Monicelli (screenplay)

Mario Monicelli (story)

Furio Scarpelli (screenplay)

Furio Scarpelli (story)

Fullplot:

Big Deal on Madonna Street

Big Deal on Madonna Street

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1958-07-26

Languages:

Italian

Countries:

Italy

Runtime:

106 min

Rated:

NOT RATED

IMDB Ratings:

(5894 Reviews)

Director:

Mario Monicelli

Genres:

ComedyCrime

Cast:

Writer:

Agenore Incrocci (story)

Furio Scarpelli (story)

Agenore Incrocci (screenplay)

Furio Scarpelli (screenplay)

Suso Cecchi D'Amico (screenplay)

Mario Monicelli (screenplay)

Fullplot:

Peppe, formerly a boxer, organizes the break-in of a pawnshop. Tiberio, an unemployed photographer, Mario, a receiver, the Sicilian Michele and Capannelle, an ex-jockey, are the other members of the gang. Though they are advised by Dante, a retired burglar, the task is not so easy...

The Great War

The Great War

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1959-10-28

Languages:

Italian, German

Countries:

Italy, France

Runtime:

137 min

Rated:

NOT RATED

IMDB Ratings:

8.4 (2205 Reviews)

Director:

Mario Monicelli

Cast:

Writer:

Agenore Incrocci (story)

Furio Scarpelli (story)

Luciano Vincenzoni (story)

Mario Monicelli (story)

Agenore Incrocci (dialogue)

Furio Scarpelli (dialogue)

Fullplot:

Italy, 1916. Oreste Jacovacci and Giovanni Busacca are called, as all the Italian youths, to serve the army in the WWI. They both try in every way to avoid serving the army. Giovanni bribes Oreste, believing to his false pledges to make him avoiding the army. But the destiny make them meeting again on the train directed to the front. Nevertheless Oreste stolen money to Giovanni they become friends and in first times are allocated to a secondary and quite front (village of Tigliano). Here they spend some months in relative peace and Giovanni finds time to fall in love for prostitute Costantina. But war is getting everyday closer. During the most important battle among Italians and Austro-Hungarians, Giovanni and Oreste are in charge to deliver a vital message to the Italian headquarters. But, unfortunately, they fall in the hands of an Austrian officer that, under life menace, starts an interrogation to find out the Italian message. What they should try to do now?

Boccaccio '70

Boccaccio '70

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1962-06-26

Languages:

Italian, German

Countries:

Italy, France

Runtime:

205 min

Rated:

UNRATED

IMDB Ratings:

7.2 (2424 Reviews)

Cast:

Writer:

Giovanni Arpino (segment)

Italo Calvino (segment)

Suso Cecchi D'Amico (segment)

Federico Fellini (segment)

Ennio Flaiano (segment)

Mario Monicelli (segment)

Goffredo Parise (segment)

Tullio Pinelli (segment)

Brunello Rondi (segment)

Luchino Visconti (segment)

Cesare Zavattini (segment)

Fullplot:

Four directors tell tales of Eros fit for a 1970s Decameron. Working-class lovers, Renzo and Luciana, marry but must hide it from her employer; plus, they need a room of their own. A billboard of Anita Ekberg provocatively selling milk gives a prudish crusader for public decency more than he can handle. The wife of a count whose escapades with call girls make the front page of the papers decides to work to prove her independence, but what is she qualified to do? A buxom carnival-booth manager who owes back taxes offers herself for one night in a lottery: a nerdy sacristan and a jealous cowboy make for a lovers' triangle. In each, women take charge, but not always happily.

The Organizer

The Organizer

Basic Info:

Languages:

Italian

Countries:

Italy, France, Yugoslavia

Runtime:

126 min

Rated:

NOT RATED

IMDB Ratings:

(1097 Reviews)

Director:

Mario Monicelli

Genres:

Drama

Cast:

Writer:

Agenore Incrocci (story)

Furio Scarpelli (story)

Mario Monicelli (story)

Fullplot:

The story of exploited textile factory workers in Turin, Italy at the turn of the century and their beginnings of their fight for better working conditions. Professor Sinigaglia (Marcello Mastroianni) is sent by (presumably) the Socialists to help them organize their strike and give form to their struggle.

High Infidelity

High Infidelity

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1964-01-22

Languages:

Italian

Countries:

Italy, France

Runtime:

120 min

IMDB Ratings:

6.8 (33 Reviews)

Genres:

Comedy

Cast:

Writer:

Ruggero Maccari (screenplay)

Ruggero Maccari (story)

Elio Petri (segment)

Ettore Scola

Fullplot:

Casanova 70

Casanova 70

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1965-08-11

Languages:

Italian

Countries:

Italy, France

Runtime:

113 min

IMDB Ratings:

6.3 (604 Reviews)

Director:

Mario Monicelli

Genres:

DramaComedy

Cast:

Writer:

Agenore Incrocci (story)

Furio Scarpelli (story)

Mario Monicelli (story)

Tonino Guerra (story)

Giorgio Salvioni (story)

Suso Cecchi D'Amico (story)

Fullplot:

Andrea Rossi-Colombotti, a U.N. official and modern-day Casanova, cannot get aroused unless there's danger in sex, but women and society are too compliant, so he's often impotent. A psychiatrist warns him it will get worse, and he should be celibate. Andrea tries and fails at that, abandons his fiancèe, finds the occasional life-threatening liaison, and pursues a woman tethered to a dull but murderous husband. Will Andrea find pleasure and fulfillment, or is he doomed to pursue and then go limp when the pursuit is successful?

For Love and Gold

For Love and Gold

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1966-04-07

Languages:

Italian, Latin

Countries:

Italy, France, Spain

Runtime:

120 min

IMDB Ratings:

(2845 Reviews)

Director:

Mario Monicelli

Cast:

Writer:

Agenore Incrocci (screenplay)

Furio Scarpelli (screenplay)

Mario Monicelli (screenplay)

Agenore Incrocci (story)

Furio Scarpelli (story)

Mario Monicelli (story)

Fullplot:

A group of rogues steal a scroll granting its bearer the property of the land of Aurocastro in Apulia (south of Italy). They elect a shaggy knight, Brancaleone from Norcia, as their leader, and decide to get possession of this supposedly wealthy land. Many adventures will occurr during the journey.

The Queens

The Queens

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1968-03-10

Languages:

Italian

Countries:

Italy, France

Runtime:

110 min

IMDB Ratings:

6.2 (115 Reviews)

Genres:

Comedy

Cast:

Writer:

Suso Cecchi D'Amico (screenplay)

Tonino Guerra (story)

Ruggero Maccari (screenplay)

Ruggero Maccari (story)

Luigi Magni (screenplay)

Luigi Magni (story)

Luciano Salce (screenplay)

Giorgio Salvioni (story)

Roberto Sonego (screenplay)

Roberto Sonego (story)

Rodolfo Sonego (segment)

Fullplot:

The Girl with a Pistol

The Girl with a Pistol

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1968-08-22

Languages:

English, Italian

Countries:

Italy

Runtime:

100 min

Rated:

M

IMDB Ratings:

(579 Reviews)

Director:

Mario Monicelli

Cast:

Writer:

Ronald Harwood (English adaptation)

Luigi Magni

Rodolfo Sonego

Fullplot:

Comedy-drama about a Sicilian woman (Vitti), "dishonored" by her lover, goes to England with a pistol intending to murder him.

Brancaleone at the Crusades

Brancaleone at the Crusades

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1970-12-24

Languages:

Italian

Countries:

Italy, Algeria

Runtime:

116 min

IMDB Ratings:

7.4 (1043 Reviews)

Director:

Mario Monicelli

Cast:

Writer:

Agenore Incrocci (screenplay)

Furio Scarpelli (screenplay)

Mario Monicelli (screenplay)

Agenore Incrocci (story)

Furio Scarpelli (story)

Mario Monicelli (story)

Fullplot:

Brancaleone and his followers go to the crusades. God allows them a safe crossing of the Mediteranean. Except that they did not sail on the sea but on a... lake! Brancaleone soon finds himself caught in the middle of a feud between... two popes, Gregory and Clement. In order to determine which of the two men is the true pope, Brancaleone must walk on hot coals. After this ordeal, accompanied by a dwarf, a witch, a leper and a masochistic penitent, Brancaleone continues his quest.In the Holy Land, he fights the unfaithful before facing Death in person. He is eventually saved by Tiburzia the witch who is reincarnated in the form of a magpie

Le coppie

Le coppie

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1970-12-23

Languages:

Italian

Countries:

Italy

Runtime:

111 min

IMDB Ratings:

6.4 (62 Reviews)

Genres:

ComedyDrama

Cast:

Writer:

Ruggero Maccari

Mario Monicelli

Rodolfo Sonego

Alberto Sordi

Fullplot:

Three episodes. The refrigerator. A married couple of two poor emigrant workers spend almost all their money to buy a refrigerator (a must in the '70s). The purchase is too expensive for their familiar balance sheet. To earn some money they decide to go for prostitution. The wife is not so unhappy to the perspective. The room. To celebrate ten years of marriage a couple decides to spend a quick holiday in top luxury hotels in Sardegna. But the fashion luxury VIP world is too hard to enter; they soon will end in prison. The Lion. Two adulterous, Antonio and Giulia, are blocked by a lion, staying on the exit in the place they met. They both have to come back home, but couldn't move because of the lion presence. The critic situation soon drive them to their limit peak, showing their real essence.

Vogliamo i colonnelli

Vogliamo i colonnelli

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1973-03-05

Languages:

Italian, French

Countries:

Italy

Runtime:

105 min

IMDB Ratings:

(324 Reviews)

Director:

Mario Monicelli

Genres:

Comedy

Cast:

Writer:

Agenore Incrocci

Mario Monicelli

Furio Scarpelli

Fullplot:

Italy 1973. Giuseppe Tritoni (Ugo Tognazzi) is an ultra-right-wing congressman that doesn't agree anymore with his fascist party policy. He contacts many Italian Army officers and built a net of relationship in order to organize a Coup d'Etat (Golpe). Something goes wrong and the Interior Minister (Home Secretary) Mr. Li Masi (Lino Pugliesi) got the all information about the attempted Golpe. So the Minister organizes a counter-Golpe. Tritoni desperately, to save his project, kidnaps the Italian Republic President (Claude Dauphin) that immediately dies for heartache. Now Minister Mr. Li Masi is free to lay down the law to the rest of the country, realizing basically the actual Golpe! Tritoni surrenders and will spend rest of his time trying to sell his ideas about managing Golpe in Africa!

My Friends

My Friends

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1976-07-18

Languages:

Italian

Countries:

Italy

Runtime:

140 min

Rated:

R

IMDB Ratings:

8.1 (4310 Reviews)

Director:

Mario Monicelli

Genres:

Comedy

Cast:

Writer:

Leonardo Benvenuti

Piero De Bernardi

Pietro Germi

Tullio Pinelli

Fullplot:

Necchi (a bar owner), Perozzi (a journalist), Melandri (an architect) and Mascetti (a broken nobleman) live in Florence. They have been friends since their youngest years and spend every free moment together organizing complex and terrible jokes to all the people they meet, or just wandering around Tuscany. One of these crazy trips ends up in the hospital run by military-like Professor Sassaroli. Melandri falls in love with his wife, and steals her from the husband, much to the delight of Sassaroli himself. The relationship won't last but the Professor becomes the fifth member of the team of friends, and jokes get even more complicated and powerful.

Caro Michele

Caro Michele

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1978-01-01

Languages:

Italian

Countries:

Italy

Runtime:

108 min

IMDB Ratings:

6.8 (83 Reviews)

Director:

Mario Monicelli

Genres:

ComedyDrama

Cast:

Writer:

Suso Cecchi D'Amico

Natalia Ginzburg (novel)

Tonino Guerra

Fullplot:

Il marchese del Grillo

Il marchese del Grillo

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1981-12-22

Languages:

Italian

Countries:

Italy, France

Runtime:

135 min

IMDB Ratings:

7.8 (1806 Reviews)

Director:

Mario Monicelli

Cast:

Writer:

Bernardino Zapponi (story)

Leonardo Benvenuti (story)

Piero De Bernardi (story)

Mario Monicelli (story)

Tullio Pinelli (story)

Leonardo Benvenuti (screenplay)

Piero De Bernardi (screenplay)

Mario Monicelli (screenplay)

Tullio Pinelli (screenplay)

Alberto Sordi (screenplay)

Fullplot:

The marquess of Grillo is a good-natured, clever and women-loving man who is always inventing stories and cracking all types of jokes. The film tells the story of his life.

Le due vite di Mattia Pascal

Le due vite di Mattia Pascal

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1985-08-30

Languages:

Italian

Countries:

Italy, France, West Germany, Spain, UK

Runtime:

125 min

IMDB Ratings:

6.8 (124 Reviews)

Director:

Mario Monicelli

Genres:

Comedy

Cast:

Writer:

Suso Cecchi D'Amico (screenplay)

Ennio De Concini (screenplay)

Mario Monicelli (screenplay)

Luigi Pirandello (novel)

Amanzio Todini (screenplay)

Fullplot:

Speriamo che sia femmina

Speriamo che sia femmina

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1986-02-06

Languages:

Italian

Countries:

Italy, France

Runtime:

120 min

IMDB Ratings:

6.7 (418 Reviews)

Director:

Mario Monicelli

Genres:

ComedyDrama

Cast:

Writer:

Tullio Pinelli (story)

Mario Monicelli

Tullio Pinelli

Leonardo Benvenuti

Piero De Bernardi

Suso Cecchi D'Amico

Jacqueline Lefèvre

Fullplot:

Elena lives on a Tuscan farm, separated from her ineffectual husband Leonardo, who is more concerned with his mistress Lolli than his wife or two daughters, Franca and Malvina. This collection of female figures inhabiting a world virtually without men is completed by Elena's sister Claudia and Elena's housekeeper Fosca. The only male in the house is a senile old uncle who spends most of his time knitting. This unusual stable female environment is suddenly shaken by several crises.

I picari

I picari

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1987-12-18

Languages:

Italian

Countries:

Italy, Spain

Runtime:

121 min

IMDB Ratings:

6.4 (223 Reviews)

Director:

Mario Monicelli

Cast:

Writer:

Leonardo Benvenuti (story)

Piero De Bernardi (story)

Suso Cecchi D'Amico (story)

Mario Monicelli (story)

Leonardo Benvenuti (screenplay)

Piero De Bernardi (screenplay)

Suso Cecchi D'Amico (screenplay)

Mario Monicelli (screenplay)

Fullplot:

The adventures of two derelicts. They are prisoners in a battleship, then, after a mutiny, they succeed to become officers. They leave the boat and start to drift all around the Spain with the mere goal to reach something to eat. A prostitute could set their life.

Parenti serpenti

Parenti serpenti

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1993-08-10

Languages:

Italian

Countries:

Italy

Runtime:

105 min

IMDB Ratings:

7.2 (889 Reviews)

Director:

Mario Monicelli

Genres:

Comedy

Cast:

Writer:

Carmine Amoroso (screenplay)

Carmine Amoroso (story)

Suso Cecchi D'Amico

Piero De Bernardi

Mario Monicelli

Fullplot:

Like every year, everyone is going back to the ancestral family's home for the Christmas holidays. But this time, the old folks have a surprise, a good surprise for them. They have decided to go living with one of their children and make him or her inherit the family house.

Cari fottutissimi amici

Cari fottutissimi amici

Basic Info:

Languages:

Italian

Countries:

Italy

Runtime:

110 min

IMDB Ratings:

6.8 (343 Reviews)

Director:

Mario Monicelli

Genres:

Comedy

Cast:

Writer:

Rodolfo Angelico (story)

Leonardo Benvenuti

Suso Cecchi D'Amico

Piero De Bernardi

Mario Monicelli

Fullplot:

Tuscany, August 1944: the Allies have just entered Florence, Italy is devasted by the war, and the people are hungry. "Dieci", who claims to have been a boxer and a manager, gathers a group of young men in order to organise boxing matches to get something to eat...

Looking for Paradise

Looking for Paradise

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1995-12-22

Languages:

Italian

Countries:

Italy

Runtime:

108 min

IMDB Ratings:

5.6 (63 Reviews)

Director:

Mario Monicelli

Genres:

Comedy

Cast:

Writer:

Leonardo Benvenuti

Suso Cecchi D'Amico

Piero De Bernardi

Mario Monicelli

Giuseppe Pontiggia (story)

Fullplot:

The life and times of Claudia Bertelli, born in Milan in 1949 from bourgeois parents, educated in England, rebel and single mother, then feminist and married woman and again doctor in the developing countries and mystical nun who dies peacefully in 2011.

An Average Little Man

An Average Little Man

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1977-03-17

Languages:

Italian

Countries:

Italy

Runtime:

122 min

IMDB Ratings:

(1299 Reviews)

Director:

Mario Monicelli

Genres:

Drama

Cast:

Writer:

Vincenzo Cerami (novel)

Sergio Amidei (screenplay)

Mario Monicelli (screenplay)

Fullplot:

When his only son is killed in an armed robbery, a meek middle-aged man takes justice in his own hands.

Le due vite di Mattia Pascal

Le due vite di Mattia Pascal

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1985-08-30

Languages:

Italian

Countries:

Italy, France, West Germany, Spain, UK

Runtime:

125 min

IMDB Ratings:

6.8 (124 Reviews)

Director:

Mario Monicelli

Genres:

Comedy

Cast:

Writer:

Suso Cecchi D'Amico (screenplay)

Ennio De Concini (screenplay)

Mario Monicelli (screenplay)

Luigi Pirandello (novel)

Amanzio Todini (screenplay)

Fullplot:

Dirty Linen

Dirty Linen

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1999-01-29

Languages:

Italian

Countries:

Italy

Runtime:

110 min

IMDB Ratings:

5.7 (63 Reviews)

Director:

Mario Monicelli

Genres:

Comedy

Cast:

Writer:

Suso Cecchi D'Amico

Masolino D'Amico

Margherita D'Amico

Mario Monicelli

Fullplot:

The Razzi family owns a small factory of sweets in Macerata. Their desire to enlarge their business to cope with the new Unified European Market brings to a string of fatal mistakes that will ultimately doom their wealth.

Dirty Linen

Dirty Linen

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1999-01-29

Languages:

Italian

Countries:

Italy

Runtime:

110 min

IMDB Ratings:

5.7 (63 Reviews)

Director:

Mario Monicelli

Genres:

Comedy

Cast:

Writer:

Suso Cecchi D'Amico

Masolino D'Amico

Margherita D'Amico

Mario Monicelli

Fullplot:

The Razzi family owns a small factory of sweets in Macerata. Their desire to enlarge their business to cope with the new Unified European Market brings to a string of fatal mistakes that will ultimately doom their wealth.

The Roses of the Desert

The Roses of the Desert

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2006-12-01

Languages:

Italian

Countries:

Italy

Runtime:

102 min

IMDB Ratings:

6.6 (286 Reviews)

Director:

Mario Monicelli

Genres:

ComedyWar

Cast:

Writer:

Alessandro Bencivenni

Suso Cecchi D'Amico

Mario Monicelli

Domenico Saverni

Mario Tobino (novel)

Fullplot:

A sanitary battalion of Italian Army is sent to Sorman oasis in Lybia during the Africa campaign in 1940. Soon an Italian missionary, living nearby, succeed to transform the occupation by Italian Army in a kind of humanitarian mission. In fact all the battalion is involved to help the local population. The war anyway goes on with no regards to human feelings. The "glorious" Fascist campaign is going to became a fast retreat.

Become a Movie Insider

Join our mailing list and get access to expert analysis, trivia, and recommendations that will elevate your movie-watching experience.

View our privacy policy.