La Strada

This Federico Fellini classic about a brutal circus strong man and a childlike woman was dismissed in Italy on release, but hailed abroad as a masterpiece, sealing Fellini's reputation as a "great artist" and consigning Anthony Quinn to life as a Greek/Italian/Arab/Eskimo. Today, despite the touching performance by Fellini's wife Giulietta Masina, the movie seems crudely sentimental with its love story between a human animal and a simple waif hardly able to contain all the messages and symbols about humanity that the Italian maestro tosses at it. Combining the neorealism of Fellini's early career and the outright fantasies of his later work, this is well worth seeing, if only for its historical impact and striking influence.