Ep #75 - The Films of Federico Fellini in the 60s

In the year 1960, Federico Fellini premiered La Dolce Vita and changed cinema forever. That sounds like hyperbole but it’s really just fact; it was the film that not only spawned a thousand knock-offs, both contemporary and legacy, but launched Fellini’s own career into the stratosphere. Known for his dream-like films, fantastical visuals, introspective storylines and iconic Nino Rota scores, the ‘60s truly defined his unique voice as a director. In finally tackling Fellini, Cinema60 has stared into the face of God and emerged with the heaviness that comes with the gaining of great knowledge and the irrevocable loss of youthful innocence.

In this episode, Bart and Jenna spend almost 30 minutes breaking down La Dolce Vita in great detail and then happily move on to the rest, because they’re all great too. Sure, the two heavy hitters here cast a long shadow over Fellini’s extensive body of work and over the entirety of ‘60s arthouse cinema. But the others that we cover are treasures in their own right – shining even more brightly due their comparative underexposure. I turns out, watching each of these films in order tells a rather gripping story of both the evolution of Fellini as an artist and of the self-immolating ambitiousness of the decade itself.

The following films are discussed:

• La dolce vita (1960)
Directed by Federico Fellini
Starring Marcello Mastroianni, Anita Ekberg, Anouk Aimée

• Boccaccio '70 (1962)
Segment: "Le tentazioni del Dottor Antonio"
Directed by Federico Fellini
Starring Anita Ekberg, Peppino De Filippo, Antonio Acqua

• 8½ (1963)
Directed by Federico Fellini
Starring Marcello Mastroianni, Anouk Aimée, Claudia Cardinale

• Juliet of the Spirits (1965)
Giulietta degli spiriti
Directed by Federico Fellini
Starring Giulietta Masina, Sandra Milo, Mario Pisu

• Spirits of the Dead (1968)
Histoires extraordinaires - segment: "Toby Dammit"
Directed by Federico Fellini
Starring Terence Stamp, Marina Yaru, Salvo Randone

• Fellini Satyricon (1969)
Directed by Federico Fellini
Starring Martin Potter, Hiram Keller, Max Born

Bonus Topics:

• Spirits of the Dead (1968)
Histoires extraordinaires - segment: "Metzengerstein"
Directed by Roger Vadim
Starring Jane Fonda, Peter Fonda, Serge Marquand

• Spirits of the Dead (1968)
Histoires extraordinaires - segment: "William Wilson"
Directed by Louis Malle
Starring Alain Delon, Brigitte Bardot, Katia Christine

• Fellini: A Director's Notebook (1969)
Directed by Federico Fellini
Starring Federico Fellini, Giulietta Masina, Marcello Mastroianni