Films · Titles
Italian Titles of American Films: 60 Classics Translated
Italian titles of American films are often not translations at all: Die Hard became Trappola di cristallo ("crystal trap") and Home Alone became Mamma, ho perso l'aereo ("Mum, I missed the plane"). Because an Italian poster carries only the Italian title, you need it to identify or search for a poster. Below are 60 well-known films with their Italian release titles.
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Why Italian distributors renamed films
- Wordplay that does not translate. Idioms and puns in English titles usually mean nothing in Italian.
- Selling the genre. A new title could tell audiences at once that a film was a comedy or a thriller (Airplane! became L'aereo più pazzo del mondo, "the craziest plane in the world").
- Long-running series. Some titles were changed to link a film to an earlier hit.
- Keeping the brand. From the 1980s many titles were kept in English, sometimes with an Italian subtitle (Dirty Dancing – Balli proibiti).
Hollywood classics, 1939–1969
| Original title | Italian title |
|---|---|
| Gone with the Wind (1939) | Via col vento |
| Casablanca (1942) | Casablanca |
| Gilda (1946) | Gilda |
| Sunset Boulevard (1950) | Viale del tramonto |
| Singin' in the Rain (1952) | Cantando sotto la pioggia |
| Roman Holiday (1953) | Vacanze romane |
| Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) | Gli uomini preferiscono le bionde |
| Rear Window (1954) | La finestra sul cortile |
| On the Waterfront (1954) | Fronte del porto |
| The Seven Year Itch (1955) | Quando la moglie è in vacanza |
| Rebel Without a Cause (1955) | Gioventù bruciata |
| East of Eden (1955) | La valle dell'Eden |
| Vertigo (1958) | La donna che visse due volte |
| North by Northwest (1959) | Intrigo internazionale |
| Some Like It Hot (1959) | A qualcuno piace caldo |
| Psycho (1960) | Psyco |
| The Apartment (1960) | L'appartamento |
| Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) | Colazione da Tiffany |
| West Side Story (1961) | West Side Story |
| The Birds (1963) | Gli uccelli |
| Dr. Strangelove (1964) | Il dottor Stranamore |
| Mary Poppins (1964) | Mary Poppins |
| The Sound of Music (1965) | Tutti insieme appassionatamente |
| The Graduate (1967) | Il laureato |
| Bonnie and Clyde (1967) | Gangster Story |
| 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) | 2001: Odissea nello spazio |
| Rosemary's Baby (1968) | Rosemary's Baby – Nastro rosso a New York |
| Night of the Living Dead (1968) | La notte dei morti viventi |
| Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) | Butch Cassidy |
The 1970s and 1980s
| Original title | Italian title |
|---|---|
| A Clockwork Orange (1971) | Arancia meccanica |
| The Godfather (1972) | Il padrino |
| The Sting (1973) | La stangata |
| The Exorcist (1973) | L'esorcista |
| The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) | Non aprite quella porta |
| Jaws (1975) | Lo squalo |
| One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) | Qualcuno volò sul nido del cuculo |
| Taxi Driver (1976) | Taxi Driver |
| Star Wars (1977) | Guerre stellari |
| Annie Hall (1977) | Io e Annie |
| Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) | Incontri ravvicinati del terzo tipo |
| Saturday Night Fever (1977) | La febbre del sabato sera |
| Grease (1978) | Grease – Brillantina |
| Halloween (1978) | Halloween – La notte delle streghe |
| Dawn of the Dead (1978) | Zombi |
| Friday the 13th (1980) | Venerdì 13 |
| Airplane! (1980) | L'aereo più pazzo del mondo |
| Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) | I predatori dell'arca perduta |
| E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) | E.T. l'extra-terrestre |
| Ghostbusters (1984) | Ghostbusters – Acchiappafantasmi |
| Back to the Future (1985) | Ritorno al futuro |
| Dirty Dancing (1987) | Dirty Dancing – Balli proibiti |
| Die Hard (1988) | Trappola di cristallo |
From the 1990s on
| Original title | Italian title |
|---|---|
| Home Alone (1990) | Mamma, ho perso l'aereo |
| The Silence of the Lambs (1991) | Il silenzio degli innocenti |
| The Shawshank Redemption (1994) | Le ali della libertà |
| Pulp Fiction (1994) | Pulp Fiction |
| Forrest Gump (1994) | Forrest Gump |
| Titanic (1997) | Titanic |
| Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) | Se mi lasci ti cancello |
| The Hangover (2009) | Una notte da leoni |
Searching for a poster? Search Italian dealers and auction listings with the Italian title plus the format, for example "Trappola di cristallo locandina" or "Via col vento 2 fogli".
Frequently asked questions
What is Die Hard called in Italian?
Trappola di cristallo, meaning "crystal trap", after the glass tower in the film.
What is the Italian title of Home Alone?
Mamma, ho perso l'aereo — "Mum, I missed the plane".
What is the Italian title of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre?
Non aprite quella porta — "Don't open that door".
Keep reading
- How to Find an Italian Movie Poster by TitleFind an Italian movie poster by title: get the Italian release title, search the right formats and archives, plus 171 posters shown on Wikipedia.
- What Is a Locandina? The Small Italian Film Poster ExplainedA locandina is the small 33 × 70 cm Italian film poster. Learn what the word means, how locandine were used, how to date one and what collectors look for.
- Spaghetti Western Posters: A Collector's GuideSpaghetti western posters from Italy: the key films from Per un pugno di dollari to Il mio nome è Nessuno, their Italian titles, painters and collecting tips.
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