# Italian Titles of American Films: 60 Classics Translated

> Italian titles of American films, from Via col vento to Trappola di cristallo: 60 famous movies with their Italian release titles, and why Italy renamed them.

Canonical: https://locandinebest.net/italian-titles-of-american-films
Updated: 2026-10-30

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.

## 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 release title**

| 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 release title**

| 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 release title**

| 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".