Italian Films

I got a copy of "Bicycle Thieves" recently, free by buying a newspaper, can't remember which. Haven't watched it yet but I am looking forward to a viewing. It's considered to be one of the Italian greats and quite rightly so; others which are also considered greats are not nearly as good - well not nearly as entertaining. Rossellini's films are very famous because they told of the social situation of Italy after the war in a way that made Hollywood film seem false. Then there the films of Pasolini and Fellini, much admired by film society people but I wonder if they are as watchable now as when I was young and eager to be as arty as the next film society wallah.
Whatever, they made me think of some of those Italian films I used to see in The Globe cinema in Cardiff many moons ago: not the classics of Fellini and Rossellini but films which were shown in Italy to ordinary folks. I can't recall any of their titles but used to enjoy them tremendously and probably will never see them again. I don't think I would be able to order them on one of the many clubs which send you films for a months viewing for a few quid. They've gone for good; many people would say "good riddance" but not me: I'd love to see the one about the poor family taking a day out at the seaside: the mother, fat as a pig ready for slaughter, fussing about, packing stuff into a banger of a car for the day's outing; the father, elegant in a rough-hewn kind of way, all dressed up in a suit, the grandparents looking a little apprehensive, dressed in "sunday-best" attire - and keeping it all on when they get to the beach - the daughter, a dish of a girl whose curves were like Cyd Charisse's in "Band Wagon" - "she had more curves than a scenic railway".... I can't recall if there was a son or any other members of the family but they all somehow crammed themselves into the smallish car and went off to the beach. I don't think there was much of a story, it was just a day out, but what a film!
Then there were gangster films.... but the French made better ones I think. Won't see any of those again either. Never mind, some of the classics are watchable. Some. Not all. "Bicycle Thieves" is - I hope. Soon find out.