Akira Kurosawa

March, 1962

At the Premiere of his latest film in Milan, director Federico Fellini was immensely gratified by audience reaction: he was spat upon and challenged to a duel on his way out of the theater. To the 42-year-old moviemaker, turbulent fountainhead of Italy's cinematic New Wave, the seal of public disapproval had always signified a sure-fire hit. He was right again: the movie, La Dolce Vita -- his harrowing, mesmeric passion play of ennui and eroticism in Roman cafe society -- has earned a niche in t...