The life of St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226) as related by followers who gather after his death to tell stories so that Leone can record them: a privileged and virile youth, a prisoner of war, an heir who turns away from his father and gives all to the poor, a beggar for others, and an inspiration to friends who accept the Gospels' life of poverty.
Aboard a ship early in the 20th-century, a middle-aged Italian tells his story of love to a Russian.
Erminio Alvarini
Ulderico Quario hires as servant a very beautiful young woman Teresa. Ulderico decides to proceed like a new Pygmalion and he sets about teaching her the art of seductions. But Teresa together with Cecchina start using these newfound skills to persuade Ulderico to marry her in order to claim his inheritance.
The drawbacks and difficulties of military life are explored in this film. Paolo Passeri is a college graduate, somewhat spoiled, somewhat effete, who finds himself in an officer training program under the stern martinet, Captain Asciutto. He gradually becomes acclimated to the military mind-set, and when the Captain's wife decides to take a romantic interest in him, he does not report her dangerous peculiarities to anyone.
Mario
Adolph
A concentration camp survivor discovers her former torturer and lover working as a porter at a hotel in postwar Vienna. When the couple attempt to re-create their sadomasochistic relationship, his former SS comrades begin to stalk them.
Carletto
A group of workers from the south of Italy live collectively in Milan, where money isn't everything, it's the only thing, in 1974.
Salvatore Quaranta
A conscientious factory worker gets his finger cut off by a machine. The accident causes him to become more involved in political and revolutionary groups.
