History Film / Paisan

* 3rd episode: Frank, a drunk American soldier in liberated Rome, meets a local woman named Francesca. Francesca, who has decided to prostitute herself, takes Frank to her room. Instead, Frank tells her about a woman he met a few months before when the city was liberated.

** The third episode ends with Frank leaving Rome with his squad and never seeing Francesca again, because he was too intoxicated to recognize her the night before, and he doesn't realize the significance of the piece of paper with her address.

* {{Flashback}}: In episode 3, the first meeting of Frank and Francesca is shown in an extended flashback.

* PoorCommunicationKills: Francesca doesn't tell Frank who she is. That may be because Frank was so drunk, but she doesn't write her name or tell him anything on the note she leaves behind, instead leaving only an address. And then of course she leaves before he wakes up. Frank thinks the note is the address to a whorehouse, and so he and Francesca never meet.

A young Creator/FedericoFellini was credited with co-writing the story and screenplay.

* BetterToDieThanToBeKilled: In the last episode, one of the Italians in the little band of partisans shoots himself as the Germans close in.

* 6th episode: Three American OSS agents are operating with partisans in the Po delta. Unfortunately, they are captured by the Germans.

* 5th episode: Three American chaplains stay at a Catholic monastery, where they get to know the monks.

* 4th episode: The Germans have retreated to the northern half of Florence, on the north bank of the Arno River, where they are fighting Italian partisans. An American nurse, Harriet, is trying to get to the north bank and contact her lover, a painter named Guido. She discovers that her lover is "Lupo", leader of the partisans.

* AmericaWonWorldWarII: British Commonwealth troops outnumbered Americans in Italy and there were substantial Polish and French colonial forces as well, but we only see Americans.

* StockFootage: Starts off with stock footage of the American landing in Sicily.

* TitleDrop: In episode 1, one of the very few Italian words Joe knows, as he demonstrates to a mystified Carmela. In episode 2, Joe the MP calls little Pasquale ''paisan''.

* 4th episode: The Germans have retreated to the northern half of Florence, on the north bank of the Arno River, where they are fighting Italian partisans. An American nurse, Harriet, is trying to get to the north bank and contact her lover. She discovers that her lover is leader of the partisans.

It is the story of the Allied liberation of Italy, from the initial landings in Sicily in July 1943, to campaigning in the Po river valley in December 1944. It consists of six unconnected "episodes" in chronological order.

* 2nd episode: The Americans capture Naples. A street urchin named Pasquale steals the boots of a black American soldier named Joe. Pasquale doesn't know that Joe is an MP.

* DownerEnding: The first episode ends with Joe being killed by the Germans, and Carmela being thrown off a cliff to her death after she picks up his rifle and shoots one of them.

* 2nd episode: The Americans capture Naples. A street urchin named Pasquale steals the boots of a black American soldier named Joe.

* PuppetShows: A very drunk Joe goes to see one in Naples, and is so drunk he gets on the stage and fights the puppets.

* TitleDrop: One of the very few Italian words Joe knows, as he demonstrates to a mystified Carmela.