Accattone

Accattone (1961) is Pier Paolo Pasolini's directorial debut, and you can watch it online on iFILM. Shot in stark black and white on the outskirts of Rome, it follows a small-time pimp nicknamed Accattone — "the beggar."

Vittorio survives off Maddalena, a prostitute, and knows no other way to live. When she's jailed, his whole arrangement collapses overnight. He pawns his gold, then sinks toward outright destitution. A gentle, hardworking girl named Stella seems to offer a way out, yet a man who has never worked a day finds himself trapped between his pride and his hunger. The lead is Franco Citti, a non-professional Pasolini cast straight off the Roman streets.

Built from amateur actors and real slum locations, with Bach scoring the dirt and the brawls, the film turns that clash into the signature of early Pasolini. It's harsh, unsentimental and free of easy moralizing — a cornerstone of late Italian neorealism and the seed of everything Pasolini would make next. Essential viewing for anyone tracing the roots of European auteur cinema. Stream Accattone (1961) online on iFILM.