Massacre In Rome (1973) DVD
 
Rome, March 23, 1944: 33 German soldiers are killed by a bomb. Lt. Col. Herbert Kappler is ordered to execute ten times that Italians.
 
Both suspenseful and thoughtful, the 1973 Massacre in Rome is based on tragic events that took place in 1944 as the Nazi war machine was beginning to come to terms with its eventual failure. Richard Burton plays SS Lt. Col. Herbert Kappler, stationed in Rome at the time of a sneak attack on German troops (leaving 32 dead) by Italian partisans. Kappler, both educated and realistic, resists demands by his immediate superior (Leo McKern) and the High Command to retaliate by shooting a multitude of locals, whether or not they had anything to do with the deaths. Kappler, and other Third Reich officers, sees the killing of the 32 as miniscule compared to losses the Germans are enduring every day in a losing battle against the Allies. A severe punishment against Romans, Kappler reasons, would be both petty and shortsighted, heightening Italian anger over the German presence.
 
But Hitler himself insists, leaving Kappler with the impractical and unpleasant task of finding 320 Italians to kill in cold blood. Meanwhile, a Catholic priest and art restorer (Marcello Mastroianni), whom Kappler both admires and distrusts, is shielding the partisans and exacerbating the conflict Kappler feels between his duty and his civilized self. Produced by Carlo Ponti (The Passenger) and directed by George P. Cosmatos (Tombstone), Massacre In Rome is both an action movie and a drama of great moral complexity, exploring such tricky issues as the Vatican's cooperation with German looting of Italian art and antiquities.