Claudia Cardinale’s Top 10 Movies Ranked

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Ignacio Weil

Entertainment - October 28th 2025, 19:00 GMT+1

Cropped claudia cardinale The Day of The Owl 1968 — 10. The Day of The Owl (1968)

It’s one thing to play a strong female lead – it’s another to stand tall in the middle of a mafia film drenched in testosterone and corruption. Claudia Cardinale does exactly that in *The Day of the Owl*, a Sicilian crime drama that balances grit and grace in equal measure. As the widow who dares to challenge a system built on silence, she gives the film its heart and conscience without ever slipping into melodrama. Her performance is quietly defiant, and in a story filled with men wielding power, she steals every ounce of it without even raising her voice. | © Euro International Film

Cropped The Professionals 1966 — 9. The Professionals (1966)

When Hollywood went looking for an actress who could match Lee Marvin, Burt Lancaster, and Jack Palance without blinking, they found Claudia Cardinale. *The Professionals* might technically be a Western, but it’s Cardinale’s fire and intelligence that give it its spark. She brings warmth and moral ambiguity to what could’ve been a stock “damsel” role – turning her into the soul of the movie instead. And let’s be honest: she looks like she’s having more fun than anyone else galloping through that desert. | © Columbia Pictures

Cropped The Pink Panther 1963 — 8. The Pink Panther (1963)

Somewhere between the chaos of Peter Sellers’ Clouseau and the elegance of Blake Edwards’ direction, Claudia Cardinale turned a comic caper into an exercise in charm. As Princess Dala, she radiates both mystery and mischief, playing off the absurdity around her with total poise. You can feel the filmmakers realizing they’ve struck gold – a beauty with perfect comedic timing who never feels out of place among all the slapstick. The jewels may be fake, but Cardinale’s sparkle here is the real thing. | © United Artists

Cropped Claretta 1984 — 7. Claretta (1984)

Fast-forward a few decades, and Cardinale proves that time doesn’t dull talent – it sharpens it. In *Claretta*, she takes on the controversial figure of Mussolini’s mistress, Claretta Petacci, and turns what could’ve been a caricature into a painfully human portrait. There’s tragedy, vulnerability, and yes, that flicker of pride that makes you understand her choices even when you shouldn’t. It’s one of Cardinale’s later-career gems, and she wears it like a badge of fearlessness. | © Intercapital

Cropped La Ragazza di Bube Bebos Girl 1963 — 6. La Ragazza di Bube (Bebo’s Girl) (1963)

Romance, war, and moral dilemmas – Italian cinema’s holy trinity. Cardinale takes them all head-on in *La Ragazza di Bube*, playing Mara, a young woman caught between love and loyalty in postwar Tuscany. It’s a role that asks for both fire and restraint, and she delivers both in a way that feels effortlessly authentic. You see her transformation from innocence to resolve, and it’s hard not to fall a little in love with her journey. This is the kind of film that reminds you why Cardinale became a touchstone for Italian cinema in the first place. | © Titanus

Cropped The Leopard 1963 — 5. The Leopard (1963)

You can’t talk about cinematic grandeur without bumping into *The Leopard*. Luchino Visconti’s sumptuous epic about fading aristocracy feels like it was built to showcase Claudia Cardinale’s radiance. As Angelica, she’s both the symbol of a changing Italy and the irresistible force driving that change. Every glance she gives feels loaded with history and ambition. And that famous ballroom sequence? It’s practically a love letter to her – the kind of scene that makes you forget to breathe. | © Titanus

Cropped Sandra 1963 — 4. Sandra (1963)

Dark, sensual, and full of family secrets that would make the Greeks blush, *Sandra* shows Cardinale at her most daring. Visconti’s moody drama about guilt, memory, and forbidden love could’ve easily slipped into pure melodrama – but not with her at the center. She carries the film like a storm cloud, unpredictable and magnetic, making you wonder what she’ll do next even when you know you shouldn’t want to find out. It’s the kind of role only Cardinale could make both tragic and hypnotic. | © Titanus

Cropped Fitzcarraldo 1982 — 3. Fitzcarraldo (1982)

By the time Werner Herzog cast her in *Fitzcarraldo*, Claudia Cardinale had nothing left to prove – but she showed up ready to match Klaus Kinski’s wild energy anyway. Amid all the madness of dragging a steamboat over a mountain, she brings a rare calm and sensuality to the chaos. Her role might be smaller, but she grounds the film with humanity, reminding us what the whole insane dream was supposed to be about. Leave it to Cardinale to be the anchor in one of cinema’s most unhinged adventures. | © Werner Herzog Filmproduktion

Cropped Once Upon A Time In The West 1968 — 2. Once Upon A Time In The West (1968)

If there’s a single performance that redefined what a woman could be in a Western, it’s this one. As Jill McBain, Cardinale doesn’t just survive in Leone’s dusty, dangerous world – she *owns* it. Every close-up feels like a statement, every line a quiet challenge to the gunslingers around her. Leone may have filled the frame with mythic men, but it’s Cardinale who gives the film its pulse, its melancholy, and its strength. She’s the heart of the West, and it beats in her name. | © Paramount Pictures

Cropped 8 12 1963 — 1. 8 1/2 (1963)

It’s almost unfair how much Claudia Cardinale does with so little screen time in Fellini’s masterpiece. She’s not just a muse to Marcello Mastroianni’s confused filmmaker – she’s his ideal, his sanity, and his salvation rolled into one. Floating somewhere between fantasy and reality, she radiates a calm that makes the film’s chaos poetic instead of tragic. In a story about creative paralysis, Cardinale becomes the image of possibility itself. Fellini may have dreamt her up, but audiences never forgot her. | © Cineriz

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Claudia Cardinale didn’t just appear on screen – she owned it. With that knowing smile, that voice, and that presence that could outshine a dozen co-stars, she turned every frame into something magnetic. News of her recent passing has hit cinephiles hard, and it feels only right to celebrate her by revisiting the films that turned her into a legend of world cinema.

Choosing just ten is a cruel task (she never really had an off day), but here we are – equal parts admiration, nostalgia, and film buff masochism. From Italian classics to Hollywood adventures, these are the roles that defined Claudia Cardinale’s extraordinary career, ranked with all the affection and bias she deserves.