Massacre in Rome

Massacre in Rome is a 1973 Italian-French war drama directed by George P. Cosmatos about the Ardeatine massacre, committed by the Germans at the Ardeatine caves in Rome on 24 March 1944 as a reprisal for a partisan attack against the SS Police Regiment Bozen. The screenplay, co-written by Cosmatos and Robert Katz, was adapted from Katz's 1967 book Death in Rome.

Richard Burton stars as Gestapo chief Herbert Kappler, tasked with carrying out the reprisal, while Marcello Mastroianni plays Father Pietro Antonelli, a composite character based on Vatican officials, who tries to prevent the bloodshed. The film provoked significant controversy over its claim that Pope Pius XII knew of the planned executions and did nothing; producer Carlo Ponti, Cosmatos and Katz received six-month suspended sentences in a libel suit brought by the late Pope's family, later dropped on appeal.