Bitter Rice (Italian: Riso amaro [ˈriːso aˈmaːro, ˈriːzo -]) is a 1949 Italian neorealist crime drama film directed and co-written by Giuseppe De Santis, produced by Dino De Laurentiis, and starring Vittorio Gassman, Doris Dowling, Silvana Mangano, and Raf Vallone.

Released by Lux Film, Bitter Rice was a commercial success in Europe and the United States.

"[1] In an effort to escape the law, two small-time thieves, Francesca and Walter, hide among the crowds of female workers heading to the rice paddies in the Province of Vercelli in the upper reaches of Piedmont in the Po Valley.

While attempting to board the train for the fields, the pair runs into Silvana, a peasant rice worker.

Her downfall illustrates director Giuseppe De Santis's condemnation of these products of American capitalism.

This sexualization and the melodramatic presence of death and suicide in the film cause it to diverge from typical Italian neorealism.

Director Giuseppe De Santis had sought an "Italian Rita Hayworth" for the role, and his first choice was Lucia Bosè.

Many of the films selected represent the "Golden Age" of Italian cinema, which was manifested in the neorealist movement.