Best movies before going on best of Europe 21 days

When I went on the RS Venice-Florence-Rome tour the guide recommended "Bread and Tulips". I liked it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bread_and_Tulips

[snip]
Rosalba Barletta, a Neapolitan-born housewife from Pescara, Italy, finds herself stranded during a family vacation. Instead of waiting for her controlling and unfaithful husband, she hitchhikes her way home, only to impulsively detour to Venice.

If it's been a while since you've seen it, watch the "Sound of Music" again, because in Salzburg, Austria you'll see several places where they filmed the movie.

“If it’s Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium.”

Not a movie, but the current a "Taste of Murder" series, set in Capri and Naples (and disguised Croatia.) combines murder mystery and cooking. BritBox- if you really want to see Europe as a backdrop, BritBox and Acorn TV are essential, IMHO!

I liked Daniel Craig’s Casino Royal James Bond. Had some great scenes in Venice.

Oceans 12 with Clooney, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Catherine Zetta Jones and Albert Finney
After this film Clooney bought a villa on Lake Como in Italy. Believes he and his family now live in France

Talented Mr Ripley with Matt Damon and Jude Law

Tom Hanks in Inferno set in Rome and Vatican City

Vicki Christina Barcelona with Scarlet Johansson and Javier Bardem

Grand Budapest Hotel with Ralph Finnes

Before Sunrise with Ethan Hawke

Cinema Paradiso

Gary Oldman’s terrific performance as Churchill in
the Darkest Hour.

And oldies but goodies:

Charade
Roman Holiday
Two for the Road

Loads of films set in various European countries. Get used to reading subtitles for such classics as La Dolce Vita.

I tend to watch a lot of European murder cop procedural series. We'll skip those

Gotta suggest -
The Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003)

Amélie (2001)

A Very Long Engagement (2004) - I know it's set in WW1 but it's in French and I have a big crush on Audrey Tautou

Midnight in Paris (2011)

Bourne Identity (2002)

Dangerous Liaisons (1988)

I'd be remiss if the immature me didn't recommend EuroTrip 🤣 (2004)

Some great suggestions, but I can’t resist adding National Lampoon’s European Vacation, especially since the Griswold family itinerary is so similar to the RS BOE tour.

My first thought was “If it’s Tuesday ..”

for day 17, Lauterbrunnen - On Her Majesty's Secret Service

movie and now comparison https://youtu.be/kH_mpqPw7kw?si=3X4UWPsKrdY05aeA&t=375

@Slate and BigTyke, I know you all are joking but it's clear neither of you have ever been on a RS tour.

@Christina - I've done the 21 Day Best of Europe and while it's a sampler of many blockbuster sites, never do you feel like you are chasing your tail. The RS guides and bus drivers are really excellent which means your trip is extremely efficient so you can make the most of your time!

The itinerary has changed a bit since I took this tour so I am very glad to see it stays in Salzburg. This is a plus and I agree with the suggestion to watch Sound of Music. The cemetery scene at the end was shot in a sound stage but it is based on the real St. Peter's Cemetery in Salzburg.

For Paris I suggest reading (I know you asked for movies!) one of Elaine Sciolino's books - either Adventures in the Louvre or The Seine. Non-fiction, she was a journalist from the New York Times and has a very easy to read writing style.

You are quite right, Pam, I haven’t taken an RS tour but I have done OAT and Road Scholar. All I meant by similarities is that the same places the Griswolds had their misadventures, are some of the same places the RS tour goes. I’m sure the OP will have a great time, unlike the Griswolds, thanks to RS.

If you liked Bread & Tulips, you may want to watch Italian for Beginners (2000). Danish with subtitles.

I love this question!

We are doing this tour this fall. We are adding a few days in Normandy at the end so we just watched Band of Brothers again last week (started on D Day anniversary).

We also watched On Her Majesty’s Secret Service this year.
Now going to go check out some of the others listed!

Paris Je T'aime is a wonderful collection of short films by some very well-known directors, each covering a different Paris neighborhood. My favorite is this one, directed by Alexander Payne, featuring Margo Martindale as a French student reading her essay about her trip to Paris. It's both funny and touching.

https://youtu.be/mJG0lqukJTQ?si=siIe4sR4GlVJIzzc

But the entire film is worth watching for a preview of Paris.

autumn, I hope you were watching Band Of Brothers for the feel of D Day etc rather the locations - because it was mostly filmed in England on huge sets built on land originally used for the fake village sets of Saving Private Ryan (parts of which may have been salvaged). Even Damian Lewis is english .....

This topic inspired me to rewatch "Two for the Road", but I didn't want to pay to watch it on Amazon. But I could watch "If it's Tuesday..." for free. Hopefully, no tour was ever like that. But I did get to see a young Suzanne Pleshette, and a young Patricia Routledge a/k/a Hyacinth Bucket. And the 1969 clothes were fun.

Not a movie, but 'Ripley,' the TV series from a couple of years ago. Italy never looked so 'noirish' as in the hands of Steve Zelian and Robert Elswitt.

What about La Dolce Vita or La Strada? edit: Claudia already mentioned La Dolce Vita! Great minds think alike.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Dolce_Vita

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Strada

I think Amélie is my favourite Paris film. I once went to the cinema in Amsterdam and watched it with Dutch subtitles. I've probably seen it about four or five times in total though, with English subs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Am%C3%A9lie

Another great Paris film is La Haine. I'll link to a clip of the Sound of the Police / je ne regrette rien. sequence below.

https://youtu.be/4qo3EwozH0Y?si=ykUMis53KzNdq5HX

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Haine

Ronin is probably worth an honourable mention, just for the car chase scenes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronin_(film)

autumn, I hope you were watching Band Of Brothers for the feel of D Day etc rather the locations - because it was mostly filmed in England on huge sets built on land originally used for the fake village sets of Saving Private Ryan (parts of which may have been salvaged). Even Damian Lewis is english .....

Definitely watched for the feel. We have opted to take the Omaha and Utah D Day tour and not the Band of Brothers themed D-Day tour but enjoyed watching the show for the feel of the time.

I’ve been on 13 RS tours and I think “If it’s Tuesday, this must be Belgium,” as a comedy about European tours is still hilarious today. I know a RS tour isn't like that (the movie is a comedy) although the Best of Germany we were just on with 3 one night stays had me asking where I was a couple of times in the middle of the night. And on the first tour we ever did, 25 years ago with Tauck, my husband couldn’t understand why his Mother’s day bag kept getting heavier and heavier until we got home and he saw, not a telephone like in the movie, thank goodness, but endless bottles of shampoo, wrapped soap bars (she must have been raiding the housekeeping carts) and several large hotel information binders. My daughters and I still watch that movie and then laugh about what their Grandma did on her Switzerland tour. I might add that she took all those small bottles and soaps with the Swiss hotel names, wrapped them in small bundles with red and white ribbon and gave them to all her lady friends at her Swiss Club in Sacramento.

A little humor these days is needed at times.

Lane - thanks for the reminder of that film. I saw it long ago and hadn't realized Margo Martindale was in it. I went to college with her niece !

The quintessential love letter to Venice - David Lean's " Summertime " 1954 with Katharine Hepburn and Rossano Brazzi Filmed in luscious Technicolor in Venice - https://youtu.be/caiqG4eAkWE?si=QLD_uqhw-TZ0qmd_

I'm assuming you've already watched Rick Steves Tour Experience video?

And even though your tour doesn't go to Greece, My Life in Ruins is a fun movie about group dynamics on a tour, particularly if the Guide is the Grump. Fair warning: some of the jokes don't hold up to today's sensibilities, but I think its worth looking past that.

I think Amélie is my favourite Paris film.

Amélie (2001) Official Trailer - Audrey Tautou:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UT5xaAfxWU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=555A7T_kmIc
Les temps sont durs pour les rêveurs (Times are hard for dreamers)