A sweeping, epic production with great costumes, characters, drama and battle scenes, The Leopard (Il gattopardo) is often referred to as "Italy's Gone with the Wind." As the dying aristocracy of 1860s Sicily struggles to maintain itself against the tumultuous social upheavals of the Risorgimento (Resurgence), the film traces the disintegration of the noble home of Fabrizio Corbero (Burt Lancaster) and the corresponding rise to power of the now-wealthy ex-peasant Don Calogero Sedara.

Corbero does nothing to halt the decline of his personal fortunes or to help build a new Sicily, but his nephew (Alain Delon) assures his own position by marrying Don Calogero's beautiful daughter (Claudia Cardinale).