''Nick the Sting'' ( it, Gli amici di Nick Hezard) is a 1976 Italian film directed by

Fernando Di Leo Fernando Di Leo (11 January 1932 – 2 December 2003) was an Italian film director and screenwriter, script writer. He made 17 films as a director and about 50 scripts from 1964 to 1985. Biography Fernando Di Leo was born on 11 January 1932 in ...

. It stars actor

Gabriele Ferzetti Gabriele Ferzetti (born Pasquale Ferzetti; 17 March 1925 – 2 December 2015) was an Italian actor with more than 160 credits across film, television, and stage. His career was at its peak in the 1950s and 1960s. Ferzetti's first leading role ...

Cast

Luc Merenda Luc Charles Olivier Merenda (born 3 September 1943) is a French film actor. He was one of the most prominent actors of the Italian poliziotteschi genre, working several times with Sergio Martino and Fernando Di Leo. He is of Italian origin thr ...

as Nick Hezard *

Lee J. Cobb Lee J. Cobb (born Leo Jacoby; December 8, 1911February 11, 1976) was an American actor, known both for film roles and his work on the Broadway stage. He often played arrogant, intimidating and abrasive characters, but he also acted as respectabl ...

as Robert Clark *

as Maurice *

Luciana Paluzzi Luciana Paluzzi (born 10 June 1937) is an Italian actress. She is perhaps best known for playing SPECTRE assassin Fiona Volpe in the fourth James Bond film, '' Thunderball'', but she had important roles in notable films of the 1960s and 1970s in ...

as Anna *

Dagmar Lassander Dagmar Lassander (born as Dagmar Regine Hager on 16 June 1943) is a German actress. The character of Lassander Dagmar in the Italian-influenced 2015 horror film '' We Are Still Here'' is named after her. Early life and career She was born in ...

as Chantal *

Isabella Biagini Isabella Biagini, born Concetta Biagini, (8 December 1940 – 14 April 2018) was an Italian actress and showgirl. Life and career Biagini was born in Rome on 8 December 1940. She debuted in childhood as a radio actress and advertising model. ...

as Edy *

Mario Pisu Mario Pisu (21 May 1910 – 17 July 1976) was an Italian actor and voice actor. Biography Born in Montecchio Emilia, Pisu was considered to be one of the most elegant performers of the Italian cinema. He began his career on stage and screen in ...

as Phil *

Riccardo Salvino Riccardo Salvino (born 29 March 1944) is an Italian film and television actor. Born in Palermo, Salvino made his film debut at 23 years old, with a main role in Franco De Rosis' ''Il magnaccio''. In the 1970s he was very active in genre films, ...

as Mark * William Berger as Roizman *

Valentina Cortese Valentina Cortese (1 January 1923 – 10 July 2019) was an Italian actress. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in François Truffaut's ''Day for Night'' (1973). Personal life Cortese was bor ...

as Nick's mother

Production

''Nick the Sting'' was described by Italian film historian and critic Roberto Curti as a "work for hire" for director

. The film went into production after finishing ''

Kidnap Syndicate ''Kidnap Syndicate'' ( it, La città sconvolta: caccia spietata ai rapitori, lit=The City is Shaken: Ruthless Pursuit of the Kidnappers) is a 1975 Italian ''poliziottesco'' film directed by Fernando Di Leo. Even being a minor work in the Di Leo's ...

'' with a screenplay already written by Alberto Silvestri based around the film ''

The Sting ''The Sting'' is a 1973 American caper film set in September 1936, involving a complicated plot by two professional grifters (Paul Newman and Robert Redford) to con a mob boss ( Robert Shaw).''Variety'' film review; December 12, 1973, page ...

''. Di Leo commented that film had "quite a good script ..but it had a couple huge problems: it would cost too much to film as it was written, and badly needed a charismatic lead." ''Nick the Sting'' was shot at Elios Studio in Rome and on location in

Geneve Geneve may refer to: * Genève, French for Geneva , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ...

. Leo recalled that the film did not have a good production, finding Merenda not up to the task as a lead and the script did not come up as well as it had on paper.

Release

''Nick the Sting'' was distributed theatrically in Italy by Interfilm on 29 April 1976. The film grossed a total of 427,272,200

Italian lire The lira (; plural lire) was the currency of Italy between 1861 and 2002. It was first introduced by the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy in 1807 at par with the French franc, and was subsequently adopted by the different states that would eventually f ...

domestically. It was released on DVD in Italy by Raro Video.

References

Footnotes

Sources

External links

* 1976 films 1970s Italian-language films Poliziotteschi films Films directed by Fernando Di Leo Films about con artists Films scored by Luis Bacalov 1970s Italian films {{1970s-Italy-film-stub