Nick the Sting

Nick the Sting (Gli amici di Nick Hezard) is a 1976 Italian film directed by Fernando Di Leo. It stars actor Gabriele Ferzetti.

Cast

 * Luc Merenda as Nick Hezard
 * Lee J. Cobb as Robert Clark
 * Gabriele Ferzetti as Maurice
 * Luciana Paluzzi as Anna
 * Dagmar Lassander as Chantal
 * Isabella Biagini as Edy
 * Mario Pisu as Phil
 * Riccardo Salvino as Mark
 * William Berger as Roizman
 * Valentina Cortese as Nick's mother
 * Giò Stajano as Jeweller Steffen (credited as Gio Staiano)

Production
Nick the Sting was described by Italian film historian and critic Roberto Curti as a "work for hire" for director Fernando Di Leo. The film went into production after finishing Kidnap Syndicate with a screenplay already written by Alberto Silvestri based around the film The Sting. 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. 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 domestically. It was released on DVD in Italy by Raro Video.