''Scipio the African'' ( it, Scipione detto anche l'Africano "Scipio, also called the African") is a 1971 Italian
comedy film
A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...
directed by
Luigi Magni
Luigi Magni (21 March 1928 – 27 October 2013) was an Italian screenwriter and film director.
Life and career
Born in Rome, Magni started his career as a screenwriter, in 1956, with '' Tempo di villeggiatura''. In 1968 he collaborated w ...
.
Plot
Years after the
Second Punic War,
Scipio Africanus finds himself generally unliked, despite his defeat of
Hannibal, many years earlier. He and his brother,
Scipio Asiaticus, are accused by
Marcus Porcius Cato of the theft of 500 talents intended for Rome. As his friends and loved ones abandon him, Scipio finds life after war not as easy as he thought it would be.
Cast
*
Marcello Mastroianni as
Scipione l'Africano
*
Silvana Mangano
Silvana Mangano (; 21 April 1930 – 16 December 1989) was an Italian film actress. She was one of a generation of thespians who arose from the neorealist movement, and went on to become a major female star, regarded as a sex symbol for the 19 ...
as
Emilia
*
Vittorio Gassman as
Catone il Censore
*
Ruggero Mastroianni
Ruggero Mastroianni (7 November 1929 – 9 September 1996) was an Italian film editor. In his obituary of Mastroianni, critic Tony Sloman described him as "arguably, the finest Italian film editor of his generation."
Born in Turin, he was the b ...
as
Scipione l'Asiatico
*
Turi Ferro as
Giove Capitolino
*
Woody Strode
Woodrow Wilson Woolwine Strode (July 25, 1914 – December 31, 1994) was an American athlete and actor. He was a decathlete and football star who was one of the first Black American players in the National Football League in the postwar era. Aft ...
as
Massinissa
Masinissa ( nxm, , ''MSNSN''; ''c.'' 238 BC – 148 BC), also spelled Massinissa, Massena and Massan, was an ancient Numidian king best known for leading a federation of Massylii Berber tribes during the Second Punic War (218–201 BC), ult ...
*
Fosco Giachetti
Fosco Giachetti (28 March 1900, in Sesto Fiorentino – 22 December 1974, in Rome) was an Italian actor.
Fosco Giachetti was the protagonist of ''Lo squadrone bianco'' (1936), directed by Augusto Genina. He became the leading man in Fascist ...
as Aulio Gellio
* Ben Ekland
*
Enzo Fiermonte
Enzo Fiermonte (17 July 1908 – 22 March 1993), sometimes credited as William Bird, was an Italian actor and boxer.
Early life
Vincenzo "Enzo" Fiermonte was born on 17 July 1908 in Casamassima, a rural village near Bari, in southern Italy to Do ...
*
Philippe Hersent
Philippe Hersent (26 July 1912 – 30 December 1982) was a French actor. He appeared in more than eighty films from 1930 to 1978.
Filmography
References
External links
*
1912 births
1982 deaths
French male film actors
{{Franc ...
*
Gianni Solaro
Gianni Solaro (born Gianni Lorenzon, 11 August 1926 – 12 August 2006) was an Italian film and television actor.
Life and career
Born in Rome, Solaro was a character actor in the Italian film industry for about twenty years, between the late 19 ...
References
External links
*
1971 films
1970s historical comedy films
1970s Italian-language films
Italian historical comedy films
Films directed by Luigi Magni
Commedia all'italiana
Second Punic War films
Cultural depictions of Scipio Africanus
1970s Italian films
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