''The Pool Hustlers'' (, "I, Chiara and lo Scuro") is a 1982 Italian

comedy drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

film directed by

Maurizio Ponzi Maurizio Ponzi (born 8 May 1939) is an Italian film director, screenwriter and cinema critic. Born in Rome, he wrote cinema reviews in several Italian magazines during the early 1960s. He worked as assistant director in Pier Paolo Pasolini's epi ...

. It was screened in the ''

Un Certain Regard (; 'A Certain Glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob. The section presents 20 films with unusua ...

'' section at the

1983 Cannes Film Festival The 36th Cannes Film Festival took place from 7 to 19 May 1983. American author William Styron served as jury president for the main competition. Japanese filmmaker Shōhei Imamura won the ''Palme d'Or'', the festival's top prize, for the dra ...

. It was co-written by Ponzi, male lead

Francesco Nuti Francesco Nuti (17 May 1955 – 12 June 2023) was an Italian actor, film director and screenwriter. Biography Born in Prato, Nuti began his professional career as an actor in the late 1970s, when he formed the cabaret group ''Giancattivi'' tog ...

and established screenwriters

Franco Ferrini Franco Ferrini (born 5 January 1944) is an Italian screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can includ ...

and

Enrico Oldoini Enrico Oldoini (4 May 1946 – 10 May 2023) was an Italian director and screenwriter. Born in La Spezia, in 1966 Enrico Oldoini started attending the Silvio D'Amico National Academy of Dramatic Art in Rome, without graduating. From 1972, he th ...

. The symbolic names of the characters mentioned in the Italian title, "Chiara" and "lo Scuro", mean "Bright" or "Clear", and "the Dark One" or "the Darkness", respectively.

Cast

as Francesco Piccoli a.k.a. "il Toscano" ("the Tuscan") *

Giuliana De Sio Giuliana De Sio (born 2 April 1957) is an Italian actress, the younger sister of pop music, pop-Folk music, folk singer Teresa De Sio. She won two David di Donatello for Best Actress and a Nastro d'Argento for Best Actress. Biography and career ...

as Chiara *

Marcello Lotti Marcello is a common masculine Italian given name. It is a variant of Marcellus. The Spanish and Portuguese version of the name is Marcelo, differing in having only one "l", while the Greek form is Markellos. Etymology The name originally mean ...

(as Marcello Lotti) - "lo Scuro" ("the Dark One") *

Antonio Petrocelli Antonio Petrocelli (born 18 September 1953) is an Italian actor. Partial filmography Film * '' The Pool Hustlers'' (1982) * '' The Eyes, the Mouth'' (1982) * '' Secrets Secrets'' (1985) * ''Il tenente dei carabinieri'' (1986) * ''The Strangene ...

as Mancino *

Novello Novelli Novello Novelli (2 March 1930 – 10 January 2018) was an Italian character actor. Life and career Born in Poggibonsi, province of Siena, as Novellantonio Novelli, a former footballer and surveyor, Novelli initially was the manager of the cabar ...

(as Novellantonio Novelli) - Merlo *

Renato Cecchetto Renato Cecchetto (28 October 1951 – 23 January 2022) was an Italian actor and voice actor. Biography In the 1970s, Cecchetto attended the Silvio d'Amico National Academy of Dramatic Arts and began his career working with film directors lik ...

as Giovanni *

Claudio Casale Claudio is an Italian and Spanish first name. In Portuguese, it is accented Cláudio. In Catalan and Occitan, it is Claudi, while in Romanian it is Claudiu. Origin and history Claudius was the name of an eminent Roman gens, the most importan ...

* Carlo Neri * Claudio Spadaro * Stefano Cuneo * Pierangelo Pozzato (as Pietro Angelo Pozzato)

References

External links

* 1982 comedy-drama films 1982 films Cue sports films Films directed by Maurizio Ponzi Films scored by Carlo Maria Cordio Italian comedy-drama films 1980s Italian-language films Films set in Rome 1980s Italian films {{1980s-comedy-drama-film-stub