Other Titles • The Pawnbroker • Der Pfandleiher (1964)
Synopses for The Pawnbroker (1964)
1.
Based on a novel by Edward Lewis Wallant, this gritty story follows Sol (Rod Steiger in a breakout performance), a lonely camp survivor who has dealt with the destruction of his family by suppressing all emotion and cleaving to the philosophy that nothing matters except money. (His bedridden and dying friend Mendel describes him, to his face, as "the walking dead.") Sol cannot accept the friendship of his assistant, Ortiz (Jaime Sanchez), or of an equally lonely widow (Geraldine Fitzgerald). As the 25th anniversary of his wife's murder approaches, he starts to fall apart, and it becomes clear that what he really wants is to die. The film was considered shocking when first released, both because of its rawness and because of brief nudity. Time has made some of the dramatic touches seem melodramatic--especially the corny "blood on my hands!" final scene. But Steiger's performance is still remarkable, and, even after MTV, the sudden-flashback editing is a forceful technique. A high point of Sidney Lumet's career. Black and white, with lots of atmospheric trumpets by Quincy Jones. --Richard Farr
2.
THE PAWNBROKER, directed by Sidney Lumet, stars Rod Steiger in this grim, dark tale of a Holocaust survivor who runs a pawnshop in Harlem. The film traces his deterioration as modern times force old memories to painfully flood back to him.
3.
This was one of the first film's to deal with the affects of Nazi Germany's concentration camps on their survivors. Sol Nazerman, operator of a Pawn Shop, and a concentration camp survivor faces a horrid internal conflict. Being engulfed in a New York Getto Environment, Sol suffers flashbacks. The flashbacks juxtapose concentration camp treatment with Getto neighborhood treatment. Although, the flashbacks suffer several historical inaccuracies, the point is well made. His internal conflicts between submitting to the= same injustices he and his family suffered or resisting the injustice= a peak at the end of the film
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