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The Pawnbroker (1964)

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All Critics
Top Critics

100

Average Rating: 8/10
Reviews Counted: 9
Fresh: 9 | Rotten: 0

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Release Date: Apr 20, 1965 Wide

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Average Rating: 4/5
User Ratings: 2,010

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Movie Info

Critically acclaimed Rod Steiger plays Sol Nazerman, a Jewish pawnbroker who survived imprisonment in a Nazi concentration camp, even though his wife and family did not. The devastating experience and unrelenting memories inhibit Sol from emotional involvement with life. He has no faith in religion and less in mankind. Though he carries on an affair with a woman who was also a victim of the Nazi camps, it is without emotion and Sol grows increasingly bitter and callous, withdrawing still further

Unrated, 2 hr.

Drama, Classics

Directed By: Sidney Lumet

Written By: Edward Lewis Wallant

In Theaters: Apr 20, 1965 Wide

On DVD: Dec 16, 2003

Republic Pictures Home Video

The Pawnbroker Trailer & Photos

Cast

Rod Steiger
Sol Nazerman
Geraldine Fitzgerald
Marilyn Birchfield
Brock Peters
Rodriguez
Thelma Oliver
Ortiz's Girl
Jaime S�nchez
Jesus Ortiz
Marketa Kimbrell
Tessie
Baruch Lumet
Mendel
Juano Hernandez
Mr. Smith
Linda Geiser
Ruth Nazerman
Nancy R. Pollock
Bertha
John McCurry
Buck
Ed Morehouse
Robinson
Eusebia Cosme
Mrs. Ortiz
Warren Finnerty
Savarese
Marianne Kanter
Joan
Charles Dierkop
Reni Santoni
Raymond St. Jacques
Tangee
Jack Ader

Critic Reviews for The Pawnbroker

All Critics (13) | Top Critics (2) | Fresh (9) | Rotten (0) | DVD (2)

The film makes its point with narrative economy and emotional sophistication in a socially complex contemporary context.

August 21, 2011 Full Review Source: Cinemania

| Comment

Dan Jardine

Cinemania

creates some haunting images and gives Rod Steiger a chance to blossom

July 1, 2011 Full Review Source: Old School Reviews

| Comment

John A. Nesbit

Old School Reviews Source: Old School Reviews

An unpleasant, solemn and overwrought melodrama about an embittered Jewish Holocaust survivor still haunted by his stay in Auschwitz.

April 28, 2011 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews

| Comment

Dennis Schwartz

Ozus' World Movie Reviews

One of the first Hollywood films to deal with the Holocaust, The Pawnbroker is thematically and stylistically innovative, borrowing some of its devices from the French New Wave, such as brief flashbacks, stylized b/w imagery, and jazzy score.

June 30, 2007 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com

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Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com Source: EmanuelLevy.Com

Dramatizes the psychological impact of the Nazi concentration camps, while drawing parallels to contemporary conditions of New York City ghetto life

June 27, 2002 Full Review Source: All Movie Guide

| Comment

Dan Jardine

All Movie Guide

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Audience Reviews for The Pawnbroker

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An amazingly acted & directed punch to the gut.Check out Ralph Rosenblum's great book for a look at the editing of this picture. It's called, When Shooting Stops.

May 5, 2007

Ken Stachnik

Super Reviewer

A movie equally depressing and amazing. Early Lumet is incredible.

November 12, 2006

Michael Gildea

Super Reviewer

The Pawnbroker Quotes

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1. Sol Nazerman: Next to the speed of light, which Einstein tells us is the only absolute in the universe, second only to that, I rank money.
– Submitted by Stuart G (3 months ago)