
The Pawnbroker
1964, Drama, 1h 56m
17 Reviews 1,000+ RatingsYou might also like
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The Pawnbroker Photos
Movie Info
Cast & Crew
Sol Nazerman
Marilyn Birchfield
Rodriguez
Jesus Ortiz
Ortiz' Girl
Tessie
News & Interviews for The Pawnbroker
Critic Reviews for The Pawnbroker
All Critics (17) | Top Critics (1) | Fresh (14) | Rotten (3)
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[The Pawnbroker] is a brilliant cinema achievement. Directed with sharp eye by Sidney Lumet, this is a film that holds you by the throat for its full two-hour running time, and a film you will not long forget.
September 2, 2020 | Full Review… -
One of Lumet's best films, presented with a powerful performance from Rod Steiger. [Full review in Spanish]
October 1, 2020 | Rating: 8/10 | Full Review… -
The rare film that's Important with a capital "I" as well as Great with a capital "G."
June 23, 2020 | Rating: 9/10 | Full Review… -
Lumet seems to me something of a puzzle. While some instinct leads him to undertake tremendously promising projects, he brings to those projects only a stunning literal-mindedness.
March 2, 2020 | Full Review… -
It is our statement that Nazerman is as much Lumet's creation as Steigers: mood and visuals combine with the performance to present a screen creation wholly worthy of Emil Janning's work with Von Sternberg in Blue Angel.
February 5, 2020 | Full Review… -
The Pawnbroker seemed to me a bore and a phony, a vulgarization of a serious theme, an exploitation of cinematic "effects" used without taste or intelligence.
August 14, 2019 | Full Review…
Audience Reviews for The Pawnbroker
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Feb 08, 2014Perhaps one of the few films about the legacy of the Holocaust, that is entirely focused on despair and emptiness . . . that being said, I get the feeling that Lumet was a little too into the French New Wave when he made this. I don't mean to belittle that movement, but it doesn't completely works for this kind of narrative.Alec B Super Reviewer
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Feb 03, 2014Steiger is wonderful as an emotional (and physical) survivor attempting some degree of normal after being through horror. A hit for Lumet.John B Super Reviewer
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Aug 16, 2010A dramatic, remarkable, worthy directorial successor to 12 Angry Men from Sidney Lumet and Rodney Steiger in one of the greatest performances of all time. 100/100Simeon D Super Reviewer
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Jan 23, 2010Fine work from Lumet, but even finer work from SteigerMarcus W Super Reviewer
The Pawnbroker Quotes
Ruth Nazerman: | Papa is dead, what am I going to do Sol? |
Sol Nazerman: | You bury him, there's nothing else to do. |
Ruth Nazerman: | Sol when you talk like that you're not human. |
Sol Nazerman: | What do you want me to do, come over and cry with you? Well to hell with your crying. |
Sol Nazerman: | Do you believe in God Ortiz? |
Jesus Ortiz: | I don't know Mr. Nazerman but you believe in God, and I'd make book on that. |
Sol Nazerman: | I do not believe in God, or art, or science, or newspapers, or politics, or philosophy. |
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. |
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