The Pawnbroker

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83%

TOMATOMETER

Total Count: 12

88%

Audience Score

User Ratings: 2,378
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Movie Info

"The Pawnbroker" is the dark exploration into the soul of a man who is tortured by the unbearable pain of his past. In order to most effectively reveal his character, rather than relying on a traditional plot sequence, the film carefully extracts the events of a few days in the life of Sol Nazerman (Rod Steiger). A man who survived the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps but lost his wife and children, Nazerman is now alone, cold, embittered, and completely without faith in God or humanity. With indifference, he operates a pawnshop in New York's Spanish Harlem as a front for Rodriguez (Brock Peters), a black pimp and slumlord. Despite the continued efforts of his assistant, Jesus Ortiz (Jaime Sanchez), and a determined social worker, Marilyn Birchfield (Geraldine Fitzgerald), to break through his impenetrable walls, Nazerman remains detached and emotionless. This total noninvolvement extends to his loveless affair with Tessie (Marketa Kimbrell), a woman who lost her husband in the camps and whose father, Mendel (Baruch Lumet) disapproves of their current relationship. Flashbacks triggered by current daily events provide more detail of Nazerman's past, some which are so quick and disturbing as to be borderline subliminal. The most explicit flashback occurs when Ortiz's girlfriend, a black prostitute (Thelma Oliver) enters the shop to pawn a gold locket and bare her breasts to him hoping to increase his offered price. For Nazerman this causes pain, as it only reminds him of being forced to watch his wife raped by Nazi officers. Ortiz, the young, exuberant, lovable Puerto Rican assistant, continues to wear away at Nazerman's defenses, seeking some kind of emotional response. When Nazerman snaps back in thoughtless cruelty, Ortiz retaliates by arranging a robbery of the pawn shop. Nazerman's refusal to submit to the robbers results in gunfire, with Ortiz selflessly taking the bullet meant for his employer. His dying breath in the arms of Nazerman is at last the only thing the young man has done which breaks the stone barrier around the older man's heart, and evokes an expression of tenderness. Filmed in stark black-and-white,"The Pawnbroker" is a harshly realistic vision. Steiger's portrayal of an insensitive miser was pegged as anti-Semitic, civil rights organizations objected to Peter's totally unscrupulous character, and the Legion of Decency condemned the film based on Oliver's partial nudity scene. Nonetheless, the film received recognition from numerous critics' groups and Steiger, in what was his first starring role, picked up "Best Actor" honors from both the Berlin International Film Festival and the British Academy Awards.

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Cast

Rod Steiger
as Sol Nazerman
Geraldine Fitzgerald
as Marilyn Birchfield
Jaime Sánchez
as Jesus Ortiz
Brock Peters
as Rodriguez
Thelma Oliver
as Ortiz's Girl
Marketa Kimbrell
as Tessie
Baruch Lumet
as Mendel
Juano Hernandez
as Mr. Smith
Linda Geiser
as Ruth
Nancy R. Pollack
as Bertha
Nancy R. Pollock
as Bertha
Raymond St. Jacques
as Tangee
John McCurry
as Buck
Charles Dierkop
as Robinson
Eusebia Cosme
as Mrs. Ortiz
Warren Finnerty
as Savarese
Jack Ader
as Morton
E.M. Margolese
as Papa
Marianne Kanter
as Joan
Ed Morehouse
as Robinson
Marc Alexander
as Rubin
Reni Santoni
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Critic Reviews for The Pawnbroker

All Critics (12) | Fresh (10) | Rotten (2)

  • 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.

    Aug 13, 2019 | Full Review…

    Dwight MacDonald

    Esquire Magazine

  • If The Pawnbroker is nasty, the reason is that director Sidney Lumet consistently overplays his hand. Apart from a magnificent virtuoso performance by Rod Steiger - that incredibly versatile actor - the movie has nothing to do with art.

    Jun 26, 2019 | Full Review…

    Wendy Michener

    Maclean's Magazine

  • The Pawnbroker is a paradoxically obsessed with death, yet roaring with life, a jazzy urban tragedy that sees shadows of the Holocaust in the suffering and exploitation of the dead-eyed souls of East Harlem.

    Apr 21, 2014 | Rating: 4.5/5 | Full Review…

    Nathan Rabin

    The Dissolve

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

    Aug 21, 2011 | Rating: 86/100 | Full Review…

    Dan Jardine

    Cinemania

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

    Jul 1, 2011 | Rating: B | Full Review…

    John A. Nesbit

    Old School Reviews

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

    Apr 28, 2011 | Rating: B- | Full Review…

    Dennis Schwartz

    Ozus' World Movie Reviews
View All Critic Reviews (12)

Audience Reviews for The Pawnbroker

  • Feb 08, 2014
    Perhaps 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
  • Feb 03, 2014
    Steiger 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
  • Aug 16, 2010
    A dramatic, remarkable, worthy directorial successor to 12 Angry Men from Sidney Lumet and Rodney Steiger in one of the greatest performances of all time. 100/100
    Simeon D Super Reviewer
  • Jan 23, 2010
    Fine work from Lumet, but even finer work from Steiger
    Marcus W Super Reviewer
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