The Pawnbroker (1965)

You won't be disappointed!

Very disappointing...

Too much of everything

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Might be Rod Steiger's most morose and bleakest role. As an Auschwitz survivor whose family were raped and tortured there, he feels a veritable menagerie of despair because of the guilt he feels for his inability to extricate them from the camp and for the guilt he feels because he somehow managed to make it out. His job as the titled pawnbroker does nothing but fuel more fire to his dire situation in life as he is cast among the severest cases of poverty in his store's Harlem neighborhood. Added to that, he has to front his store for a despicable vice lord (Brock Peters) so that he can at least make a modicum of income.Sounds and is grim but is, to me, the quintessential ground breaker of the ultra-realistic urban life dramas that were to unfold in the latter 60's and early 70's. Rod plays his part to perfection as a lifeless, embittered old man who has seen too much in one lifetime. The aforementioned Brock Peters along with Ray St. Jacques, Jaime Sanchez (his apprentice) and others flavor this dramatic pot even more so with their poignant portrayals of their respective characters, each of whom has fallen victim to the scourges of his ghetto habitat.I shall not offer up where and how the redemptive transformation occurs in our principal, except to say watch the entire movie and see for yourself how it all unfolds. Truly, a time-tested masterpiece!

Rod Steiger delivers the performance of a lifetime in this sad movie. the story is about a man who lives in New York runs a laundry mat,, and starts having flashbacks of the War when he was in the Concentration Camps. the story has some flashbacks, and they are very poignant. the old man takes on a younger partner in the Laundromat,, but later on Sol finds out that the money used to run the business also comes from a brothel.. there's not a lot of action in this,, but it doesn't need to have action,, this movie is based on pure raw emotion,, hatred, greed, and all of the things incorporated in a great drama. it's sad to see the detioration of Sol as the movie winds along. this is a very powerful and shocking movie, not to be watched by the lighthearted, i'm German so i will definitely watch this again.

With over 200 narrative films now made about the Holocaust, few have dealt with what it means to live with the guilt of survival as The Pawnbroker does. The Pawnbroker is not only a brilliant portrayal, it is also simply one of the great films, and one that anyone interested in film should view.Rod Steiger's Nazerman is a man who has worked out how to bargain for crumbs of security in every aspect of his life. He is as emotionally blank as it's possible to be in order to deal with his repression of his memories. It is a superb portrayal by Rod Steiger - we want to sympathize with Nazerman, but are, and should be, pushed away by his lack of emotions - yet, we do understand how this is the only possible response. The whole cast give superb performances - the film has a rhythm in its speeches that draws us in, something Lumet and Billy Wilder share - Friedkin's and Fone's words are the complex score to the images - and the Quincy Jones score is a hard bebop accompaniment that augments. As the film develops we jump cut from a very grimy New York to some of the most powerful images of the camps known on film - they are not overtly horrific - but each image impacts - and impacts powerfully. Finally, inevitably, the floodgates break...Forty years after its making, The Pawnbroker remains a film that has the ability to affect the viewer deeply - it is simply a superb film and one that deserves its excellent reputation.

A concentration camp survivor lives a bitter and isolated existence as a Harlem pawnbroker. This is an extremely drab and depressing movie, which would be OK if it was rewarding in any way, but it's not. Lumet, who would follow up this disappointing effort with the brilliant "Fail Safe," is annoyingly indulgent and pretentious here. Everything about this movie screams that it's an important movie about a serious subject. Yes, the subject is serious, but the movie is a joke, with a pathetic, melodramatic finale. Steiger, never a subtle actor, is so hammy that it's painful to watch. In fact, with the exception of Fitzgerald, the acting is uniformly bad. The loud, obnoxious score adds to the misery.