The Pawnbroker (film)
| The Pawnbroker | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Sidney Lumet |
| Produced by | Philip Langner Roger Lewis Ely Landau |
| Written by |
Edward Lewis Wallant (novel) Morton S. Fine David Friedkin |
| Starring |
Rod Steiger Geraldine Fitzgerald Brock Peters Jaime Sánchez Thelma Oliver |
| Music by | Quincy Jones |
| Cinematography | Boris Kaufman |
| Edited by | Ralph Rosenblum |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by |
Allied Artists American International Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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116 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $930,000 |
| Box office | $2,500,000 (rentals) |
The Pawnbroker is a 1964 (Berlin Film Festival entry), 1965 (U.S. theatrical release) drama film, directed by Sidney Lumet, starring Rod Steiger, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Brock Peters, Jaime Sánchez and Morgan Freeman in his feature film debut. It was adapted by Morton S. Fine and David Friedkin from the novel of the same name by Edward Lewis Wallant.
The film was the first American movie to deal with the Jewish holocaust from the viewpoint of a survivor. It earned international acclaim for Steiger, launching his career as an A-list actor. The film was among the first American movies to feature nudity during the Production Code, and was the first film featuring bare breasts to receive Production Code approval. Although it was publicly announced to be a special exception, the controversy proved to be first of similar major challenges to the Code that ultimately led to its abandonment.
In 2008, The Pawnbroker was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
With the rise of Hitler, Sol Nazerman (Steiger), a German-Jewish university professor, was dragged to a concentration camp along with his family. He saw his two children die (one while riding in a cattle car) and his wife raped by Nazi officers in the camp. Now he operates a pawnshop in East Harlem, while living in an anonymous Long Island apartment. Numbed by his experiences, he has worked hard not to experience emotions. Nazerman is bitter and alienated, viewing the people around him as "rejects, scum." He is shown interacting cynically as he bargains with the many desperate characters pawning their goods.
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Wikipedia