The Pawnbroker (1964)

A Jewish pawnbroker, victim of Nazi persecution, loses all faith in his fellow man until he realizes too late the tragedy of his actions.

Director:

Sidney Lumet

Writers:

Morton S. Fine (screenplay), David Friedkin (screenplay),

Stars:

Rod Steiger, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Brock Peters

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 9 wins & 5 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Rod Steiger	...	Sol Nazerman
Geraldine Fitzgerald	...	Marilyn Birchfield
Brock Peters	...	Rodriguez
Jaime Sánchez	...	Jesus Ortiz (as Jaime Sanchez)
Thelma Oliver	...	Ortiz' Girl
Marketa Kimbrell	...	Tessie
Baruch Lumet	...	Mendel
Juano Hernandez	...	Mr. Smith
Linda Geiser	...	Ruth
Nancy R. Pollock	...	Bertha
Raymond St. Jacques	...	Tangee
John McCurry	...	Buck
Ed Morehouse	...	Robinson
Eusebia Cosme	...	Mrs. Ortiz
Warren Finnerty	...	Savarese

Storyline

In a poor neighborhood of New York, the bitter and lonely Jewish pawnbroker Sol Nazerman is a survivor from Auschwitz that has no emotions or feelings. Sol lost his dearest family and friends in the war and his faith in God and belief in mankind. Now he only cares for money and is haunted by daydreams, actually flashbacks from the period of the concentration camp. Sol's assistant is the ambitious Latino Jesus Ortiz, who wants to learn with Sol how to run a business of his own. When Sol realizes that the obscure laundry business he has with the powerful gangster Rodriguez comes also from brothels, Sol recalls the fate of his beloved wife in the concentration camp and has a nervous breakdown. His attitude leads Jesus Ortiz to tragedy and Sol finds a way to cry.

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Plot Keywords:

concentration camp | flashback | jewish | nazi | pawnbroker | 

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Taglines:

The Most Talked About Picture!

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish German

Release Date:

20 April 1965 (USA)

Also Known As:

Pantelåneren

Filming Locations:

116th Street, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$500,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Landau Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

116 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The original brownstone building which served as the setting for the Nazerman Pawn Shop located at 1642 Park Avenue in Manhattan no longer exists. The site is now occupied by a four unit, four story brick apartment block which was built in 2010.

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Goofs

In the very last scene of the film, Sol pierces his left hand on a receipt spindle. When he walks out of the pawn shop, he is looking in pain at his right hand.

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Quotes

[Jesus Ortiz points to the tattooed numbers on Sol Nazerman's arm]
Jesus Ortiz: You want to tell me something, Mr. Nazerman? What is that? That... is that a secret society or something?
Sol Nazerman: [hesitates] Yeah.
Jesus Ortiz: Well... what do I do to join?
Sol Nazerman: What do you do to join? You learn to walk on water.

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Connections

References The L-Shaped Room (1962)

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Soundtracks

"I Don't Wanna Be a Loser"
Written by B. Raleigh, M. Barkan
Sung by Lesley Gore

User Reviews

A very impressive and dramatic movie

A very impressive and dramatic movie. I remember when I saw the first time this movie as a young teenager, I was deeply impressed by it, and after many years it still one of the movie that are important to me. The thing that hit me in the movie is the wire between the violence in the streets of the city and the violence in the Nazist concentration camp. It's the story without any hope of a survivor, a dead man walking, living an impossible life in the violent modern society. It has been the first movie that I saw about other movies about the Holocaust and still Ithink it's one of the more impressive about this argument. I saw many movies about the Holocaust, ma no one treats as this, the difficult life of survivors who lost their family.