The Pawnbroker

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The Pawnbroker
Directed by	Sidney Lumet
Produced by	Ely A. Landau Philip Langner Roger Lewis Herbert R. Steinmann
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
Editing by	Ralph Rosenblum
Distributed by	American International Pictures (AIP)
Release date(s)	1964
Running time	116 min.
Language	English
Budget	$930,000
IMDb profile

The Pawnbroker is a novel by Edward Lewis Wallant which tells the story of Sol Nazerman, a concentration camp survivor who suffers flashbacks of his past Nazi imprisonment as he tries to cope with his daily life operating a pawn shop in dangerous Harlem. Sol has dealt with his trauma by deliberately shutting down his emotions, with the result that he sees everyone around him, especially the desperate people who come into his shop, as "scum," even as they leave their cares with him, as though he is their redeemer.

Having lost his wife, parents and children in the camps, Sol's only remaining family is his sister Bertha, who has married a mid-westerner and who prizes her American-looking daughter over her Jewish looking son. He is also taking care of his best friend's widow, Tessie, and her dying father, Mendel. Sol supports both families through the pawnshop, which is in reality a front for mafia money.

The novel deals not only with the after-effects of the camp experience, but also with making a parallel between the desperation of the residents of Harlem and that of the people in the camps. Alongside these issues is a critique of the major American religions, through the characters of Sol's Black-Latino assistant, Jesus Ortiz (Catholic) and the recently arrived social worker, Euro-American Marilyn Birchfield (presumably Protestant). Redemption is another theme, as the climax of the story occurs on the anniversary of Sol's family's death and forces him to confront his own emotions, including his guilt over having survived and his desire to die.

The novel was made into a 1965 film which stars Rod Steiger, Geraldine Fitzgerald, and Brock Peters. It was adapted by Morton S. Fine and David Friedkin, and directed by Sidney Lumet.^[1]

Steiger was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role.

[edit] See also

• List of Holocaust films

[edit] References and external links

• The Pawnbroker at the Internet Movie Database

v • d • e Films directed by Sidney Lumet 12 Angry Men (1957) • Stage Struck (1958) • That Kind of Woman (1959) • The Fugitive Kind (1959) • A View from the Bridge (1961) • Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962) • The Pawnbroker (1964) • Fail-Safe (1964) • The Hill (1965) • The Group (1966) • The Deadly Affair (1967) • Bye Bye Braverman (1968) • The Sea Gull (1968) • The Appointment (1969) • King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis (1970) • Last of the Mobile Hot Shots (1970) • The Anderson Tapes (1971) • Child's Play (1972) • The Offence (1972) • Serpico (1973) • Lovin' Molly (1974) • Murder on the Orient Express (1974) • Dog Day Afternoon (1975) • Network (1976) • Equus (1977) • The Wiz (1978) • Just Tell Me What You Want (1980) • Prince of the City (1981) • Deathtrap (1982) • The Verdict (1982) • Daniel (1983) • Garbo Talks (1984) • Power (1986) • The Morning After (1986) • Running on Empty (1988) • Family Business (1989) • Q & A (1990) • A Stranger Among Us (1992) • Guilty as Sin (1993) • Night Falls on Manhattan (1997) • Critical Care (1997) • Gloria (1999) • Strip Search (2004) • Find Me Guilty (2006) • Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007)

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