A waste of 90 minutes of my life

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

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!

Sidney Lumet is probably best known for movies like "Dog Day Afternoon" and "Network", but another really good film that he directed is "The Pawnbroker". This one stars Rod Steiger as concentration camp survivor Sol Nazerman, now running a pawnshop in East Harlem. The horror that Sol witnessed has left him embittered. Moreover, he has not escaped violence: the streets of New York see no shortage of gang warfare. A major focus is how, despite his alienation from the world, Sol tries to explain the ramifications of what happened to the young Puerto Rican who idolizes him.It's fairly well known that Groucho Marx wanted the role of Sol. I don't know exactly how the movie would have come out had he played the role -- although it might have been a little harder to take seriously -- but Steiger is perfect as the man still trying to put his life back together. A very good one. I recommend it.Watch for a young Morgan Freeman as the man on the street.

The first time I heard of "The Pawnbroker" was when it was mentioned in a great documentary called "Hollywood and the Holocaust", showing how Hollywood dealt with theme of the Jewish holocaust in the 2nd World War, and one of the most important films about the period is this film directed by Sidney Lumet. The testimonies of personalities (including lead actor Rod Steiger) was very captivating and something urged me to watch it right away. Here's a psychological and moving drama about a Holocaust survivor whose life haven't changed for best, instead, he remembers the ghosts from the past in a chaotic and criminal New York that resonates part of his tragic life in a concentration camp during the war. In a magnificent and heart-breaking performance, Rod Steiger plays Sol Nazerman, a Jewish pawnbroker who lost his belief in mankind after losing his whole family in a concentration camp and seeing the horrors of war. The only thing he beliefs is in money because that's the only thing that lasts and the only thing that makes the world and people go round, he says that to the young and ambitious Jesus (Jaime Sanchez), who works for him in his pawnshop trading a little sum of money for people who wants to exchange old things for the money, and they'll always think that he can give more cash to them than the very few he gives to them.Sol is a solitary, bitter and rigid man who pushes people away from his life, he doesn't need people's sympathy, it doesn't help people feel sorry for him. Geraldine Fitzgerald plays a friendly woman interested in this man's life after trying to make him interested in helping a community center of the city. He's not interested in her or in anyone; he only lives for the money waiting for death to come and put him out of his misery, he can't kill himself, and he keeps tormented with his past that seems to be happening again in the crowded and violent streets of New York. Through amazing and brief flashbacks we follow Sol and his horrific experiences during war, along with a similar situation during his recent life that evokes that, for instance, when he sees a black man getting attacked by a group of people, he stops, watches the scene and right away he remembers a man trying to escape through a fence in the camp, then being shot by a Nazi officer. And he keeps remembering, suffering, and not dying, always keeping his pain to himself.The movie doesn't keep always on Sol, it also follows Jesus, the happy man who works for Sol, learning valuable life lessons of how to take care of the shop, and the importance of money in everyone's lives. These two opposite forces have some clashes, little arguments but they seem to go well with each other without realizing what bothers one another. Oscar wants to be successful as Sol, but he's too confident and positive on the same things that are twisted and miserable to Sol, he's too innocent about the world's hardness, barely realizing that he'll be connected with a group of thieves that wants to steal Sol's money, and he might be the one who'll help them with the plan.Steiger makes of Sol a contradictory character in who we want to feel sorry for his loss and his tragic life but at the same time, he's not that likable, he's brute and introspective at times, mumbling a few words, and he can't make a person feel completely bad about himself, or herself, not caring about their problems at all. Yet, you feel that he has been through a lot of things, and it is too difficult not to relate with him. He makes us remember of ourselves, in times we are desperately just like him and we want to throw everything away, give up on things, and other times we might believe that death is the only answer. In the case of Sol, he should be more thankful for the life he has, and try to do and be more than just suffer; he has a family (in another state where he spends his vacations) that likes him, he has support from people and want to talk to him about anything. Will he be able to forget his past and live a better life? Maybe, maybe not but until then life repeat itself and Sol can only aspire to die or get killed."The Pawnbroker" has not only great performances and a terrific screenplay but many great things too, like the dramatic music of Quincy Jones, using a little bit of jazz; and a meaningful art direction, not only during the war, but also (and especially) the pawnshop of Sol, with lots of grids, a resemblance with the concentration camps that it's almost impossible to see a thing. It's the new prison of Sol and he doesn't realize that, if earlier he lived to see only misery and death, now we can only see the money. The only thing that is equal between both is that he can only see people behind these grids and barbed wires, the dramatic and sad division of human being.It is a sad story that has one small happy moment right in the first scene after this, you must be very spirituous to watch this film. But I urge you to watch it, because it is one of the rare films on the subject made in the 1960's and to at least see how great Rod Steiger is, with his ability to play a psychological character that is not that easy to comprehend, a difficult role and Steiger's favorite of all of this roles (sadly he was robbed at the Oscars). It's a powerful, memorable and relevant work and one of the best directed by Sidney Lumet.

The Pawnbroker is directed by Sidney Lumet, has a screenplay by William Friedkin and Morton S. Fine and stars Rod Steiger, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Brock Peters and Jamie Sanchez.The Pawnbroker's emotional impact cries out loudly demanding to be felt,seen and heard.It features Lumet's usual brand of blistering and gripping dialogue,as well as a breathtaking central performance by Rod Steiger.Released in 1964 this is one of the first mainstream films to deal with the Holocaust.It doesn't dwell on the physical horrors of the camps,instead it's a hard hitting look at the emotional horror and devastation inflicted upon the survivors of those terrible crimes.In particular it focuses on how such horrors can cause the individual sufferer to dispense with emotion and block out the memories of the event in question. This of course can in turn cause even greater damage.New York in the 60's finds Concentration Camp survivor Sol Nazerman(Rod Steiger)running a successful pawnshop business ably assisted by young hotshot Jesus Ortiz(Jaime Sanchez).Sol has no emotion to invest in any of his customers(many of whom have no one else to talk to and just come to his shop for any kind of human emotional connection)or friends.It is coming up to the 25th anniversary of his wife's death and he is besieged by terrible memories of that time as if they were happening again fresh and new.Due to the horrors he saw which includes the death of his entire family he has blocked out the memories as best he can and has no faith left in the human race.This blinds him to the goodness and hope that happens daily around him.It's up to youth worker Marilyn Birchfield(Geraldine Fitzgerald)to try and awaken his buried emotions and help him reconnect with the world.She strikes up a tender friendship with him and partly succeeds in making him take another look at his situation.However it really takes the tragic death of someone close to him to fully make him see what he has wasted and lost all these years.That is Sol's real tragedy he has squandered the precious gift of life and joy.However it makes the viewer think what would we do in his situation?Is coming back to normal life really that easy after experiencing such pain?no of course it's not, that just makes us empathise with his plight even more. One of the most disturbing,clever and memorable moments in the film is when Sol is on a subway train and a memory of being on a crowded transportation train heading to a camp comes to him and past and present blend into one big moment of horror and terror and he suffers a panic attack.Rod gives one of the best performances of his career and through his truthful performance we share Sol's pain,terror and panic and like Marilyn desperately want to help him try and function easier in life.There's fine support from Geraldine Fitzgerald as the kindhearted Marilyn, Brock Peters is excellent as a local gangster and Thelma Oliver makes an strong impression as Ortiz's girlfriend/prostitute.Emotionally devastating and shocking,The Pawnbroker is an underrated film dealing with themes of prejudice,sadness and horror which in some parts of the world still happens today(will some of us never learn from the horrors of World War Two?).Impressive,meaningful and deeply affecting The Pawnbroker is one to watch.