The Pawnbroker [DVD]

Extremely painful and mournful movie. Rod Steigers acting is so, so intense, and his character portrayed is so stone-cold virtually dead of human emotion due to what he lived through in the horrors of the camps during the holocaust. There are some brief scenes where he has a flashback in a subway car, of being in a cattle car on the way to Auschwitz and the camera focuses on a packed tight as sardines car of wretched people all displaying big stars of David on their shirts, and the sound effects just tear your heart out. As a musician, I can tell you that Quincy Jones along with Billy Byers used their musical genius to create some music that magnifies the pain of this movie in a big way. Some interludes of no music at all, then others of quiet strings during a pensive warm human interaction between the Pawnbroker and his protégé, then some blaring and searing painful crescendos during the painful scenes. Try to watch this with someone, or at least have someone to call to have a good conversation with when it is over. It will definitely help you appreciate the good we have in life.

Filmed in black and white, this is a serious, gritty story of a Shoah survivor. Steiger's acting is shattering. I must admit that I saw this when I was a child, and did not quite understand all of it, although I knew that it was very serious and sad. After seeing it again, when I was more aware and more mature, its power gripped me. It is the most searing description of PTSD that I have ever seen portrayed. Sidney Lumet's direction must be mentioned as absolutely on point. I never understood what it meant to be a Shoah survivor, or the child of a Shoah survivor, until I saw this film. Rod Steiger was nominated for an Academy Award for the role, and should have won it, but the Oscars are only Hollywood advertisements, after all.

I thought I would give The Pawnbroker another chance, for Quincy Jones' music and Rod Steiger. But I found it just as hard to take as I did years ago--the theatrical, exaggerated style is not for me. The exaggerated characters (except for Rod Steiger) were not for me. Put it in the theater, maybe experimental theater, not in film, IMO. I'm a jazz fan, and I thought the music was good, sometimes captivating, but it felt off, not at all appropriate for the movie.It was a movie with something to say, and I like that, but ugh, a turn off.

Especially as America faces so many challenges and divisions. The PTSD portrayed by Rod Steiger is palpable. The film being in black and white, further challenging the viewer, realizing the starkness in those who have the money to those who work for them, the layers of work, the ideas of this work, who those people are and how it's shown to us in detail and subtle. So very relevant right now as it was when it was filmed. I'm so glad to have seen this. It is heavy duty, it is art, it is what filmmaking is all about, it leaves you thinking, wanting to talk about it. You will be moved.

Steiger comes through as the fractured, fragmented survivor of the death camps only to relive the horrors of his past through daily events. Unable to love, unable to empathize, unable to allow himself forgiveness for surviving what had destroyed everything and everyone he has ever loved. Steiger is masterful. In one scene alone with with the camera in extreme closeup, long suppressed emotions boil under his face as if his face is skin stretched of writhing serpents. Tears, sweat, and blood glisten on the surface of his face as he wrestles with pain and madness.Today we might look at these characters as cliche's of a bygone era but I remember the early 60's well with the dirty streets, hard bitten faces, struggling to eke out a living. This was filmed in NYC and i can smell the city in this film. Nothing is cleansed for the camera. It was this gritty.Millenials should see this film.

Sidney Lumet's 1964 movie of The Pawnbroker, based on is a very difficult film to come by. I'm so glad that it is now available. This movie grabs you from its first frame and doesn't let loose until the gripping ending. Rod Steiger gives what I believe to be his best performance. The added addition of Boris Kaufman's very stark cinematography makes for dramatic and compelling viewing. Rod Steiger plays the pawnbroker Sol Nazerman. He owns a pawn shop in Harlem where various people from all walks of life visit his shop in a desperate attempt to pawn any item that may be of value. The relationship between Sol and his young assistant Ortiz is what shines through the most in this very bleak and sad story. This was one of Sidney Lumet's first features and it is almost like a prelude for things to come, especially with his films from the 70's (Network, Dog Day Afternoon and Serpico). The Pawnbroker is a movie that you must watch at least once before you die.

When you think of his very different roles in "on the Waterfront," 'In the Heat of the Night" and "The Pawnbroker," Rod Steiger's sensitivity and versatility as an actor are truly impressive. In Sidney Lumet's "The Pawnbroker" Steiger plays a Holocaust survivor whose pain and bitter cynicism clashes with his basically ethical intelligence. He interacts with people whose lives are also torn and conflicted by the stresses of surviving in urban America. The film thus becomes a moving exploration of the complex layers of pain and ambiguity underlying the American reality. The visual imagery and metaphor of a prison clashes with the struggles of all the main characters to hold on to their humanity. I'm glad to have this classic American film in a good blu-ray transfer.

About as perfectly crafted as the medium will allow. A breathtaking presentation. Tour de force. I return to "The Pawnbroker" over and again as the touchstone for how great moviemaking can be. But it is exhausting. I expect I've had as much as I will endure.

Rod Steiger was a great screen actor and Sidney Lumet a great director. But I don't think either of them ever bettered this tumultuous tale of an embittered concentration camp victim whose family have been murdered and whose humanity has been drowned. The film is technically innovative, using flashbacks that are almost subliminal. But the heart of it is emotional and moral and it never fails to grip. For me, it's one of the greatest films ever.

The film about a Jewish man's loss of his whole family in concentration camps is very powerful and and moving. Set on tough streets in New York, it has probably Rod Steiger's best - and an amazing - performance as an embittered pawnbroker.It was his favourite film, it seems.A rare cassette bought is of excellent quality and I have much enjoyed seeing the film again. It does not appear to be yet available on DVD.For years, I have tried to buy a copy of 'The Pawnbroker' (rarely shown on TV): well worth the wait certainly.

A magnificent and shocking film that has stayed with me for years. The bluray transfer is superb for a 1964 black and whiter.Grim with a touch of redemption in the final scene.

brilliant film. Condition as described

Brilliant