evanston_dad Oooph, this movie hurts.Film buffs can find evidence of schizophrenia in any movie decade, but perhaps none more so than in the 1950s and 1960s. It is nearly inconceivable to me that "The Pawnbroker" came out in the year that "The Sound of Music" won the Best Picture Academy Award. Don't get me wrong, I very much like "The Sound of Music" too, but it almost seems like it was made in a different century compared to this film.Rod Steiger was justly nominated for and wrongly lost the Academy Award for his performance in "The Pawnbroker," as a concentration camp survivor who has lost all faith in humanity and sees people as no more or less valuable than the possessions they come to him to pawn. The film was directed by Sidney Lumet, and it creates the same sweaty, grimy atmosphere that Lumet would occasionally revisit (like in his 1975 film "Dog Day Afternoon") and that Martin Scorsese made a career of throughout the 1970s. It's a bleak film, one that uses the horrors of the Holocaust to shape its main character's psyche without giving him or the audience any real hope for his future. It's a film that suggests that the Holocaust broke something fundamental in human nature that will never be repaired. It's a message at odds with so many films that try to find closure or hope or at the very least a lesson to be learned from such a dark chapter of history, and it makes "The Pawnbroker" feel years ahead of its time.The film is also trailblazing in its acknowledgement of blacks and homosexuals at a time when the former were the subject of mostly preachy white guilt movies that starred Sidney Poitier and the latter were not to be found in films pretty much anywhere. In "The Pawnbroker," both exist without commentary; they're just part of the world Rod Steiger's character lives in, as disenfranchised from the rest of humanity in their own way as he is. It's rather remarkable that the film includes so many black and gay characters without the film being ABOUT black and gay characters. The casual inclusion of them is a greater statement for the time than a movie about them would have been.This is by no means a pleasant film to watch, but it is an awfully good one, and one that may very well leave you shaken.Grade: A

spitfire2356 Rod Steiger is under the lens in this classic study of a man zombified by life events. Adjusting to losing family, country and way of life proves impossible even after 25 years. He grudgingly supports his brother's family to expiate the gnawing acid guilt of survival. The black and white stark cinematography, weather and drudgery of pawnbroking work combine to infuse a suffocating dead- end atmosphere. The bleak city neighborhood and down at luck faces of the crowded inhabitants are a continuation of the concentration camp. The walk- in wounded seeping into the shop with hard-life stories, are dealt summarily by the walking dead Scrooge shop-owner. Despite this they still try again - they have not been beaten by the system. Yet. We build up some hope that his over enthusiastic Latino assistant stands a chance of scratching the surface but we get suddenly disappointed when his modest dreams get cruelly rebuffed. A lonely woman reaches out but is repeatedly and very coldly spurned. His second wife suffers and hopes but is left clutching at empty air. The pimp (an excellent Brock Peters) reads him too well. He expertly carries on where the Nazi's left off. There is no let up for him. He is condemned to suffer all his life in a concentration camp. How much of it is self- imposed? He asks for a release in death, and even that is denied him. The death of his assistant takes time to jolt feelings of excruciating agony from him. He does open his mouth but no sounds come out. We are not sure what the emotion actually is however. The shocking realization that he had cruelly let down a person that had looked up to him - and that person has just given up his life for him. He suddenly and desperately wants to start feeling something, anything again. Even pain is better than nothingness. Another explanation is that he wants to kill himself, but only manages to hurt himself. It feels too little, too late. Open to interpretations like all the best endings. Definitely not a feel good film

kai ringler Rod Steiger delivers the performance of a lifetime in this sad movie. the story is about a man who lives in New York runs a laundry mat,, and starts having flashbacks of the War when he was in the Concentration Camps. the story has some flashbacks, and they are very poignant. the old man takes on a younger partner in the Laundromat,, but later on Sol finds out that the money used to run the business also comes from a brothel.. there's not a lot of action in this,, but it doesn't need to have action,, this movie is based on pure raw emotion,, hatred, greed, and all of the things incorporated in a great drama. it's sad to see the detioration of Sol as the movie winds along. this is a very powerful and shocking movie, not to be watched by the lighthearted, i'm German so i will definitely watch this again.

gavin6942 A Jewish pawnbroker (Rod Steiger), victim of Nazi persecution, loses all faith in his fellow man until he realizes too late the tragedy of his actions.What goes on at the corner of Park Avenue and East 116th Street? Your friendly neighborhood pawn shop doing business, or a hub for criminal elements? Ivan Butler says the film presents "the beastliness and squalor of life in a big city", with even the life-saving ambulance featuring a "battered chassis". Butler's praise knows no bounds when he says, "Rod Steiger's performance ranks among the half dozen greatest in the cinema, and the film is filled with unforgettable moments." There is an interesting social commentary here, though what exactly it says may be unclear. A Jewish man, who has survived the Holocaust, now provides a service for the poor, who he calls "scum". Is it right for him to look down on people when he was once looked down on? And is his "service" helping the people or only further forcing them into poverty? In some sense, he has become the new oppressor, controlling the lives of his neighbors by deciding how much the important pieces of their lives are worth, and collecting their rings much as the Nazis had once collected the rings of his fellow prisoners.While probably not intentional, one could make the case that this film is an allegory for the state of Israel. The members there, once oppressed, now keep their neighbors down. That strikes me as being far more political than this story was reaching for, though.Interestingly, this was Morgan Freeman's first movie (as an uncredited man on the street). And strangely, you will notice that the music first heard as background on the radio in the scene between Ortiz and his girlfriend was later revived by Quincy Jones to become the title theme music to the Austin Powers films.