The Pawnbroker

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The Pawnbroker

Released Apr 20, 1965

1h 56m

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

88%

Tomatometer

25 Reviews

87%

Popcornmeter

1,000+ Ratings

Based on the novel by Edward Lewis Wallant, this drama focuses on former professor Sol Nazerman (Rod Steiger), the survivor of a German concentration camp who now runs a pawn shop in East Harlem. Having witnessed his family's death at the hands of the Nazis, he is embittered toward humanity and pushes away anyone around him, including his young Puerto Rican employee, Jesus (Jaime Sanchez). As Nazerman contends with his internal conflicts, the harsh realities of the city affect his life as well.

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Kevin Maher

Times (UK)

The result is a kind of sensory madness and torture that telegraphs perfectly the interior state of our sympathetic protagonist's mind.

Rated: 4/5

Aug 13, 2021

Full Review

William J. Nazzaro

Arizona Republic

[The Pawnbroker] is a brilliant cinema achievement. Directed with sharp eye by Sidney Lumet, this is a film that holds you by the throat for its full two-hour running time, and a film you will not long forget.

Sep 2, 2020

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Kat Halstead

Common Sense Media

Steiger was nominated for an Oscar for his central performance in this impactful drama about a Jewish man in New York, haunted by his experience of the Holocaust.

Mar 26, 2025

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Noah Gittell

Washington City Paper

The Pawnbroker is a difficult film. A groundbreaking film. A controversial, important, and altogether wonderful film that has little reputation today.

Feb 3, 2025

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Josh Larsen

LarsenOnFilm

...still manages to shock the system thanks to its stark, near-subliminal editing techniques.

Rated: 3.5/4

Aug 28, 2024

Full Review

Pauline Kael

McCall's

Juano Hernandez, as the man who wants to talk, gives the single most moving performance I saw in 1965, and Rod Steiger’s power makes our questioning of much of the action seem like quibbling.

Sep 20, 2023

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Elaine K

It’s a very thoughtful movie. It’s very well produced and it leaves you thinking.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/02/25

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Mark B

Steiger is spot on. The rest of the cast is also. His alienation is portrayed authentically. The gilding the lilly plot twist was that he was a front for a gangster. It wasn't needed. It felt like a distraction from what was going on in front of him. There's was a tendency in the fifties and sixties to pile on subplots. Still a great movie.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/28/25

Full Review

Ryan O

A quite portrait of a man who's quietly haunted by life after the concentration camps of Germany, now living a seemingly docile family life In New Jersey.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

12/31/23

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Alec B

The legacy of the Holocaust is deeply felt here. Steiger is reined in by Lumet, which produces a pretty great performance.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

11/10/23

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Audience Member

Many films have depicted the atrocities of The Holocaust in many diversely detailed forms since The Pawnbroker's release but few have captured life for the victims who survived as well as this film did, and less than twenty years removed in this case. Rod Steiger is exceptional in his role as the titular character in a film that tackles the effects of trauma and PTSD, likely before the term was even in use. As is the case for many PTSD sufferers, everyday items to most people can often trigger horrifying reveries, examples of which are hauntingly brought to the screen here by Steiger as a way to fill in the pawnbroker's motivations, while acting as a plot device in which the flashbacks reveal information to the audience little by little. Lumet loves his gritty and grimy city streets and appears much more comfortable, even early in his career, setting his films amidst the detritus of the masses, adding a texture that in most cases give his films a uniquely authentic feel. NYT 1000: #281

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/20/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Grim, unpleasant, but well done. Rod Steiger is excellent!

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/20/21

Full Review

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Sidney Lumet

Director

Rod Steiger

Sol Nazerman

Geraldine Fitzgerald

Marilyn Birchfield

Brock Peters

Rodriguez

Jaime Sanchez

Jesus Ortiz

Thelma Oliver

Ortiz' Girl

The Pawnbroker: Official Clip - No Shooting

2:02

The Pawnbroker: Official Clip - Are You That Kind of Man?

2:13

The Pawnbroker: Official Clip - You People

2:13

The Pawnbroker: Official Clip - No To Hurt You

2:05

The Pawnbroker: Official Clip - Subway to the Camps

2:12

The Pawnbroker: Official Clip - Money Is the Whole Thing

2:12

The Pawnbroker: Official Clip - It's Glass

2:12

The Pawnbroker: Official Clip - Internment Barking

1:56

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Synopsis

Based on the novel by Edward Lewis Wallant, this drama focuses on former professor Sol Nazerman (Rod Steiger), the survivor of a German concentration camp who now runs a pawn shop in East Harlem. Having witnessed his family's death at the hands of the Nazis, he is embittered toward humanity and pushes away anyone around him, including his young Puerto Rican employee, Jesus (Jaime Sanchez). As Nazerman contends with his internal conflicts, the harsh realities of the city affect his life as well.

Director: Sidney Lumet
Producer: Roger H. Lewis, Philip Langner
Screenwriter: Morton S. Fine, David Friedkin
Distributor: Allied Artists Pictures
Production Co: Landau Company
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Apr 20, 1965, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 9, 2016
Runtime: 1h 56m

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