Fritz Bauer Institut · Cinematography of the Holocaust
ID |
FBW002214 Fiction |
Country / Year |
USA, 1964 |
Original Title |
The Pawnbroker |
Other Title(s) |
Der Pfandleiher (German) |
Directed by |
Sidney Lumet |
Produced by |
The Landau Company / Unger Co. / Pawnbroker Co. |
Staff |
Producer: Ely A. Landau, Roger Lewis, Philip Langer; Executive producer: Worthington Miner; Associate producer: Joseph Manduke; Production coordination: Alfred Markim; Location manager: Ulu Grossbard; Assistent director: Dan Eriksen; Script: David Friedkin, Morton Fine; Based on: Edward Lewis Wallant (nach dem gleichn. Roman); Camera: Boris Kaufman; Editing: Ralph Rosenblum; Sound: Dennis Maitland; Art direction: Richard Sylbert; Set decoration: Jack Flaherty; Costumes: Anna Hill Johnstone; Makeup: Bill Herman; Haidressing: Ed Callaghan; Music: Quincy Jones |
Cast |
Rod Steiger (Sol Nazerman); Geraldine Fitzgerald (Marilyn Birchfield); Brock Peters (Rodriguez); Jaime Sanchez (Jesus Ortiz); Thelma Oliver (Ortiz's Girl); Marketa Kimbrell (Tessie); Baruch Lumet (Mendel); Juano Hernandez (Mr. Smith); Linda Geiser (Ruth Nazerman); Nancy R. Pollock (Bertha); Raymond St. Jacques (Tangee); John McCurry (Buck); Eusebia Cosme (Mrs. Ortiz); Warren Finnerty (Savarese); Jack Ader (Morton); E.M. Margolese (Papa); Marianne Kanter (Joan); Ed Morehouse (Robinson); Marc Alexander (Rubin); Charles Dierkop |
Length |
3156 m / 115'21'' |
Format |
35mm/sw/1:1,37 |
Dates |
- 07 Jul 1964: Premiere, Berlin/West (14. Internationale Filmfestspiele) |
Further Remarks |
- Außenaufnahmen: New York, NY |
Abstract |
In Germany before WWII, Professor Sol Nazerman, a Jew, and his family are dragged to a concentration camp, where he saw his two children sent to their deaths and his wife raped by Nazi officers. Now he operates a pawnshop in Spanish Harlem. Numbed by the horrors of his past, he considers himself conditioned against any emotion. That he remained alive is a source of bewilderment and pain for him. He maintains a cold distance towards those who approach him. This is a reaction of loosing those he loved. Nazerman eventually comes to recognize human suffering beyond his own when his capacity for sorrow is belatedly revivied by dramatic turn of events. His assistant at the shop is a brash but sensitive young Puerto Rican, Jesus Ortiz, who senses that there is another being under the cold exterior Nazerman presents. But the boy’s attempts to break through the exterior are rebuffed, as are those of Marilyn Birchfield, a neighborhood social worker. When Nazerman learns that Rodriguez, the pawnshop’s flamboyant black backer, makes his money through prostitution, the old man recalls his wife’s death and swears that he wants no part of the business; but Rodriguez forces him to admit that he knew all along where the money came from. One day Ortiz tries to get assurance from Nazerman that there is more to life than the ugliness he sees around him. When Nazerman responds by being thoughtlessly cruel, the boy spitefully arranges for the pawnshop to be robbed. Facing armed thugs, Nazerman refuses to hand over the money and readily – almost eagerly – awaits death. But Ortiz takes the bullit intended for Nazerman and dies in the old man’s arms. Afterwards Nazerman impales his hand on the receipt spindle and wanders into the street. |
Subject Terms |
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Bibliography |
- , in: Variety, 08.07.1964 |