V H S review " The Pawn Broker"
Added 9/10/2009
High drama about the scars left on the personality and life of a holocaust survivor. It is a dramatic story of a pawn broker working in a poor neighborhood and how this pathetic individual interacts with members of his family and the people of the neighborhood.
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"I do not believe in God, or art, or science, or newspapers, or politics, or philosophy."
Added 8/26/2009
In Sidney Lumet's THE PAWNBROKER (1964), Rod Steiger gives one of the greatest acting performances in cinematic history.
At the story's outset, we see Sol Nazerman and family on an idyllic picnic. A lovely scene turns suddenly nightmarish when Nazis arrive to arrest them. This dream image crowds Sol's brain as the 25th anniversary of the terrible event approaches. With increasing frequency and unpredictability, Nazerman flashes back to witnessed or endured concentration camp horrors-- while they last these memories emotionally disable him.
When not tortured by thoughts of Auschwitz, misanthropic Harlem pawnbroker Nazerman endures poverty-stricken, drunk or drugged-out customers, a street gang that boosts stolen items, and his pushy Hispanic assistant, Jesus Ortiz (Jaime Sánchez), who calls Sol 'Teacher,' a term the former professor hates. Lastly, there's 'Rodriguez' (Brock Peters), a local crime boss using Sol's shop to launder cash obtained through his cathouse.
Sol's home life offers him little comfort. Second wife/ex-sister-in-law Tessie (Marketa Kimbrell) badgers him for enough money to take the family on an extended Continental tour. She fondly recalls Europe as having a "certain atmosphere," but Sol's bitter response is he remembers that "it stinks of death."
Tessie's elderly bed-ridden father, Baruch (played by director Lumet's dad) hates that Sol sleeps with his dead wife's sister, and his two teenaged kids are noisy, quarrelsome pains. Nazerman thus has no peace at home, or at work, or in the recesses of his own mind. A brief attempt to connect with social worker Marilyn Birchfield (Geraldine Fitzgerald) also fails.
Mobster Rodriguez threatens painful death if Sol doesn't sign some illicit papers. Meanwhile, Ortiz orchestrates a closing-time robbery with the gang of thugs. When the heist ends in tragic violence, an unimaginable act of self-inflicted pain is probably Sol's last tenous hold on sanity and life itself.
Steiger (as Sol) silently screaming in agony at this final straw that 'broke' him is something you will never forget. Zombie-like, he wanders from his still-open shop and shuffles past a crowd of onlookers, but where will the defeated Nazerman go, what will he do, and what does it matter to an unfortunate victim of the worst pain that life can inflict?
Steiger got a Best Actor nod here, but lost. Two years later he did win forIN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT, but this award may actually have been recognition for "Pawnbroker," his very finest work.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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ITEM NEVER RECEIVED. AMAZON DOES NOT DEAL WITH SELLER ANYMORE. I COULD NOT FIGURE OUT TO GET MONEY BACK. VERY DISPLEASED.
0 out of 6 people found this helpful.
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The Pawnbroker
Added 4/17/2009
Film: "The Pawnbroker starring Rod Steiger
I saw this film in the theater when it first came out in 1965, it is one of the most moving films I think I have ever seen, and Rod Steiger was fantastic in it (of course he was always a favorite of mine). I have been of late trying to locate the film as well as the book (which I never read). After reading and seeing two films based on experiences of the Holocust, Shindler's List and The Boy in Stripped Pajamas got me on my search again. As I said "THE PAWNBROKER" is a very heart wrenching story of the cruel nature of the "Nazi's".I applaud and give my deepest respect to those individuals who survived such cruelty. It also shows one to take a minute before we judge a persons manner or actions before we know what makes them the way they are.
DP
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And now, for the re-make. . .
Added 3/8/2009
I have seen this movie several times. In my opinion, it is Steiger's greatest triumph. But, since everything is now being re-made; here is my "dream cast":
SOL NAZERMAN: Mark Wahlberg. (By dint of skillful make-up and aging; just like with Rod, remember?)
Like many of my generation, I came away from his rapper phase with the notion that "rapper" Marky-Mark was nothing more than a fourth-rate Narcissistic closet homosexual who was blessed with a marvelous physique and an elfin face, and who took delight in flaunting his charms for a repining and sadly gullible Gay (and Straight) clientele.
But, he has grown up!! Indeed, he has. Now his face is more lined with pain. In the transition to acting he has taken on roles that are more vulnerable, piteous and soul-searching. That is why I believe he could and SHOULD do Sol Nazerman.
Have you seen "Max Payne?" I have, and it is a tour-de-force by a top-flight actor, which is what he is now. So, now with some tissue paper in the cheeks,(like Brando in "The Godfather"), a little crepe hair, etc., and, voila!, we have Sol Nazerman.
But, of course, it is the actor who ennobles the part. The make up is only the beginning. Wahlberg has shown that he intends to hone his acting and infuse it with conviction; less and less "Marky-Mark" and more the mature, hard-working artist.
What do you think?
Gerald Fitzsimmons
San Ramon, CA.
0 out of 4 people found this helpful.
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V H S review " The Pawn Broker"
Added 9/10/2009
High drama about the scars left on the personality and life of a holocaust survivor. It is a dramatic story of a pawn broker working in a poor neighborhood and how this pathetic individual interacts with members of his family and the people of the neighborhood.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
"I do not believe in God, or art, or science, or newspapers, or politics, or philosophy."
Added 8/26/2009
In Sidney Lumet's THE PAWNBROKER (1964), Rod Steiger gives one of the greatest acting performances in cinematic history.
At the story's outset, we see Sol Nazerman and family on an idyllic picnic. A lovely scene turns suddenly nightmarish when Nazis arrive to arrest them. This dream image crowds Sol's brain as the 25th anniversary of the terrible event approaches. With increasing frequency and unpredictability, Nazerman flashes back to witnessed or endured concentration camp horrors-- while they last these memories emotionally disable him.
When not tortured by thoughts of Auschwitz, misanthropic Harlem pawnbroker Nazerman endures poverty-stricken, drunk or drugged-out customers, a street gang that boosts stolen items, and his pushy Hispanic assistant, Jesus Ortiz (Jaime Sánchez), who calls Sol 'Teacher,' a term the former professor hates. Lastly, there's 'Rodriguez' (Brock Peters), a local crime boss using Sol's shop to launder cash obtained through his cathouse.
Sol's home life offers him little comfort. Second wife/ex-sister-in-law Tessie (Marketa Kimbrell) badgers him for enough money to take the family on an extended Continental tour. She fondly recalls Europe as having a "certain atmosphere," but Sol's bitter response is he remembers that "it stinks of death."
Tessie's elderly bed-ridden father, Baruch (played by director Lumet's dad) hates that Sol sleeps with his dead wife's sister, and his two teenaged kids are noisy, quarrelsome pains. Nazerman thus has no peace at home, or at work, or in the recesses of his own mind. A brief attempt to connect with social worker Marilyn Birchfield (Geraldine Fitzgerald) also fails.
Mobster Rodriguez threatens painful death if Sol doesn't sign some illicit papers. Meanwhile, Ortiz orchestrates a closing-time robbery with the gang of thugs. When the heist ends in tragic violence, an unimaginable act of self-inflicted pain is probably Sol's last tenous hold on sanity and life itself.
Steiger (as Sol) silently screaming in agony at this final straw that 'broke' him is something you will never forget. Zombie-like, he wanders from his still-open shop and shuffles past a crowd of onlookers, but where will the defeated Nazerman go, what will he do, and what does it matter to an unfortunate victim of the worst pain that life can inflict?
Steiger got a Best Actor nod here, but lost. Two years later he did win forIN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT, but this award may actually have been recognition for "Pawnbroker," his very finest work.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
|
ITEM NEVER RECEIVED. AMAZON DOES NOT DEAL WITH SELLER ANYMORE. I COULD NOT FIGURE OUT TO GET MONEY BACK. VERY DISPLEASED.
0 out of 6 people found this helpful.
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