The Pawnbroker (1964)
Special Sidney Lumet
The Outsider: The Films of Sidney Lumet

The Pawnbroker (1964)

Hoezo in KINO

“I didn’t die. Everything that I loved… was taken away from me, and… I did not die.” Actor Rod Steiger received a long overdue Academy Award in 1967 for his role in In the Heat of the Night but he should have won three years prior for his devastating portrayal of a Holocaust survivor running a pawn shop in Harlem. This is one of the great character studies committed to film that stalks its protagonist through the narrow spaces of his store where the security divide is as much there for his safety as it is to signify his emotional detachment from society. A deeply human story without grand speeches or statements, which makes it all the better for it. English language without subtitles.

Credits

Regie
Sidney Lumet
Cast
Rod Steiger, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Brock Peters, Jaime Sánchez
Genre
Drama, Misdaad
Speelduur
116 minuten
Land
VS
Taal
Engels
Ondertiteling
Geen

Storyline

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.

KINO is proud to present a retrospective on the features of writer and director Sidney Lumet. The versatile filmmaker worked mainly outside of the Hollywood machine but always secured the greatest talent in front of his camera as his reputation as an ‘actor’s director’ secured no less than seventeen Oscar nominations for his leads. His beloved New York City was often not only a geographical setting but a vital asset in his films as he explored the metropole from its classiest office buildings to its seediest back alleys. Unlike for instance Coppola or Scorsese, Lumet’s oeuvre is less distinctive in style as he always adapted his artistic choices to serve the story, not to his own visual preferences. But he is one of the great humanist directors with a fantastic catalogue waiting to be explored and we are proud to present his biggest hits as well as his lesser known films in this thirteen feature retrospective.

Trailer: Baris Azman