Wednesday, March 02, 2005
Film Commentary: The Pawnbroker - Rod Steiger
Film Basics
THE PAWNBROKER (1965) B/W widescreen 114m
dir: Sidney Lumet with Rod Steiger, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Brock Peters, Jaime Sanchez, Thelma Oliver, Marketa Kimbrell, Baruch Lumet, Juano Hernandez, Linda Geiser, Nancy R. Pollock, Raymond St. Jacques, John McCurry, Charles Dierkop, Eusebia Cosme, Warren Finnerty.
From The Movie Guide: THE PAWNBROKER, one of the seminal American films of the 1960s, focuses on Sol Nazerman (Rod Steiger), a middle-aged concentration camp survivor who lost his entire family to the Nazis and now runs a pawnshop in Harlem.
Directed by Sidney Lumet in a gritty, raw style that was fashionable at the time. THE PAWNBROKER is memorable today for its innovative use of flashbacks --- in this case quick cuts lasting only a fraction of a second --- to represent the disturbing, unrelenting flashes of Sol's memory. Also unforgettable is Steiger's towering performance as the volatile survivor, a powder keg of hateful remembrances. The soundtrack was composed by Quincy Jones.
Steiger was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar.
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iGuanaGal's Commentary:
After viewing this film on Turner Classic Movies this evening, I found myself still riveted to the story by Steiger's impassioned performance as Sol Nazerman ... going over the various scenes in my head again and again. Most of the reviews for this film either seem to serve as a vehicle for showing off the reviewer's vast film knowledge by obscure references to other lesser-known films, or discuss the plot in such detail that they give away all the surprise elements in this film - for despite it's gritty, low-key pace there are quite a few surprising and shocking revelations that will come your way in getting to know what has made and what fuels Sol Nazerman. I would not have enjoyed the movie half as much with most of the plot revealed to me prior to viewing.
One of the most glaring things left out of every single review I read about The Pawnbroker was the term Film Noir. While the actual subject matter of The Pawnbroker may not fit what one would describe as classic film noir (crime, romance, detective themes, etc.) this movie fits the genre in every other way: the dark, gritty and starkly contrasting black and white seedy depiction of New York's Spanish Harlem; dreary interior scenes of Nazerman's dusty, relic-filled pawnshop; dramatic close-ups of Steiger's character as he attempts to go through the movements of his day to day existence; and the creative and unique use of intense yet very brief flashbacks that show us what has made him the seemingly strange and very bitter man he is at the time of the filming. While The Pawnbroker's setting is in a crime-ridden neighborhood filled with pimps and criminals, they pale by comparison to Steiger's character's true demons.
This film has merit on so many different levels: Steiger's nearly silent suffering protagonist, who says more with his body language and facial expressions than one might believe any actor could muster; an intense 60s jazz soundtrack by the renowned Quincy Jones; Sidney Lumet's masterful direction; Boris Kaufman's brilliant black and white cinematography; and was one of the first American films to directly address a central character's Holocaust memories.
The Pawnbroker is nothing like Schindler's List, though the similarity in subject matter may be there, the resemblance also ends there, as well. The Pawnbroker is an intensely personal, one-on-one glimpse into Sol Wasserman's private life and psyche. The torments he suffers are shown to us through his eyes only, through his memories and not by anything on a larger scale. That larger scale comes in to play in the viewer's mind after the film ends - and is not neatly tied up with a large budget production ribbon that does the thinking for you.
This film is a must-see for all true film lovers who appreciate the work of art that all the principals involved successfully created.
iGuanaGaL
THE PAWNBROKER (1965) B/W widescreen 114m
dir: Sidney Lumet with Rod Steiger, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Brock Peters, Jaime Sanchez, Thelma Oliver, Marketa Kimbrell, Baruch Lumet, Juano Hernandez, Linda Geiser, Nancy R. Pollock, Raymond St. Jacques, John McCurry, Charles Dierkop, Eusebia Cosme, Warren Finnerty.
From The Movie Guide: THE PAWNBROKER, one of the seminal American films of the 1960s, focuses on Sol Nazerman (Rod Steiger), a middle-aged concentration camp survivor who lost his entire family to the Nazis and now runs a pawnshop in Harlem.
Directed by Sidney Lumet in a gritty, raw style that was fashionable at the time. THE PAWNBROKER is memorable today for its innovative use of flashbacks --- in this case quick cuts lasting only a fraction of a second --- to represent the disturbing, unrelenting flashes of Sol's memory. Also unforgettable is Steiger's towering performance as the volatile survivor, a powder keg of hateful remembrances. The soundtrack was composed by Quincy Jones.
Steiger was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar.
======================
iGuanaGal's Commentary:
After viewing this film on Turner Classic Movies this evening, I found myself still riveted to the story by Steiger's impassioned performance as Sol Nazerman ... going over the various scenes in my head again and again. Most of the reviews for this film either seem to serve as a vehicle for showing off the reviewer's vast film knowledge by obscure references to other lesser-known films, or discuss the plot in such detail that they give away all the surprise elements in this film - for despite it's gritty, low-key pace there are quite a few surprising and shocking revelations that will come your way in getting to know what has made and what fuels Sol Nazerman. I would not have enjoyed the movie half as much with most of the plot revealed to me prior to viewing.
One of the most glaring things left out of every single review I read about The Pawnbroker was the term Film Noir. While the actual subject matter of The Pawnbroker may not fit what one would describe as classic film noir (crime, romance, detective themes, etc.) this movie fits the genre in every other way: the dark, gritty and starkly contrasting black and white seedy depiction of New York's Spanish Harlem; dreary interior scenes of Nazerman's dusty, relic-filled pawnshop; dramatic close-ups of Steiger's character as he attempts to go through the movements of his day to day existence; and the creative and unique use of intense yet very brief flashbacks that show us what has made him the seemingly strange and very bitter man he is at the time of the filming. While The Pawnbroker's setting is in a crime-ridden neighborhood filled with pimps and criminals, they pale by comparison to Steiger's character's true demons.
This film has merit on so many different levels: Steiger's nearly silent suffering protagonist, who says more with his body language and facial expressions than one might believe any actor could muster; an intense 60s jazz soundtrack by the renowned Quincy Jones; Sidney Lumet's masterful direction; Boris Kaufman's brilliant black and white cinematography; and was one of the first American films to directly address a central character's Holocaust memories.
The Pawnbroker is nothing like Schindler's List, though the similarity in subject matter may be there, the resemblance also ends there, as well. The Pawnbroker is an intensely personal, one-on-one glimpse into Sol Wasserman's private life and psyche. The torments he suffers are shown to us through his eyes only, through his memories and not by anything on a larger scale. That larger scale comes in to play in the viewer's mind after the film ends - and is not neatly tied up with a large budget production ribbon that does the thinking for you.
This film is a must-see for all true film lovers who appreciate the work of art that all the principals involved successfully created.
iGuanaGaL
