The Pawnbroker

film by Lumet [1964]

Written by Lee Pfeiffer

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The Pawnbroker, American film drama, released in 1965, about the life of a Holocaust survivor. It shocked audiences with its subject matter and scenes of partial nudity.

Rod Steiger played Sol Nazerman, a cynical, introverted concentration camp survivor who is now emotionally dead and who ekes out an existence as a pawnbroker in the slums of Spanish Harlem in New York City. A former university professor in Germany whose children and wife were killed, Nazerman shuts out all attempts by others to befriend him and spurns anyone who might show him love.

The Pawnbroker featured partial female nudity and flashbacks depicting Nazi atrocities. Although approved by Hollywood’s Hays Office—which determined what was morally acceptable in movies—such scenes still caused controversy. The film also upset Jewish organizations that saw the character of Nazerman as a spur to anti-Semitism, and some minority groups objected to the depiction of pimps, prostitutes, and drug dealers in Harlem. Steiger gave what some critics called the greatest performance of his career as Nazerman. The cinematography is compelling, and Quincy Jones composed the music. Morgan Freeman made his film debut as an unbilled extra.