Serial Number: 19608
Title: Pawnbroker, The (1964)
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Country of Origin: ITALY
Genre: Private Gallery - The 60's
Subject: Judaica
Size: 2 Fogli 39x55
Condition: EX
Card Number: N/A
Price: $NOT FOR SALE
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| Actors/Actresses: Rod Steiger, Jaime Sanchez, Thelma Oliver |
| Notes: Director: Sidney Lumet; Rod Steiger, in the title role, delivers a masterful performance as the Jewish pawnbroker living in East Harlem, who is haunted by horrible images from his past. He is a concentration camp survivor, who has witnessed the death of his two children and the rape of his wife by Nazi officers. Having been a university professor back in Germany, he is now a bitter, withdrawn, uncaring, unsympathetic empty shell of a man. If there ever was a softer side to him, it is no longer detectable. Surprisingly, the movie contains a number of allusions to Jesus, including, in my opinion, the main characters’ name – Mr. Nazerman – which is reminiscent of The Nazarene. The final scene in the movie includes the iconic “silent scream”. The movie benefits greatly from a jazzy score, composed arranged and conducted by Quincy Jones. The movie was very controversial at the time of its release, and along with a number of awards and nominations that the movie has garnered, it also drew criticism from Jewish groups for encouraging anti-Semitism, Black groups for propagating racial stereotypes, and Catholic groups for the nudity and sex scenes. The Pawnbroker is considered to be the first major American film that attempts to recreate some of the horrors of the Holocaust. An earlier film, Judgment at Nuremberg(1961), did depict horrific scenes from concentration camps, but there, actual documentary footage was employed, which was in fact the same footage used in the trials themselves. |
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