The pawnbroker

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
German title The pawnbroker
Original title The Pawnbroker
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1964
length 119 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Sidney Lumet
script Morton S. Fine
David Friedkin
production Ely A. Landau
Philip Langner
Roger Lewis
Herbert R. Steinmann for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
music Quincy Jones
camera Boris Kaufman
cut Ralph Rosenblum
occupation

The pawnbroker (original title The Pawnbroker ) is an American feature film by Sidney Lumet from 1964, the dubbed version of which was first shown in German cinemas in 1967. The film was based on a novel by Edward Lewis Wallant , first published in New York in 1961. Rod Steiger plays the Jew Sol Nazerman, who survived the concentration camp but is broken inside and has to go on living with his memories. Geraldine Fitzgerald and Brock Peters are cast in leading roles.

action

Sol Nazerman is a pawnbroker in Spanish Harlem . As a Jewish German and a concentration camp survivor, he emigrated to the USA after the Second World War . But the traumatically repressed experiences haunt him: the kidnapping of his family, the murder of his children and the rape of his wife Ruth by Nazi officers - he watched everything helplessly. Once he lived his life, now he just takes it. Nazerman tries to protect his shattered psyche by external hardship and closeness. The only ones who can get closer to the broken man at times are his co-worker Jesus Ortiz and the social worker Marilyn Birchfield.

When Sol realizes that his client Rodriguez earns his money with prostitution, his memories from the past come back. He doesn't want anything to do with dirty business. Ortiz tries to cheer him up and make him understand that there is more to life than the depressing environment in which they live. However, the old man is not to be convinced. He reacts repellent and hurtful. Ortiz is disappointed and organizes a raid on Nazerman's business. When the use of firearms suddenly occurs during the robbery, Nazerman faces death again in his life. However, Ortiz protects him and is shot instead of him. The young man dies in the old man's arms. Nazerman leaves his shop and wanders the streets of New York .

Production notes

Filming

The shooting of the film extended over the period from October to December 1963. The shooting was in the 185 N Marginal Road in Jericho (New York), in the apartment complex Lincoln Towers, in the New York borough of Manhattan Lincoln Square , in the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on Columbus Avenue in Manhattan, in Hoyt-Schermerhorn Street, Subway Station, in Brooklyn , in Connecticut , in Harlem Art Park on E 120th Street in Harlem , on 116th Street in Manhattan, in Long Island , in the N Marginal Road & Route 106 in Jericho, New York, in New York City and on Park Avenue in Manhattan.

The later world-famous actor Morgan Freeman celebrated his screen premiere in the film. He was seen as a man on the street, but was not named in the credits.

background

The Pawnbroker was one of the first American films to deal with the Holocaust from the perspective of a survivor after the events . The film is heavily influenced by the French New Wave of the early 1960s, particularly the use of quick flashbacks to expose Sol's personal tragedy. For Rod Steiger, the film meant international recognition and a career as a top actor in big films. For his role in this film, he settled on a $ 50,000 fee because he trusted Sidney Lumet, with whom he was not working for the first time. Steiger was almost 40 years old at the time of shooting, but was so immersed in the character he was playing that it is hard to believe that he is not a 60-year-old man. Steiger later said he thought his best job was at the pawnbroker .

trouble

The film struggled to find a major US distributor because the subject was dark and challenging. In England, too, the producer Ely A. Landau had difficulties conveying the film. The film caused considerable controversy in several communities. Some Jewish organizations called for a boycott of the film because they perceived the portrayal of the Jewish pawnbroker as anti-Semitic . Groups of dark-skinned people, on the other hand, accused the film of promoting racial stereotypes in the inner city, where everyone appeared to be a pimp, prostitute or drug addict. The scene in which Ortiz's friend, played by Thelma Oliver, exposes her breasts also raised objections. It was the first American film that showed bare breasts and still received MPPDA approval for the Production Code . In the Federal Republic of Germany, Nora-Filmverleih GmbH & Co KG, Munich, took over the distribution of the film, which was given the rating of "particularly valuable" by the film evaluation office.

Hopes

With the award-nominated film, Rod Steiger was pretty sure that he would get the Oscar , for which he was nominated for "Best Actor". When he heard Lee Marvin's name (awarded for the western comedy Cat Ballou ) instead of his name at the Academy Awards , he was somewhat shocked. He never forgot this moment, he was quoted by Tom Hutchinson in his biography "Rod Steiger: Memoirs of a Friendship".

Sean Axmaker pointed out at Turner Classic Movies that Steiger was far more powerful and nuanced in his role than in his role in the film In the Heat of the Night , for which he got his first Oscar.

The Evangelical Film Guild recommended the film in November 1967 as “Best Film of the Month” and wrote: “With his eighth feature film, which is finally coming to Germany more than three years after its creation, the director of the Twelve Jurors has made a serious contribution to this Guilt and the past are still simmering questions. Lumet's unspoken conclusion that no one - whatever their past may be - can evade the demands of the present, points to a future based on mutual understanding ”.

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack comes from Quincy Jones , whose first major film assignment was this.

  • Soul Bossa Nova by Quincy Jones, performed by Quincy Jones and his orchestra
  • I Don't Wanna Be a Loser by Ben Raleigh and Mark Barkan, Lecture: Lesley Gore

reception

Publication, awards

Main actor Rod Steiger in particular received great recognition for his portrayal of the Jewish pawnbroker Sol Nazerman. The film was first shown at the Berlin International Film Festival in June 1964 . Here Steiger received the Silver Bear . Sidney Lumet, who also received a Golden Bear nomination , was honored with the FIPRESCI award . At the Bodil Awards, Lumet was the winner in the “Best Non-European Film” category. Sidney Lumet was also nominated at the Directors Guild of America for the DGA Award in the category "Best Feature Film Director " and at the BAFTA Awards for the UN Award.

In 1966 Rod Steiger was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and an Oscar . In 1967 the actor received a British Film Academy Award for best foreign actor. Steiger also received a Laurel Awards nomination and a New York Film Critics Circle Awards nomination for Best Actor. The film was voted one of the ten best films of the year by the film critics of the New York Times in 1965.

Morton S. Fine and David Friedkin received the WGA Award at the Writers Guild of America in the category "Best Screenplay for a Motion Picture Drama". The importance of this film in terms of film history was recognized in 2008 when it was accepted into the National Film Registry .

The film found its way into German cinemas on November 10, 1967. On January 2, 2003, it was shown again in Germany. The film opened in the USA on April 20, 1965. The following year it was released in theaters in Denmark, Sweden and the United Kingdom (London), and in 1967 in Italy, Ireland, Argentina and Mexico. The film was first shown in France and Japan in 1968, in Finland in 1969. In 1999 the film was shown at the San Jose Film Festival (Rod Steiger Tribute). On June 3, 2014, he was one of the entries at the Seattle International Film Festival . It was released in Greece in 2016. It was also presented in Brazil, Canada, Chile, Hungary, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, in the Soviet Union, in Spain, in Turkey and in what was then Yugoslavia. The ZDF exuded the shortened for the German theatrical film on 30 July 1995 for the first time from the original length.

The film was released on DVD in 2008 with a German soundtrack.

criticism

Coronet Magazine wrote that The Pawnbroker was undoubtedly one of the most beautiful films in many years. Cosmopolitan spoke of one of the most eye-catching films of our time! The Time Magazine said that the film is full of emotional shock, he burn himself in the head. For Life Magazine , it's a shockingly good film, superbly directed and flawlessly played.

Cinema described the plot of the film with the word: "Shocking".

Kino.de pointed out that this was one of the first films that dealt with survivors of the concentration camps and tried to make the mental life of a Holocaust victim understandable and spoke of a “brilliant psychodrama”: “A brilliant Rod Steiger in the main role acts with deep resignation and visible pain. Cinematographer Boris Kaufmann, brother of Dziga Vertov , shot a dirty and desolate New York with the handheld camera. "

AllMovie's Dan Jardine wrote that this was a powerful, dark film that featured a great performance by Rod Steiger in the title role and the tight direction of Sidney Lumet. Lumet, who knows his way around New York, gives the film a liveliness and urgency with the use of French New Wave technology that would complement the story. 'The Pawnbroker' is one of the first Hollywood films that drew psychological parallels to the current conditions of New York ghetto life. Boris Kaufman's black-and-white photography effectively increases the gloomy mood, while the music and eerie lighting provide appropriate emotional punctuation marks for an intensive and intelligent study of a man's emotional alienation.

Jeffrey Kaufman of Blu-ray.com said the film The Pawnbroker was an oppressive, almost suffocating film experience that tells practically first hand what the horrors of the Holocaust did to a person. This is not an easy film to watch, but it shows the devastating effects of what happens to people who have endured inhuman things and who are desperately trying to evade their memories in order to feel even more trapped by them. Steiger has never been better. The film has a dark, dirty ambience that perfectly captures the Manhattan of that time in all its shabby glory.

Roberto Dzugan from Critic.de was of the opinion that Lumet's film was “one of the very few films (and probably the first ever) that attempts to understand the soul of a Holocaust survivor by means of a complex yet simple cinematic design close". A “brilliant Rod Steiger” plays the Jew Nazerman with “gross indifference and deep resignation: a traumatized man who lives with the pain of the past and without any future, one who has completely shielded himself from his environment”.

Derek Winnert spoke of a brilliant, challenging, honest film that Lumet had directed with great emotion and feeling. Not only does the director encourage the entire cast, he is also getting the most out of the field scenes in New York. Also noteworthy is the script written by Friedkin and Fine, which is strong and economical, as well as Kaufman's sharp black and white camera, the razor-sharp editing and the jazz score by Quincy Jones. This is Steiger's big show and, together with the literary adaptation In the Heat of the Night, Steiger's best time in the film.

Gary Tooze from DVD Beaver spoke of a breathtaking achievement by Rod Steiger in this powerful story of hope, which Sidney Lumet put into practice with great empathy.

On the side DVDClassik.com it means the story will focus exclusively on how the survivors of his life see conditioned to fight with the terror of what he has experienced. The pawnbroker is an exciting film that updates a purely cinematic language by showing the difficulties with which the people who survived the horrors of the concentration camps had to struggle. In addition, Sidney Lumet reminds of the racism and the ghettoization of American society. Blacks, Puerto Ricans, Jews ... they are all trapped in a ghetto, so to speak. Lumet does not compare America with Nazi Germany, it simply shows that the temptation to humiliate, divide and break people is present in all societies.

DVDtalk's Justin Remer said the release of the film on DVD would be a perfect time to familiarize yourself with (or get to know again) this forgotten classic because the film is highly recommended.

"The psychological drama about complicity and purification gains high formal and humane qualities through its haunting design."

- Lexicon of international film

“(...) a very human film, the coherence of which is heightened by the authenticity of the milieu. (Rating: 3½ out of 4 possible stars - exceptional) "

- Adolf Heinzlmeier and Berndt Schulz in the dictionary "Films on TV"

“Thematically excellent film, which despite the dubious equation of today and yesterday and a somewhat exaggerated symbolism, thanks to the great portrayal of Rod Steiger, becomes a harrowing experience, even if pathos and sentimentality impair its effect. Worth seeing from 16. "

- Protestant film observer

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Pawnbroker see page Screenplay Info at Turner Classic Movies (TCM, English)
  2. ↑ a b c Jeff Stafford: The Pawnbroker see Articles at TCM (English)
  3. ↑ a b Sean Axmaker: The Pawnbroker Home Video Reviews on the page tcm.turner.com (English).
  4. ↑ a b The Evangelische Filmgilde recommends as the best film of the month: "The Pawnbroker" (The Pawnbroker) see filmdesmonats.de (PDF document)
  5. ↑ David Blakeslee: David Reviews Sidney Lumet's The Pawnbroker see page criterioncast.com, May 19, 2014 (English).
  6. ↑ The Pawnbroker see Miscellaneous Notes at TCM (English)
  7. ↑ Der Pfandleiher (1964) Release Info at IMDb
  8. ↑ a b The pawnbroker. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed June 12, 2019 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  9. ↑ The pawnbroker Fig. DVD case (in the picture: Rod Steiger) at av-film.de
  10. ↑ a b Justin Remer: The pawnbroker see page dvdtalk.com (English). Retrieved June 12, 2019.
  11. ↑ The pawnbroker see page cinema.de (including the original film poster and 12 film images). Retrieved June 12, 2019.
  12. ↑ Film review of The Pawn Shop at kino.de. Retrieved June 12, 2019.
  13. ↑ Dan Jardine: The Pawnbroker see page allemovie.com (English). Retrieved June 12, 2019.
  14. ↑ Jeffrey Kaufman: The Pawnbroker see page blu-ray-com (English). Retrieved June 12, 2019.
  15. ↑ Roberto Dzugan: The Pawnbroker (The Pawnbroker, USA 1964) see page critic.de. Retrieved June 12, 2019.
  16. ↑ The Pawnbroker ***** (1964, Rod Steiger, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Brock Peters, Jaime Sanchez) - Classic Movie Review 3470 see page derekwinnert.com (English). Retrieved June 12, 2019.
  17. ^ Gary Tooze: The Pawnbroker (Sidney Lumet, 1964) see page dvdbeaver.com (English, including numerous film images). Retrieved June 12, 2019.
  18. ↑ Le prêteur sur gages see page dvdclassik.com (French). Retrieved June 12, 2019.
  19. ^ Adolf Heinzlmeier and Berndt Schulz in Lexicon "Films on TV" (extended new edition). Rasch and Röhring, Hamburg 1990, ISBN 3-89136-392-3 , p. 640.
  20. ↑ Evangelischer Presseverband München, Review No. 497a / 1967