11 Aug The Pawnbroker
The Pawnbroker, movie about the Holocaust starring Rod Steiger
(1965) Rod Steiger plays a Jewish pawnbroker who can’t forgive himself for not dying in a German concentration camp with the rest of his family. This was one of the first American films to portray a Holocaust survivor trying to deal with his memories. Needless to say, he was not dealing well.
The Academy Award did not go to Rod Steiger, but it should have. His portrayal of this man who suffers through each day as his mind flashes back is unforgettable.
Two things “hit” me. One was that I was taken aback at the two instances of frontal nudity, in 1965. I later read on Wikipedia that this was “the first film featuring bare breasts to receive Production Code approval.”
The 2nd thing was that for some of the characters the Harlem neighborhood where Nazerman’s Pawnshop was located had many similarities to the German concentration camp … the brutality, hopelessness, the willingness to do anything to survive.
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