Geraldine Fitzgerald plays Marilyn Birchfield, a social worker with sympathy for Nazerman's obvious inner turmoil. Nancy Pollock is Nazerman's sister-in-law and common-law wife.
A turning point for Nazerman arrives when he learns that Rodriguez' enterprises include prostitution. Nazerman decides he can no longer do business with Rodriguez, with disastrous consequences.
Highly unusual for a 1964 film, The Pawnbroker depicts two nude women from the waist up, and another nude woman from behind, further evidence of the fading power of the once mighty golden-age Production Code.
Quincy Jones is credited with the soundtrack, and managed a plug for his pop star client of the day, teenager Lesley Gore.
How others will see it. The Pawnbroker received critical acclaim upon release, especially Steiger in the lead role, and Lumet as director. The film received only one Oscar nomination, for Steiger as Best Actor. Steiger regarded it as his best film, even though he won an Oscar two years later for his bigoted sheriff in In the Heat of the Night. The long-term impact of The Pawnbroker is confirmed by its 2008 addition to the prestigious National Film Registry.
Today at imdb.com, the movie has a modest 10K user votes and a relatively high user rating of 7.7 out of 10. There is no relevant demographic spread.
The user reviews confirm the emotional impact the movie has on its viewers. Steiger is praised, of course. One reviewer states "Steiger gives [the] greatest performance of all time." But not everyone knows what to make of the film.
How I felt about it. Mr. Nazerman suffers from PTSD, caused by the horrors he endured at the hands of Nazi Germany. He gave up on mankind, and ekes out an unhappy middle-class existence that primarily benefits his two teenaged relations.
Unpleasant moments in his present life revive flashbacks of his wartime suffering. His family was killed by the Nazis. But Nazerman's cold, brusque exterior cannot hide his suicidal torment beneath the surface. Severe depression is now the only emotion that Nazerman can experience.
No one understands Nazerman except Birchfield. She sees, and cares about, what he is going through. But, she can't help him. Ortiz knows that Nazerman is troubled, but cannot understand why. Rodriguez can, but he doesn't care, because he is a venal gangster. Bertha, Nazerman's sister-in-law, cares for Nazerman and knows he is emotionally spent, but sees him strictly as a provider and a surrogate husband.
There is no hope for Nazerman. He is condemned to a living purgatory in which a parade of troubled, desperately poor people come to his inner-city pawnbroker store with their final possessions to pawn. He can't escape their misery, any more than he can escape his own.
Reportedly, Morgan Freeman makes his cinematic debut in this film, as an extra smoking a cigarette outside the pawnbrowker shop after Ortiz is removed from the sidewalk by an ambulance.