This Movie...
This film should be in the TSPDT top 1000 films of all time, and the IMDb top 250 also. Why in heavens name isn`t it?
shareThis film should be in the TSPDT top 1000 films of all time, and the IMDb top 250 also. Why in heavens name isn`t it?
shareI believe that great films like the Pawnbroker, dealing with the Holocaust and ugly things like racism, sexual violence, miscegination and other abborhent acts, have a hard time making a huge impact on modern viewers.. It seems that Dark Knight, and other silly comic book flics, are much more revered. When I ask someone why they go to a "blockbuster" movie, instead of a film, it is always the same answer... "I don't want to think"... So, it will almost always be a one in ten proposition.. I go to films(though not really-as I refuse to sit in theaters with people talking to the screen, or using cell-phones, as an example) to see great actors, performing with wonderful scripts, advancing the art and culture of the World we live in. But alas, that is not what "Joe Blow" wants to see.. And what is worse, Joe Blow now has dumbed down to where Heath Ledger, in a mediocre film, gets nominated for an Academy Award. Pawnbroker is in a long line of great to medium great films made in the sixties and seventies.. We have not come close to this again.. One in every 100 films now, makes a small impact.. Imagine putting Titanic up against a small budget, but wonderful film in that era???? Not a chance.. Bucks is what it's all about now.. I could make twenty films for ten million dollars now, that is spent on two films with people like Jennifer Anniston, Ben Affleck, J-lo, Vince Vaughn, and so many others... When the decison is made to make crap... Then crap is what you eat. There is an old Portuguese saying: 'when the rich put a value on crap, the poor will be born without *beep* Bend that a little and you end up with cinema today.. Rod Steiger, and all the rest in that cast, put almost all actors in the cold. When will the audience stand up and say,"I am fed up, I have had enough, and I won't take it anymore"????? Tony
shareIt is ridiculous, in general, that this film doesn't deserve the recognition it said. Besides what our very angry "mythman" friend said, there was a Holocaust class in the English department last year and this movie wasn't even on the list! In my opinion, this is the greatest movie that shows the effects of the Holocaust.
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Not enough explosions, boobs or fart jokes to satisfy the under 30 voters (most of them, anyways).
Watch 'em Abe, I seen 'em do some things!
The real reason why this movie is not in the IMDB top 250 or other "great" lists roaming around is that it's almost impossible to find. The DVD has been out of print for nearly a decade and unless there is a sudden rise in Rod Steiger's legacy, I don't think it will come out again anytime soon.
The Pawnbroker should be given more credit not just for its fearlessness in showing the Holocaust or breaking the rules of the production code but slowly ushering in a new type of film for Hollywood. Remember, this was before Virginia Woolf, Blow-Up, Easy Rider. It came out straddling two worlds, those who remembered the atrocities of the past generation, and those who were building up their own anxieties in an increasingly anxious decade.
Rod Steiger's performance is legendary, one of the greatest I've ever seen. The portrayal of his character is uncompromising, he is as much responsible for his current miserable living as the atrocities committed against him. Perhaps this ambivalence, and an ending which confirms our (and his) worst fears stops this from reaching the general public now whether it be because of a few number of copies, or they simply can't empathize with this kind of pain.
The filmmaking is unique, the central performance staggering, the subject material grim, and its legacy is a secretly important one. How The Pawnbroker isn't on more film critics or aficionados radar is beyond me.
"What will happen to us in time?"
"Time starts now." -Bullitt
If The Pawnbroker is as unnoticed today as this thread proclaims, then its a real shame. It's an instantly gripping film with thought - provoking themes adding with Steiger's brilliant portrayal of the lead character.
"I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not".
it may have been made too early.. 1964 was a long time ago,, but i agree it's top 250 material definitely.
are you going to bark all day little doggie,, or are you going to bite
Too grim for most idiots and yups!
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