The career of Rod Steiger can be used as a warning that quantity is inferior to quality . He might have appeared in ON THE WATERFRONT , DR ZHIVAGO , and THE SERGEANT but he also appeared in some awful crap like THE AMITYVILLE HORROR , THE KINDRED , MODERN VAMPIRES and THE LAST PRODUCER . In fact the only other actor I can think of who has a similar shocking inconsistency of roles is Robert DeNiro , and neither actor can use money as an excuse for appearing in so many turkeys since their worst roles happened at the end of their careers
I would rate THE PAWNBROKER as Steiger's best all time performance . He might have won the Oscar for best actor for IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT but we see the zenith of his career in this film . Steiger is Sol Nazerman , holocaust survivor now running a pawnbroker shop in New York City amongst a lot of seedy untrustworthy characters . Jews are history's great survivors but because of the rest of humanity's inhumanity towards the Jew it seems to have left scars on their psyche - Very suspicious by nature and with a not very friendly mannerism Steiger captures this survivors persona perfectly . There's little to add to this . Method acting at its most perfect
If there's a problem with the film it's that it doesn't seem very cinematic . It could be the original novel by Edward Lewis Wallant , or it could be the way the novel is adapted to screen , or it could be to do with director Sidney Lumet . Looking at Lumet's resume I'm struck at how much of the director's work is based on stage plays : 12 ANGRY MEN , THE HILL , THE OFFENCE , this movie isn't but it certainly feels like it was culled from the theatre with its limited set of ( Interior ) locations and the use of close up shots of characters faces . It's not much of a problem since it emphasises the performances and I can't repeat enough how good Rod Steiger is , but the directing isn't as superb as Lumet's earlier 12 ANGRY MEN
I would rate THE PAWNBROKER as Steiger's best all time performance . He might have won the Oscar for best actor for IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT but we see the zenith of his career in this film . Steiger is Sol Nazerman , holocaust survivor now running a pawnbroker shop in New York City amongst a lot of seedy untrustworthy characters . Jews are history's great survivors but because of the rest of humanity's inhumanity towards the Jew it seems to have left scars on their psyche - Very suspicious by nature and with a not very friendly mannerism Steiger captures this survivors persona perfectly . There's little to add to this . Method acting at its most perfect
If there's a problem with the film it's that it doesn't seem very cinematic . It could be the original novel by Edward Lewis Wallant , or it could be the way the novel is adapted to screen , or it could be to do with director Sidney Lumet . Looking at Lumet's resume I'm struck at how much of the director's work is based on stage plays : 12 ANGRY MEN , THE HILL , THE OFFENCE , this movie isn't but it certainly feels like it was culled from the theatre with its limited set of ( Interior ) locations and the use of close up shots of characters faces . It's not much of a problem since it emphasises the performances and I can't repeat enough how good Rod Steiger is , but the directing isn't as superb as Lumet's earlier 12 ANGRY MEN