The Pawnbroker

The Pawnbroker (1965) is a landmark American drama directed by Sidney Lumet — watch it online on iFILM. Rod Steiger plays Sol Nazerman, a Holocaust survivor running a pawnshop in Harlem. He takes items, hands over cash, says nothing. Twenty years after the camps, he has sealed himself off from every human connection he once had.

Memory breaks through in short, brutal flashes — images the film cuts to without warning. Sol pushes away his young assistant, who keeps trying to reach him. He ignores the violence circling the neighborhood. Then one afternoon the walls come down, and what he has refused to feel for two decades arrives all at once.

Lumet's film was among the first Hollywood productions to confront the Holocaust directly on screen. Steiger received an Academy Award nomination for his performance, and the film holds a permanent place in American cinema history. 116 minutes. Stream The Pawnbroker online on iFILM.