A 1964 American drama film directed by Sidney Lumet that follows Sol Nazerman (Rod Steiger), a Jewish Holocaust survivor who has lost most of his family and his faith in humanity.
Nazerman runs a pawnshop in Harlem, but his primary source of income is using the pawnshop to launder money for the local gangster and pimp Rodriguez (Brock Peters). Due to the trauma he experienced in Nazi Germany, Nazerman is emotionally shut off from the rest of humanity and makes it a point to be cruel and rude to nearly everyone, including his remaining family, his loyal employee Ortiz (Jaime Sanchez), and anyone who attempts to befriend him or make courteous small talk with him.
However, when Nazerman sees first-hand that his money comes from exploited young women, it awakens enough of his empathy for him to attempt to defy his gangster boss.
The movie also stars Geraldine Fitzgerald, Thelma Oliver, Eusebia Cosme, Marketa Kimbrell, Baruch Lumet, and Juano Hernandez.
Tropes for the film:
- Big Rotten Apple: Much of the movie takes place in East Harlem, where Sol keeps his pawnshop. The nearby area is shown to be seedy, run-down, and crime-ridden.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Mr. Smith, who gives long, rambling, barely coherent commentaries on the works of various philosophers and literary figures to Nazerman, much to the latter's annoyance and disgust.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Sol Nazerman is traumatized by what happened to him and his family in a WWII Nazi concentration camp. He hasn't been able to work through his issues, which causes those unpleasant memories to regularly flood his mind.
- Downer Ending: Ortiz is shot and killed saving Sol from robbers, and Sol stabs his hand on a receipt spike to take his mind off of his guilt.
- Empty Shell: As he more or less admits to Marilyn, Sol Nazerman is completely unable to connect with other people due to the emotional trauma of having survived a concentration camp. He seems only able to fill this emotional void by rudely expressing his contempt for other people.
- Everyone Has Standards: After being insulated by Sol, Ortiz decides to rob the pawnshop, but insists that his accomplices don't shoot or otherwise kill or seriously injure Sol in the process.
- Faux Affably Evil: Rodriguez puts on a charade of being polite and gracious with Sol, but the moment Sol challenges his authority, Rodriguez shows his true nature as a cruel and ruthless thug.
- The Film of the Book: Based on Edward Lewis Wallant's 1961 novel of the same name.
- Gayngster: A member of the street gang who accompanies Ortiz to rob Nazerman's shop is seen laying in bed ogling photos of a muscle man magazine shortly before the robbery.
- Genocide Survivor: Sol survived the Holocaust, which is still haunting him throughout the events of the film.
- Greedy Jew: Lampshaded innocently when Ortiz asks Sol why "you people" have such a good head for business, and then by Sol, who admits that centuries of being cut off from a normal life as a nation of landowners, farmers, etc have made finance the only path to success among Jews.
- Hates Everyone Equally: Sol considers everyone- "black, white or yellow"- to all be equally "scum."
- Impaled Palm: Sol does this to himself at the end of the movie.
- Large Ham: Averted - Sidney Lumet had been reluctant to work with Rod Steiger on the movie because Steiger tended towards this in most of his performances, but Steiger surprised Lumet by underplaying the role to the point he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance (though he lost to Lee Marvin for Cat Ballou).
- Misanthrope Supreme: Nazerman seems to hate almost all of humanity for what he and his family went through in a Nazi concentration camp.
- Ms. Fanservice: Also heavily averted - when Ortiz's girl flashes her breasts at Sol, he experiences a flashback of seeing his wife bare-breasted while in a concentration camp. Because of The Hays Code, the movie was turned down for a production seal (and nearly rejected for distribution by every studio), but Lumet, on the advice of Joseph L. Mankiewicz, appealed the decision and won.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Sol realizes that his cruel treatment of Ortiz was the reason for the robbery and Ortiz's death. We also see images of other people that Sol treated with hateful contempt flash through his mind as he watches Ortiz die of the gunshot wound.
- Survivor Guilt: Sol experiences this twice, first as a survivor of a Nazi concentration camp that killed most of his friends and family, and a second time when Ortiz sacrifices his life to save Sol during a robbery, despite Sol's cruel treatment of him.
- Swiss Bank Account: Sol's pawnshop is part of Rodriguez's money laundering outfit: the shop itself loses money and gets a tax break, while Rodriguez funnels money earned from his brothels and other illegal operations through the shop.
- Tagline: "The Most Talked About Picture!".
- Troubled Backstory Flashback: Sol's memories about the Holocaust show up as these, which can also blur into nightmares, especially as the movie goes on.
