THE PAWNBROKER
Hollywood
and the Holocaust: a
free screening of THE PAWNBROKER followed by a conversation with
Professor / Author FOSTER HIRSCH.
FILM: Sidney Lumet | 1964 | USA | 116 min
In his mesmerizing Academy Award-nominated performance, Rod Steiger plays Sol Nazerman, a Jewish pawnbroker living in Harlem after World War II. A Holocaust survivor, Sol is haunted by his memories of the war and the death of his family. Although he is embittered, and numb to the world around him, Sol’s carefully constructed walls begin to crumble as his trauma overwhelms him.
The film stars Rod Steiger, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Brock Peters, Jaime Sanchez and Morgan Freeman in his feature film debut. In 2008, The Pawnbroker was selected for
preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being
"culturally, historically or aesthetically significant".
Photo credit: American International Pictures
Conversation led by Professor/Author Foster Hirsch:
Foster Hirsch is a professor of film at Brooklyn College and the
author of sixteen books on film and theater, including Otto Preminger:
The Man Who Would Be King, The Dark Side of the Screen: Film Noir, and A
Method to Their Madness: The History of the Actors Studio. He lives in New
York City. His newest book, Hollywood and the Movies of the Fifties, is a fascinating
look at Hollywood’s most turbulent decade and the demise of the studio system
is set against the boom of the post–World War II years, the Cold War, and the
atomic age—and the movies that reflected the seismic shifts.
Praise
for Hollywood and the Movies of the Fifties:
“The definitive book on 1950s Hollywood.” — Booklist
“An important, riveting look at our nation at its peak as a
world power and at the political, cultural, sexual upheavals it endured,
reflected and explored in the quintessential American art form.”
“A
gripping informative report on a time in show business where threats to the
industry seemingly lurked around every corner of society…[that] promises to
entertain and educate movie lovers wanting to know more about the evolution of
the film industry.”
This event is FREE to attend but you must
reserve a ticket. An autographed copy of the book
is available for $40. Click HERE to
purchase the book.