Pawnbroker, The (1964) Movie Script
Sol?
Solly?
I just made some fresh
lemonade, Solly.
It's going to be a nice day.
Not too hot.
Ohh!
Your back again, papa?
Aww.
Why don't you move
into the shade, Sol?
Good morning, uncle Sol.
Mother, I was thinking.
If we could only afford it, Danish
modern would be so perfect.
Solly?
The editorial section.
So, Solly...
What do you think, huh?
About what?
What I told you at brunch.
After all, you live here, too.
You're paying for it.
It really is up to you.
Buy it and keep it.
What?
I said buy it...
Keep it...
The AM-FM television.
That's not what I mean. I mean
about the trip to Europe.
I don't wanna be...
Turn it down, joan.
This music bother you, uncle Sol?
You sure you wouldn't
like some lemonade?
Did you sleep long enough, my son?
I wasn't sleeping.
No. He was drawing his
pornographic pictures.
Give me that!
Oh, look at it!
My god! Look!
It's a nude girl!
Look at that, uncle Sol!
My god!
What have you been doing?
Ha ha!
Give it back to me!
Look what your son's been doing!
Don't you know girls aren't built that way!
All right!
Enough already, will you?
Why can't you leave me alone?
As soon as you come around, my son,
There's a disturbance.
Morton, comb your hair, Morton.
You look like some
kind of character
With your hair like that.
Edward's picking me
up in 10 minutes,
And I don't want you
to frighten him.
What happens to the time?
25 years.
Do you realize it, Sol?
Do I realize what?
25 years next thursday.
Did you know that, Sol?
Yes.
My sister.
My poor sister Ruth.
Mother.
25 years.
My sister Ruth was
beautiful like a picture.
Uncle Solly knows how
beautiful, mother.
He was married to her.
Sol, all you have to
do is say yes or no.
A final yes or no.
A final yes or no about what?
The trip to Europe.
You want to go to Europe, Bertha?
Not me, so much,
But they have family plans now,
So why not?
It's a 17-day tour.
And why do you want
to go to Europe?
Mostly, it's him.
He says it'd be very good
For his standing with
the school board.
And he's always wanted
to visit there, anyhow.
The shrines and the old cities...
There's an atmosphere
we don't have here.
Something mellow.
Age lends its own charm.
Why, you can almost
smell the difference.
It's rather like a
stink if I remember.
All esta tu jefe, Jesus!
No spanish, mama.
No spanish.
English.
You hurry now.
Couple of weeks working for him
Ain't long enough
for you to be late.
Mama, you know what
your trouble is?
You know your trouble?
You worry!
You worry.
Now, me, I don't worry, mama.
You know why?
Because I am going
a long way, mama.
Yeah! A long way.
Jesus...
No more trouble.
No more things like that, Jesus.
No. No more, mama.
No more stealing, no more numbers,
No more peddling, no more nothing.
Strictly legit, ok?
Ok.
Mister?
How much will you give me for this?
I'm here!
Let the business now commence.
Ah, come on, now, Mr. Nazerman.
Don't look that way, now.
Listen, I'm going to insist...
I insist you dock me
exactly 20 minutes I late.
On the other hand,
I'll work so hard for
the next few hours
That you'll wind up giving
me time and a half.
To start with, I'm going
to open the front.
It's an award for oratory.
I won it in a citywide
oratorical contest
Five years ago.
It's gold.
$1.00.
$1.00 for an important
award like this?
20,000 started.
50 semifinalists, and I won.
I recited "the raven."
I was 1 of 20,000.
$1.00. Still at the same address?
Uh-huh.
But it's gold.
Plate. $1.00.
Man the lifeboats!
Here I is again.
All right.
Gimme a dollar.
Honest and true,
It's like bailing out
an old leaky boat
Filled with holes.
You pawn something,
You buy something else,
and then you pawn that.
Each time, the boat's gettin'
deeper into the water.
Ha ha! Ain't it a wonder
a body stay afloat
As long as it do?
Aw, come on, Mr. Nazerman.
Smile.
Here I am with a load
of profit for you.
They's heirloom.
Makes a table look like a table.
I'll sell them for $10 a pair.
$2.00.
My goodness!
Why, these candlesticks
is very high quality.
Cost $25 when new.
Now, I could get $15 easy
down at Triboro pawn.
I suggest, mrs. Harmon,
That you take them
down to triboro pawn.
Ha ha ha!
You a merciless man for sure.
$2.00!
Oh, I'm too pooped to
haggle, Mr. Nazerman.
Sold!
Oh, you's a hard man.
God pity you.
He's the only judge, after all.
Be seeing you again, Mr. Nazerman,
And that's for sure.
Take care now, you hear?
Wait a minute, mrs. Harmon.
You forgot your ticket,
And you forgot your $2.00.
You know, I've been thinking.
Them suits in the back?
I'll make a list of them,
First according to the size,
And then another one
according to condition,
And then the type.
You know, what I mean by that
Is summer or serge or gabardine.
You know, that way any
suit anybody wants,
Pow! Put my finger
on it right away.
I'm just filled with
good ideas, man.
Good morning, Mr. Nazerman.
Good morning.
$2.00.
Quite incidentally, Mr. Nazerman,
I've just been reading a
very remarkable book...
Herbert Spencer's
genesis of science.
Yes, but then you
probably know it well.
It's a very good book.
I- I particularly
like his insistence
That science is born of art,
Not the other way around.
To me, this was refreshing,
Coming from a man
That most modern thinkers
called old-fashioned.
Did any of your
students think of that
While you were at Leipzig?
But Spencer didn't come up with
anything very new, really.
Pythagoras, an artist at heart
And a great lover of music,
Made the discovery that
the pitch of sound
Depends upon the length
of the vibrating string.
That was six centuries
before Christ.
I... I, uh...
From time to time,
I like to drop in here
Because, Mr. Nazerman,
A man gets hungry for talk.
Good talk.
There's your ticket,
and there's your $2.00.
Mr. Nazerman...
$2.00 will be...
quite all right.
I...
I apologize for talking
so much, Mr. Nazerman.
D- d-did...
Forgive me.
Yes?
Nazerman?
How's business, Nazerman?
Business is the same as usual.
We spend more money
than we take in.
Good. Pretty soon Uncle Sam
will have to pay us money,
Subsidize us.
Can't expect taxes from a
losing business, can they?
Ha ha ha!
That's funny, huh?
That's pretty funny, huh?
I asked you a question, professor.
Pawnshop.
Nazerman?
Yes, sir.
It's for you.
Yes?
We get disconnected or something?
No. I hung up.
The word professor.
I don't like it.
You were a professor
once, weren't you?
What about that?
I asked you a question, nazerman.
I don't like the word
professor from you.
I don't like the way you say it.
Something else bothering you?
Listen...
There'll be a new man
in later tonight.
He'll give you an estimate
for some repair work.
You give him a check.
He'll give you your change in cash.
What's his name?
Savarese.
You be there, professor.
Good morning.
My name is Marilyn Birchfield.
I'm introducing myself around.
In a sense, I'm a new neighbor.
Yes?
I'm with the new youth
center down the block.
I thought I'd make myself known
To the shopkeepers in the vicinity
And perhaps get some kind of help.
Support.
And?
Well, to get down to
it, Mr. Nazerman,
I'd like to put your name
down as a tentative sponsor.
Later on, we'll see what you'd
be willing to do and give.
Perhaps you could
see your way clear
To sponsoring one of
the children's teams.
You might even like to
devote evenings to coaching.
Have you any experience
with basketball?
Basketball.
You must be joking.
Well, uh...
Come to redeem, uncle!
Possibly with one of the crafts.
You don't have to make
up your mind right away.
Perhaps you'd like
to think about it.
I just wanted to introduce myself.
That's always the
hardest part for me.
I get very tense
When I have to introduce
myself to people.
We all have to do things
we don't like sometimes.
If you're looking for a handout,
Why don't you say so?
That's $18.75.
I don't regard these
contributions as handouts,
And I'm very sorry that you do.
I think that anything one
can do for these children
Is an investment in
one's own future.
I'm not particularly
concerned with the future.
How much do you want?
I'll take anything
you're willing to give,
Regardless of how it's given.
Is that the name of
the organization
I make the check out to?
Yes. The important thing is
the money will be well spent.
Do you always think the
worst of everyone?
A lot of people come
in here collecting...
Blind people with 20/20 vision,
Deaf people who could hear
the tumblers on my safe
When I dial the combination.
So with this experience,
I say why not you?
All right.
Why not me?
How much are you willing to give?
You see, I have no pride.
And since you've
been so cooperative,
I'll come back again...
And again... and again.
Mr. Nazerman...
When are you going to?
What?
To teach me.
Later.
Listen, your ad in the paper said,
"A bright, willing...
to-learn young man."
That's why I answered it.
And right now,
Mr. Nazerman,
I feel special bright
and special willing.
Hey! Ol!
Ooh! Aay! Ya-ha!
Later.
When?
Tonight.
That's good enough for me!
I just got to learn this business!
I just got to...
What's you saying, Jesus?
How you doing?
Ain't it wild?
This thing is brand new.
Never been used.
Blades shiny, sharp,
Cut grass down to the skin.
Yellow paint, gold paint,
Last a lifetime.
Where'd you get it?
What?
Why, it's a gift.
Yeah, a gift.
I would've returned it
To the store my friend bought it,
Only I was embarrassed
to ask him where.
Ain't that the truth, man?
You understand the police have
lists of stolen merchandise?
Oh, now, man, I ain't stole it!
A friend, a friend give it to me.
Now, he figure I make use of it.
Where'd you get these
numbers tattooed, uncle?
Aw, come on, now, uncle.
Will you take the thing?
Will you please take the thing?
I'll give you $30.
Sold.
I ain't no trouble at all.
Pleasure to do business with you,
Ain't I now?
We be in again, uncle.
See you later, Ortiz.
Friends of yours, Ortiz?
Oh, I know them.
Give me the number
on that contraption.
It's, uh...
"1-0-7..."
1-0-7...
"1-2."
1-2.
Mr. Nazerman...
You want to tell me
something, Mr. Nazerman,
What is that?
That. Is that a secret
society or something?
Yeah.
Yeah, well, what do I do to join?
What do you do to join?
You learn to walk on water.
Mr. Nazerman.
Mm-hmm.
Teach me gold.
Huh?
Well...
All right.
I'll teach you gold.
You know, I got this uncle,
He lives in detroit,
He's been in business
for 42 years.
Grocery store.
You know, my old lady
tells me that that man
Is as Solid as the
rock of Gibraltar.
Every time his business is
getting bigger and bigger.
Even the cops call him mister.
And he got this son.
He's about my age.
That kid in the store
Is going to get it all
when my uncle kick off.
You know what I mean.
That business makes him Solid.
Like a king a little.
He passes his crown
down to his kids.
Me, I'm going to get me a business.
I got that in my mind for sure.
All I need is the loot.
Well, you save your pennies.
I'm going to do that.
Yes, sir, I'm going to do that.
In the meantime,
I'm learning business
from a master.
You'll never learn it
Unless you pay attention
and stop talking.
Ok, I'm a clam.
Teach me gold.
Pay attention.
You take an object
like this watch.
This is a touchstone.
Rub it on the
touchstone like that.
See that? That
leaves a mark there.
Then you take a little acid,
And you put it on that
mark on the touchstone
Like that.
Now you watch it, you see?
Now, if that turns a bright green,
Then that means it's brass.
Let me write it down.
All right.
Bright green means
it's brass, right?
If it turns a milky white,
that means it's silver.
The name's savarese.
Redecorate the whole
damn place, uncle,
Say, 5,000 bucks.
Who do I make the check out to?
The ACME contracting company.
That's A-C...
M-E.
Be a good job, uncle.
Paint the whole damn
place pink and yellow.
Pink and yellow.
That's marvelous.
Your change...
5,000 bucks.
Count it.
Don't touch that.
What? Getting ready for monday.
Back here on monday,
it'll be october.
Let's leave it september, shall we?
How come?
Don't ask me how come.
Just do what I tell you.
Leave the calendar
alone and go home.
I'll see you monday,
And you sure will be
here on time, you hear?
I'm going to be here
practically early.
Get him!
Tessie!
What are you, a nut or something?
You moron!
Let's just go up
And sit down and talk awhile.
I'm tired.
You know, my boss...
My boss been working my
back off all afternoon.
Oh, I don't like you
working too hard.
I don't like you using
all your energy.
Do you know me not to
have enough energy?
So don't worry none, baby.
All you got to do
Is be around when I do this.
Come here. Come here.
Ha ha ha!
Hey, Ortiz.
Hiya, Tangee.
Talking about you a second ago.
You know what else?
Robinson couldn't believe
one word I told him.
He say, "how come a
smart boy like Ortiz"
Working in the pawnshop?"
Ain't it what you say?
How come a smart boy like Ortiz
Working in the pawnshop?
That's my business.
Now, now, now don't get uptight.
Just how come?
That's all.
I mean, how come you work there?
He's got his plans!
Shh!
He's learnin'.
It's a good business.
It's a chicken business...
$2.00 loan, $5.00 loan.
Peanuts.
You think?
Peanuts.
Try $5,000, man,
'Cause that's what Mr. Nazerman
Must've put in his safe.
Is he here?
Can't he sleep again
tonight, tessie?
Is that why he came here,
To bring joy to his
dead friend's wife?
Shut the door, tess.
Close the door
And shut me off from
the two of you.
Shut me off from the
land of the dead.
He'll never forgive us
For sleeping together, Sol.
To him, I'm still Reuben's wife.
Honey?
You like me, huh?
Oh, honey, you know
why you do that?
'Cause you and me, honey,
When that happens,
You and me can't
be nothin' better.
He's asleep.
That man Nazerman...
He knows things.
Baby, I wonder how much it
takes to open a pawnshop.
Hey, do you think 5,000?
Do you think 5,000, baby?
Yeah. Must be.
I can help you get that money.
I can. I can give private sessions
And no splits to the boss.
Honey, I can make us an
extra 100 or 2 a week.
I can go in with you.
I can be a partner to you.
You know?
Yeah. That could be.
That could be, baby.
We'll see.
Is it your play or my play?
Yours.
Mine.
I'll fix the calendar.
No.
Mr. Nazerman, are you all right?
You...
You look... bad.
Don't stand there.
Find something to do.
Go on.
Find something to do.
Hey, uncle, how much you give me
For this radio, huh?
Now, this hot little
old radio, man,
Is worth plenty of rubles, man.
It's got lots of juice.
It's got short wave,
police call, boats.
Late at night, man,
you get outer space.
Come on, uncle, just
make me an offer.
Now, this is a
hundred-dollar radio.
It's got a clear tone.
Boy, that's clear as
a mother's old bell.
Come on, baby.
Show the man your power, baby.
Blast him! Give him
some of that tone!
Oh, man, you radio, you mother!
I'll give you $2.00.
You turn chicken on me, radio, huh?
You always play better than that!
It must be on account
of the heat, you know?
I'll tell you what.
You give me $8.00, huh?
I mean, that's-that's
my mother's radio.
I said I'll give you $2.00
Come on. $5.00, you
blood-sucking cheater!
You money-grabbing kike! 5!
Still live at the same address?
Mm-hmm.
Aw, man, I'll...
I'll take the 2 rubles, man.
You just give me the 2. Take it.
I'm sorry, Mr. Nazerman.
For what?
For what that young
man said to you.
Sell your sorrow somewhere
else, miss Birchfield.
I came here mainly to apologize.
For what?
I was tactless the other day.
I forced myself on you.
I got angry.
It's bothered me
the whole weekend.
I suppose you think
I'm rather silly.
Walking over here though,
I had a sensible
conversation with myself.
Would you like to hear it?
How nice I thought it would be
If you and I had lunch together.
Like wednesday?
Thursday?
I'll bring some sandwiches.
We'll have them in the park.
Certainly you must be
joking, miss Birchfield.
Oh, no, I'm not.
Don't you think it's rather...
No. No. Please, don't say stupid.
Don't demean it.
I came to apologize.
So you came to apologize and...
I accept your apology.
You have to excuse me.
What can I do for you?
Well, what do you want?
My diamond engagement ring.
I want to borrow.
It's glass.
Glass?
He said it was real.
Wednesday or thursday?
What?
Lunch in the park.
Wednesday's better for me.
Wednesday, thursday,
whatever you like.
All right.
I'll see you then.
Fine. Fine.
Teaching time, Mr. Nazerman.
Time to teach.
Now, last time you
taught me gold, right?
What are you going
to teach me tonight?
Tonight I teach you
to save your pennies.
I'm going to do that, Mr. Nazerman.
Yes, sir.
Now, in the meantime,
I'm learning business
from a master, right?
So I got to know one thing,
Something I've been
thinking about.
How come you people come
to business so naturally?
"You people"?
Oh, I see. Yeah.
I see. I see.
You, uh...
You want to learn the secret
Of our success.
Is that right?
All right.
I'll teach you.
First of all, you start off
With a period of
several thousand years
During which you have
nothing to sustain you
But a great bearded legend.
You have no land to call your own,
To grow food on or to hunt.
You have nothing.
You're never in one
place long enough
To have a geography
or army or land myth.
All you have is a little brain.
A little brain and a
great bearded legend
To sustain you and convince you
That you are...
Special...
even in poverty.
But this, uh...
This little brain...
That's the real key, you see.
With this little brain
You go out and buy
a piece of cloth.
Cut that cloth in two.
Sell it for a penny more
than you paid for it.
Buy another cloth.
Cut it into 3 pieces.
Sell it for 3 pennies profit.
But during that time
you must never succumb
To buying an extra piece
of bread for the table
Or a toy for a child.
No!
No, you must immediately run out
And get yourself a still
larger piece of cloth.
So you repeat this
process over and over,
And suddenly you
discover something.
You have no longer any desire,
Any temptation to dig into
the earth to grow food
Or gaze at limitless land
and call it your own.
No, no. You just go on and on,
Repeating this process
over the centuries.
And suddenly you make
a grand discovery.
You have a mercantile heritage.
You are a merchant.
You're known as a usurer,
A man with secret resources,
A witch, a pawnbroker,
A sheeny, a mockie, and a kike!
You're really some
teacher, Mr. Nazerman.
You're really...
Really the greatest.
Jesus?
Yeah?
Como va tu trabajo?
Va bien, mama.
Muy bien.
Si?
Si.
Te gusta tu jefe?
Quien, Nazerman?
Si.
Uh-huh.
Sabe muchas cosas.
Si?
Estoy apprendiendo
muchas cosas por el.
Ay, que bueno.
Algun dia voy a tener
mi propio negocio.
Ay, que bueno.
Uno no va salir del
tapo careo apartamento.
Entonces quiere decir que
de ahora en adelante
Vas hacer buen muchacho.
Of course.
I am a very good boy.
I am a good boy.
Un buen muchacho.
Ok, good boy.
Say good boy.
Pero...
Good boy.
No es lo mismo que decir goodbye?
No, es otra cosa.
Ven aqu. Ven aqu.
Good boy.
Say good boy.
Good.
Good...
Boy.
Right. I am...
I am...
A good-I am.
I am. I am...
I am...
A good...
A good boy.
Nazerman...
I can't even look at him anymore.
I start to blush.
Nazerman of leipzig.
Look, Tessie...
Don't be an hysterical woman.
Neither one of us
has done anything
That we should feel guilty about.
You'd better go and see him.
I was in Auschwitz, too.
I came out alive.
You came out dead.
I'll have some coffee for
you when you come out.
Yeah. Yeah.
Guilt.
And there it is.
Guilt to find yourself alive.
And so you wrap yourself
In a kind of shroud
And feel you share
the dignity of death
With those who really died.
Tell me...
Does blood ever flow
through you, Sol Nazerman?
Can you feel pain?
No.
You are a fake.
You breathe, you eat, you walk.
You make money.
You take a dream and
give a dollar...
And give no hope.
I survive.
Survive?
A coward's survival,
and at what a price!
No love. No passion.
No pity! Dead!
Sol Nazerman, the walking dead!
It's wednesday.
Yeah, so it's wednesday.
We were to have lunch together.
In fact, you set the day yourself.
Had you forgotten?
Yes, I'm afraid I had.
Well, it-it doesn't matter.
Here I am.
Miss Birchfield, I feel I
must be honest with you.
I do not wish to inflict
a failure on you,
But I do not welcome
your interest.
You were in a concentration camp,
Weren't you?
That's no concern of yours.
Would you like to hear
a little about me?
It really doesn't matter.
No, I don't believe you
when you say that.
When I was a little girl,
I was fat and amiable,
and everyone liked me.
The boys used to think
I was a great sport.
I remember some of them
even told me solemnly
That I reminded them
of their sisters.
Well, in that odd category,
I went to lots of parties
And I had loads of friends
And there was nothing wrong.
Until one day I discovered
that I'd acquired...
A most excruciating malady...
Loneliness.
One day there was a young man.
We fell in love.
We got married.
He died. Like that.
His heart just stopped.
And I found out that loneliness
Is the normal state of affairs.
For most people.
My dear miss Birchfield,
How touchingly naive you are.
Oh! You have
discovered loneliness!
You have found out that the
world is unjust and cruel.
Let me tell you something,
my dear sociologist...
That there is a world
different than yours,
Much different, and the people
in it are of another species.
Now, I ask you a question.
What do you know?
I guess I'm out of my depth.
Oh, I would say so.
But what happened to me...
Is nothing.
No!
That's not so.
What makes you so bitter?
Bitter?
Oh, no, miss Birchfield,
I am not bitter.
No, that passed me by
a million years ago.
I'm a man of no anger.
I've no desire for vengeance
For what was done to me.
I have escaped from the emotions.
I am safe within myself.
All I ask and want
is peace and quiet.
Why haven't you found it?
Because people like
you will not let me!
Miss birchfield, you
have made the afternoon
Very tedious with
your constant search
For an answer.
And one more thing.
Please...
stay out of my life.
You shouldn't have done that.
What's the matter, uncle?
Don't you like wednesdays?
You shouldn't have touched it.
Well, it's done.
The boss wants you to sign these.
There'll be no papers signed today.
Look, maybe you don't understand.
I understand you perfectly.
I said no papers signed today. Leave
them, but no papers get signed.
The boss ain't going...
I said no papers get signed today!
Ok.
You're a tough man, Mr. Nazerman.
I mean, he looks tough, but...
Why don't you mind
your own business?
You know...
You worry me when you look
like that, Mr. Nazerman.
What-what is wrong with you?
Hmm?
I don't know.
Good afternoon, Mr. Nazerman.
Mr. Nazerman, for some days now
I've been trying to give an idea
Some sort of shape, a-a pattern.
Now-now, Mr.- Mr...
Socrates...
Socrates himself
Was on the very borderline
of drama, right?
Right, and look at Baudelaire.
Baudelaire and all his
strange, sacred mysticism.
And who knows?
Perhaps the marquis de...
Exactly what was it
That you came to pawn, Mr. Smith?
Pawn? Oh, of course.
To pawn.
I- I did bring...
I... I...
I had it somewhere.
Just stand still.
Stand still for a minute.
Now, think.
Just for once in your life,
Try to be rational
and think exactly
What you came in here to pawn.
I...
Nothing.
I had nothing to bring.
I...
I will miss talking to you.
What makes creatures
like that exist?
Why-why did you call him creature?
Because he's black?
No, not because he's black.
I don't care what he is.
I'm nondiscriminatory,
nonsectarian.
Black, white, or yellow,
they're all equally...
Equally what?
Scum. Rejects.
You're a mighty hard
man, Mr. Nazerman.
I mean, after all,
They are children of god.
Ain't they?
You believe in god, Ortiz?
I don't know, Mr. Nazerman.
But you believe in god,
And I make book on that.
I do not believe in god
Or art or science
Or newspapers or
politics or philosophy.
Well, then, Mr. Teacher...
Ain't there nothing you do believe?
Money.
All right.
Then you teach me
About money then, Mr. Nazerman.
All right, Mr. Ortiz.
Now, come here.
Firstly, money can increase
or decrease in value.
Secondly, money is risky,
but at a given moment,
One has some idea of its worth.
Thirdly, money can
buy you many things...
Comfort, luxury, relief from pain,
Sometimes even life itself,
And now you listen to me,
And you listen very carefully.
Next to the speed of
light, which einstein says
Is the only absolute
in the universe,
Second only to that, I rank money!
Well...
You believe me, that's
all you need to know.
That's what life's all about?
That's what life is all about.
You mean, money is the whole thing?
Money is the whole thing.
I'll see you later, Mr. Nazerman.
Please, please?
Please, please, listen to me.
Honey, I can get you the money.
I got some gifts I could sell.
Extras from the customers.
You know.
Baby, you don't need them others...
Tangee and buck,
most that Robinson...
They just poison.
Baby, nothing they do
for you won't hurt you.
Oh, please, please, let me chip in.
I can get it for you.
I know I can.
Money. Money.
That's the whole thing.
Sure.
Sure, honey, only no going
back to them others.
Oh, baby...
I'm just thinkin' of you.
Damn loot.
I'm going to get it.
I'm going to get it and fast!
Chico! Come. Sit.
How come you don't join with us?
I got some thinking to do.
Oh?
You know what I think?
I think you got
something on your mind
You want to talk about,
Or you wouldn't be here
in the first place.
You want I should romance you
a little before you talk.
Listen, you hear me, tangee.
I got nothing to say, see?
I just got to think.
I just got a lot of thinking to do.
All right.
Ain't nobody pressuring you.
And if...
If I decide to do anything at all,
I got to call the moves.
We had you figured for that.
And if the thing goes,
I say if...
There'll be no shooting.
Ok, man.
You need a piece,
but just for show,
Because shooting is trouble.
It's stupid.
We can do without it.
No matter what, understand?
If I decide to go ahead with it,
If...
I say when and how.
If.
I got some stuff to pawn.
We'll start off with this.
That's an expensive locket.
No sense in fooling around with it.
It's gold.
I'll give you $20 for it.
$20? It's worth at least 100.
Maybe it is, but not to me.
This locket was a present, a gift
From a man for a private session.
Pawnbroker... you got
it in your power
To make me a beat up old woman.
What makes you say that?
'Cause if my boss finds out
I've been messing
around in private...
He don't hold still for
nothing like that,
So if it was to get out to him,
He'd make me old before my time.
Hello.
Mendel is dead.
My father's dead.
Did you hear what I just said?
Yeah, I heard what you said, yeah.
Uh...
Just a minute.
Hang that up, would you, please?
Hello.
Papa is dead.
What am I going to do, Sol?
Well, you bury him.
There's nothing else to do.
Nothing?
Nothing. Nothing.
When you talk like that,
you're not human.
You want me to come cry with you?
Yes.
The hell with your crying.
I need someone to help me.
I can't come now.
I can't leave the store.
The store.
Big... important... store.
Where do you think
your money comes from?
You wouldn't get
your father's corpse
Into the ground if
not for the store.
Papa is dead.
That's what you wanted, isn't it?
I'm good, pawnbroker.
I'm real good.
I know things you haven't
never even dreamed about.
Just $20 more.
I make you happy.
Like you've never known.
I'll show you how pretty I am.
Don't you say nothin'
about this, you hear?
Nothin'. Like I said,
If my boss was to find out
I been messin' around in private...
So don't tell Rodriguez nothin'.
Rodriguez?
Rodriguez...
the big man...
The boss.
The biggest in Harlem.
You mean...
You work for Rodriguez?
Oh, yeah.
Oh, he's got lots of
irons in the fire.
He's a powerful man,
So it's better if you
don't tell him a thing.
But I got to get me some money.
Look.
Look.
That's it. Look.
Look.
Look.
That's it. Look!
It don't cost you nothin' to look.
That's it. Just look.
Look.
Look.
Aah!
I can't tell you, Nazerman,
How I've looked forward to this.
People I come in contact with...
They're dumbheads.
You've got background.
The real thing.
Me, I never had a
regular education,
But I've got a feel for things.
You...
Are a welcome change
of pace for me.
Say...
If all you wanted was
to come here and stare,
I could've sent you a picture.
Ok, partner...
What's your beef?
That whorehouse down
the street from me...
Do you own it?
You wouldn't be trying to get...
It's your whorehouse, isn't it?
Assume it is, then what?
I don't want your money
if it's from there.
Say that again.
I don't want your money
if it's from there.
Why?
It's money that comes
from filth and horror!
That's what it is, professor.
Then...
We can have no longer
anything to do further...
Professor...
You don't know it, but
the lecture is over.
Now, you're going to listen to me.
Where do you think the money
You've been living on
comes from, professor?
Money you pay for
an old jew's keep,
Money you give Tessie.
Money you pay for a nice,
fat house on long island
And the nice, fat family
you support there?
Oh, I know all about you.
And how. I know where
your money comes from...
From me.
And one of the places I get it most
Is from whorehouses
And bowling alleys and parking lots
And hotel linens and tenements.
Now tell me where you
thought it was coming from.
I don't know.
That makes you stupid, professor.
You're living right in it!
Right in the middle of
one big whorehouse,
Right in the bosom of the world!
How do you say it...
Filth, horror?
Right in the middle and
you don't know it.
Or maybe something else...
Because you don't want to know.
Are you that kind of man, professor,
that doesn't want to know about things,
Feel about things?
Are you that kind?
That makes you nothing!
A ton of nothing!
You give me a front,
and I give you money,
So don't hang up on me, professor.
Not again.
Look at me.
Look at me!
I said...
Those papers you haven't signed...
By tomorrow morning, signed.
What?
Yes.
Yes?
Yes.
Yes?
Yes?
Yes.
Yes?
Yes.
Yes, yes, yes, yes.
Oh, yes.
Happy dreams, uncle.
Come in.
Can I get you something?
Coffee?
No, I thank you. No.
I was out on the terrace
when you phoned.
I couldn't sleep.
Would you...
It's very lovely in the morning.
That's why I got this apartment...
This terrace.
The city and the river.
We had a...
We had a river in Germany.
Tell me about it.
That was long ago.
That was...
That was before Europe
became a graveyard.
What made you come here?
I don't know.
I don't know.
Just...
Things have been happening lately,
And...
I felt I needed to be with someone.
What things, Mr. Nazerman?
Well, it's just that suddenly,
In the last few days,
I feel afraid, and...
It's been a long
time since I felt...
Anything.
Fear.
Fear, fear.
That's what I felt.
And then I, uh...
I called you.
I'm sorry that you're so alone.
Oh, no, no, no.
You don't understand.
It's just that there
have been memories
That I have...
Well, I thought that I had...
Pushed them far away from me,
And they keep rushing in...
And then there are words...
Words that I thought I have
kept myself from hearing
And... now...
Now they...
Flood my mind.
Yeah.
Today is an anniversary.
What happened?
Happened?
Yes.
I didn't die.
Everything that I loved...
Was taken away from me and...
I did not die.
Mr. Nazerman...
There was...
Nothing I could do.
Ha.
Nothing.
Strange?
I could do nothing.
No, there was nothing I could do.
Why do you sit like that?
I got... chilled.
I got chilled listening to you...
And not being able to
do anything for you.
Sol!
Sol, don't let him fall!
David?
Sol, he's falling!
Oh, god, David!
Sol! Sol!
Ruthie!
I can't do anything!
Oh, my god, I can't do nothing.
David. David!
David! David!
Mr. Nazerman.
Mr. Nazerman.
Are you all right?
You-you don't look good.
Listen, I...
I- is there anything I can...
Mr. Nazerman.
Do you remember me?
The Oratory Award.
Just to carry me over until I...
Well... I have this for you.
Don't scratch them.
They're surely worth $10.
$50.
$2.00.
You're crazy.
$2.00 for a leica camera?
What the hell are you saying?
$1.00.
That's better?
You're out of your mind for sure.
Whatever you want to give.
I've got no use for them anymore.
How much do you want to borrow?
Oh, I-I don't know.
$20?
$50.
I'll let you have it for $2.00.
Why, yes, I'll just
take that watch.
Now, just wait a minute.
This says, uh...
It says 121/2 bucks, lady.
You got a mouth, boy.
Pawnbroker says...
I don't care.
You want this article,
You come up with $12.50.
That's what the sign say.
Mr. Nazerman.
Mr. Nazerman, are you ok? Huh?
Leave me alone, Ortiz.
Ok, I'll do that, Mr. Nazerman.
I'll do that. First I want to know,
Are you ok?
I'm ok.
Are you sure?
Yes, I'm sure! I'm ok.
Now just leave me alone.
That's all right. I'm just
concerned, that's all.
After all, you're my teacher.
Ha. I'm your what?
You're my teacher.
Hmm.
I'm a student to you.
You're nothing to me.
For true?
For true.
You mean, I'm like...
The rest of them out there?
That's right.
You're like the rest
of them out there.
You're nothing to me.
I'll go for lunch now.
Go to lunch.
Do what you please,
But just leave me alone.
Now, go!
See you later.
It's at closing time.
Hmm?
I said it's at closing time.
How come?
That's when it's got to be.
Now I said it,
And I'm saying it again.
No shootin'.
What's the matter,
You worried about the jew?
No.
I'm worrying about Jesus Ortiz.
Now...
I got a plan.
Then this jive cop, he said,
"Mon, I'm sympathetic
To the problems of your race."
You were supposed to deliver
the papers this morning.
They better be signed.
Sign them.
And if I don't sign the papers...
What do you do to me
then, you kill me?
Oh, yes.
So kill me.
Pardon me, uncle.
Professor...
You have to kill me.
That's what you want.
That's what you really
want, professor, isn't it?
I'll tell you what.
You'll die...
But not when you want to.
Not when you want to so bad.
One day it'll happen to you...
Just the time when
you wish it hadn't.
I'd like to borrow
some money on this.
I- I want to borrow $10 on this.
I collect them.
You'd be surprised how many people
Use them for decoration.
There's a monarch in here.
And the great spangle fritillary.
The mourning cloak...
And...
The one with the eye design, tha...
Thank you.
Well, gentlemen, what do you want?
The money.
The money.
Now, we ain't playin'.
Now you open that safe fast.
Well, come on!
Well, come on!
Look...
Go home.
We ain't jokin', mister.
You get that money
out of that safe.
You get it.
Hey, no sweat.
It's open.
Step aside, uncle.
What do you want to die for, uncle?
The money don't mean that
much to you, does it?
Now... you move.
Get out of the way of that safe...
No shooting!
Back up!
Back up!
Jesus!
Jesus! Jesus!
Jesus!
Ay, ay, ay!
Dios mio!
I... I said no shootin'.
I said no...
not to hurt you.
No...
No, don't hurt you.
No.
No, don't hurt you!
Back it up, back it up!
Let's go!
Solly?
I just made some fresh
lemonade, Solly.
It's going to be a nice day.
Not too hot.
Ohh!
Your back again, papa?
Aww.
Why don't you move
into the shade, Sol?
Good morning, uncle Sol.
Mother, I was thinking.
If we could only afford it, Danish
modern would be so perfect.
Solly?
The editorial section.
So, Solly...
What do you think, huh?
About what?
What I told you at brunch.
After all, you live here, too.
You're paying for it.
It really is up to you.
Buy it and keep it.
What?
I said buy it...
Keep it...
The AM-FM television.
That's not what I mean. I mean
about the trip to Europe.
I don't wanna be...
Turn it down, joan.
This music bother you, uncle Sol?
You sure you wouldn't
like some lemonade?
Did you sleep long enough, my son?
I wasn't sleeping.
No. He was drawing his
pornographic pictures.
Give me that!
Oh, look at it!
My god! Look!
It's a nude girl!
Look at that, uncle Sol!
My god!
What have you been doing?
Ha ha!
Give it back to me!
Look what your son's been doing!
Don't you know girls aren't built that way!
All right!
Enough already, will you?
Why can't you leave me alone?
As soon as you come around, my son,
There's a disturbance.
Morton, comb your hair, Morton.
You look like some
kind of character
With your hair like that.
Edward's picking me
up in 10 minutes,
And I don't want you
to frighten him.
What happens to the time?
25 years.
Do you realize it, Sol?
Do I realize what?
25 years next thursday.
Did you know that, Sol?
Yes.
My sister.
My poor sister Ruth.
Mother.
25 years.
My sister Ruth was
beautiful like a picture.
Uncle Solly knows how
beautiful, mother.
He was married to her.
Sol, all you have to
do is say yes or no.
A final yes or no.
A final yes or no about what?
The trip to Europe.
You want to go to Europe, Bertha?
Not me, so much,
But they have family plans now,
So why not?
It's a 17-day tour.
And why do you want
to go to Europe?
Mostly, it's him.
He says it'd be very good
For his standing with
the school board.
And he's always wanted
to visit there, anyhow.
The shrines and the old cities...
There's an atmosphere
we don't have here.
Something mellow.
Age lends its own charm.
Why, you can almost
smell the difference.
It's rather like a
stink if I remember.
All esta tu jefe, Jesus!
No spanish, mama.
No spanish.
English.
You hurry now.
Couple of weeks working for him
Ain't long enough
for you to be late.
Mama, you know what
your trouble is?
You know your trouble?
You worry!
You worry.
Now, me, I don't worry, mama.
You know why?
Because I am going
a long way, mama.
Yeah! A long way.
Jesus...
No more trouble.
No more things like that, Jesus.
No. No more, mama.
No more stealing, no more numbers,
No more peddling, no more nothing.
Strictly legit, ok?
Ok.
Mister?
How much will you give me for this?
I'm here!
Let the business now commence.
Ah, come on, now, Mr. Nazerman.
Don't look that way, now.
Listen, I'm going to insist...
I insist you dock me
exactly 20 minutes I late.
On the other hand,
I'll work so hard for
the next few hours
That you'll wind up giving
me time and a half.
To start with, I'm going
to open the front.
It's an award for oratory.
I won it in a citywide
oratorical contest
Five years ago.
It's gold.
$1.00.
$1.00 for an important
award like this?
20,000 started.
50 semifinalists, and I won.
I recited "the raven."
I was 1 of 20,000.
$1.00. Still at the same address?
Uh-huh.
But it's gold.
Plate. $1.00.
Man the lifeboats!
Here I is again.
All right.
Gimme a dollar.
Honest and true,
It's like bailing out
an old leaky boat
Filled with holes.
You pawn something,
You buy something else,
and then you pawn that.
Each time, the boat's gettin'
deeper into the water.
Ha ha! Ain't it a wonder
a body stay afloat
As long as it do?
Aw, come on, Mr. Nazerman.
Smile.
Here I am with a load
of profit for you.
They's heirloom.
Makes a table look like a table.
I'll sell them for $10 a pair.
$2.00.
My goodness!
Why, these candlesticks
is very high quality.
Cost $25 when new.
Now, I could get $15 easy
down at Triboro pawn.
I suggest, mrs. Harmon,
That you take them
down to triboro pawn.
Ha ha ha!
You a merciless man for sure.
$2.00!
Oh, I'm too pooped to
haggle, Mr. Nazerman.
Sold!
Oh, you's a hard man.
God pity you.
He's the only judge, after all.
Be seeing you again, Mr. Nazerman,
And that's for sure.
Take care now, you hear?
Wait a minute, mrs. Harmon.
You forgot your ticket,
And you forgot your $2.00.
You know, I've been thinking.
Them suits in the back?
I'll make a list of them,
First according to the size,
And then another one
according to condition,
And then the type.
You know, what I mean by that
Is summer or serge or gabardine.
You know, that way any
suit anybody wants,
Pow! Put my finger
on it right away.
I'm just filled with
good ideas, man.
Good morning, Mr. Nazerman.
Good morning.
$2.00.
Quite incidentally, Mr. Nazerman,
I've just been reading a
very remarkable book...
Herbert Spencer's
genesis of science.
Yes, but then you
probably know it well.
It's a very good book.
I- I particularly
like his insistence
That science is born of art,
Not the other way around.
To me, this was refreshing,
Coming from a man
That most modern thinkers
called old-fashioned.
Did any of your
students think of that
While you were at Leipzig?
But Spencer didn't come up with
anything very new, really.
Pythagoras, an artist at heart
And a great lover of music,
Made the discovery that
the pitch of sound
Depends upon the length
of the vibrating string.
That was six centuries
before Christ.
I... I, uh...
From time to time,
I like to drop in here
Because, Mr. Nazerman,
A man gets hungry for talk.
Good talk.
There's your ticket,
and there's your $2.00.
Mr. Nazerman...
$2.00 will be...
quite all right.
I...
I apologize for talking
so much, Mr. Nazerman.
D- d-did...
Forgive me.
Yes?
Nazerman?
How's business, Nazerman?
Business is the same as usual.
We spend more money
than we take in.
Good. Pretty soon Uncle Sam
will have to pay us money,
Subsidize us.
Can't expect taxes from a
losing business, can they?
Ha ha ha!
That's funny, huh?
That's pretty funny, huh?
I asked you a question, professor.
Pawnshop.
Nazerman?
Yes, sir.
It's for you.
Yes?
We get disconnected or something?
No. I hung up.
The word professor.
I don't like it.
You were a professor
once, weren't you?
What about that?
I asked you a question, nazerman.
I don't like the word
professor from you.
I don't like the way you say it.
Something else bothering you?
Listen...
There'll be a new man
in later tonight.
He'll give you an estimate
for some repair work.
You give him a check.
He'll give you your change in cash.
What's his name?
Savarese.
You be there, professor.
Good morning.
My name is Marilyn Birchfield.
I'm introducing myself around.
In a sense, I'm a new neighbor.
Yes?
I'm with the new youth
center down the block.
I thought I'd make myself known
To the shopkeepers in the vicinity
And perhaps get some kind of help.
Support.
And?
Well, to get down to
it, Mr. Nazerman,
I'd like to put your name
down as a tentative sponsor.
Later on, we'll see what you'd
be willing to do and give.
Perhaps you could
see your way clear
To sponsoring one of
the children's teams.
You might even like to
devote evenings to coaching.
Have you any experience
with basketball?
Basketball.
You must be joking.
Well, uh...
Come to redeem, uncle!
Possibly with one of the crafts.
You don't have to make
up your mind right away.
Perhaps you'd like
to think about it.
I just wanted to introduce myself.
That's always the
hardest part for me.
I get very tense
When I have to introduce
myself to people.
We all have to do things
we don't like sometimes.
If you're looking for a handout,
Why don't you say so?
That's $18.75.
I don't regard these
contributions as handouts,
And I'm very sorry that you do.
I think that anything one
can do for these children
Is an investment in
one's own future.
I'm not particularly
concerned with the future.
How much do you want?
I'll take anything
you're willing to give,
Regardless of how it's given.
Is that the name of
the organization
I make the check out to?
Yes. The important thing is
the money will be well spent.
Do you always think the
worst of everyone?
A lot of people come
in here collecting...
Blind people with 20/20 vision,
Deaf people who could hear
the tumblers on my safe
When I dial the combination.
So with this experience,
I say why not you?
All right.
Why not me?
How much are you willing to give?
You see, I have no pride.
And since you've
been so cooperative,
I'll come back again...
And again... and again.
Mr. Nazerman...
When are you going to?
What?
To teach me.
Later.
Listen, your ad in the paper said,
"A bright, willing...
to-learn young man."
That's why I answered it.
And right now,
Mr. Nazerman,
I feel special bright
and special willing.
Hey! Ol!
Ooh! Aay! Ya-ha!
Later.
When?
Tonight.
That's good enough for me!
I just got to learn this business!
I just got to...
What's you saying, Jesus?
How you doing?
Ain't it wild?
This thing is brand new.
Never been used.
Blades shiny, sharp,
Cut grass down to the skin.
Yellow paint, gold paint,
Last a lifetime.
Where'd you get it?
What?
Why, it's a gift.
Yeah, a gift.
I would've returned it
To the store my friend bought it,
Only I was embarrassed
to ask him where.
Ain't that the truth, man?
You understand the police have
lists of stolen merchandise?
Oh, now, man, I ain't stole it!
A friend, a friend give it to me.
Now, he figure I make use of it.
Where'd you get these
numbers tattooed, uncle?
Aw, come on, now, uncle.
Will you take the thing?
Will you please take the thing?
I'll give you $30.
Sold.
I ain't no trouble at all.
Pleasure to do business with you,
Ain't I now?
We be in again, uncle.
See you later, Ortiz.
Friends of yours, Ortiz?
Oh, I know them.
Give me the number
on that contraption.
It's, uh...
"1-0-7..."
1-0-7...
"1-2."
1-2.
Mr. Nazerman...
You want to tell me
something, Mr. Nazerman,
What is that?
That. Is that a secret
society or something?
Yeah.
Yeah, well, what do I do to join?
What do you do to join?
You learn to walk on water.
Mr. Nazerman.
Mm-hmm.
Teach me gold.
Huh?
Well...
All right.
I'll teach you gold.
You know, I got this uncle,
He lives in detroit,
He's been in business
for 42 years.
Grocery store.
You know, my old lady
tells me that that man
Is as Solid as the
rock of Gibraltar.
Every time his business is
getting bigger and bigger.
Even the cops call him mister.
And he got this son.
He's about my age.
That kid in the store
Is going to get it all
when my uncle kick off.
You know what I mean.
That business makes him Solid.
Like a king a little.
He passes his crown
down to his kids.
Me, I'm going to get me a business.
I got that in my mind for sure.
All I need is the loot.
Well, you save your pennies.
I'm going to do that.
Yes, sir, I'm going to do that.
In the meantime,
I'm learning business
from a master.
You'll never learn it
Unless you pay attention
and stop talking.
Ok, I'm a clam.
Teach me gold.
Pay attention.
You take an object
like this watch.
This is a touchstone.
Rub it on the
touchstone like that.
See that? That
leaves a mark there.
Then you take a little acid,
And you put it on that
mark on the touchstone
Like that.
Now you watch it, you see?
Now, if that turns a bright green,
Then that means it's brass.
Let me write it down.
All right.
Bright green means
it's brass, right?
If it turns a milky white,
that means it's silver.
The name's savarese.
Redecorate the whole
damn place, uncle,
Say, 5,000 bucks.
Who do I make the check out to?
The ACME contracting company.
That's A-C...
M-E.
Be a good job, uncle.
Paint the whole damn
place pink and yellow.
Pink and yellow.
That's marvelous.
Your change...
5,000 bucks.
Count it.
Don't touch that.
What? Getting ready for monday.
Back here on monday,
it'll be october.
Let's leave it september, shall we?
How come?
Don't ask me how come.
Just do what I tell you.
Leave the calendar
alone and go home.
I'll see you monday,
And you sure will be
here on time, you hear?
I'm going to be here
practically early.
Get him!
Tessie!
What are you, a nut or something?
You moron!
Let's just go up
And sit down and talk awhile.
I'm tired.
You know, my boss...
My boss been working my
back off all afternoon.
Oh, I don't like you
working too hard.
I don't like you using
all your energy.
Do you know me not to
have enough energy?
So don't worry none, baby.
All you got to do
Is be around when I do this.
Come here. Come here.
Ha ha ha!
Hey, Ortiz.
Hiya, Tangee.
Talking about you a second ago.
You know what else?
Robinson couldn't believe
one word I told him.
He say, "how come a
smart boy like Ortiz"
Working in the pawnshop?"
Ain't it what you say?
How come a smart boy like Ortiz
Working in the pawnshop?
That's my business.
Now, now, now don't get uptight.
Just how come?
That's all.
I mean, how come you work there?
He's got his plans!
Shh!
He's learnin'.
It's a good business.
It's a chicken business...
$2.00 loan, $5.00 loan.
Peanuts.
You think?
Peanuts.
Try $5,000, man,
'Cause that's what Mr. Nazerman
Must've put in his safe.
Is he here?
Can't he sleep again
tonight, tessie?
Is that why he came here,
To bring joy to his
dead friend's wife?
Shut the door, tess.
Close the door
And shut me off from
the two of you.
Shut me off from the
land of the dead.
He'll never forgive us
For sleeping together, Sol.
To him, I'm still Reuben's wife.
Honey?
You like me, huh?
Oh, honey, you know
why you do that?
'Cause you and me, honey,
When that happens,
You and me can't
be nothin' better.
He's asleep.
That man Nazerman...
He knows things.
Baby, I wonder how much it
takes to open a pawnshop.
Hey, do you think 5,000?
Do you think 5,000, baby?
Yeah. Must be.
I can help you get that money.
I can. I can give private sessions
And no splits to the boss.
Honey, I can make us an
extra 100 or 2 a week.
I can go in with you.
I can be a partner to you.
You know?
Yeah. That could be.
That could be, baby.
We'll see.
Is it your play or my play?
Yours.
Mine.
I'll fix the calendar.
No.
Mr. Nazerman, are you all right?
You...
You look... bad.
Don't stand there.
Find something to do.
Go on.
Find something to do.
Hey, uncle, how much you give me
For this radio, huh?
Now, this hot little
old radio, man,
Is worth plenty of rubles, man.
It's got lots of juice.
It's got short wave,
police call, boats.
Late at night, man,
you get outer space.
Come on, uncle, just
make me an offer.
Now, this is a
hundred-dollar radio.
It's got a clear tone.
Boy, that's clear as
a mother's old bell.
Come on, baby.
Show the man your power, baby.
Blast him! Give him
some of that tone!
Oh, man, you radio, you mother!
I'll give you $2.00.
You turn chicken on me, radio, huh?
You always play better than that!
It must be on account
of the heat, you know?
I'll tell you what.
You give me $8.00, huh?
I mean, that's-that's
my mother's radio.
I said I'll give you $2.00
Come on. $5.00, you
blood-sucking cheater!
You money-grabbing kike! 5!
Still live at the same address?
Mm-hmm.
Aw, man, I'll...
I'll take the 2 rubles, man.
You just give me the 2. Take it.
I'm sorry, Mr. Nazerman.
For what?
For what that young
man said to you.
Sell your sorrow somewhere
else, miss Birchfield.
I came here mainly to apologize.
For what?
I was tactless the other day.
I forced myself on you.
I got angry.
It's bothered me
the whole weekend.
I suppose you think
I'm rather silly.
Walking over here though,
I had a sensible
conversation with myself.
Would you like to hear it?
How nice I thought it would be
If you and I had lunch together.
Like wednesday?
Thursday?
I'll bring some sandwiches.
We'll have them in the park.
Certainly you must be
joking, miss Birchfield.
Oh, no, I'm not.
Don't you think it's rather...
No. No. Please, don't say stupid.
Don't demean it.
I came to apologize.
So you came to apologize and...
I accept your apology.
You have to excuse me.
What can I do for you?
Well, what do you want?
My diamond engagement ring.
I want to borrow.
It's glass.
Glass?
He said it was real.
Wednesday or thursday?
What?
Lunch in the park.
Wednesday's better for me.
Wednesday, thursday,
whatever you like.
All right.
I'll see you then.
Fine. Fine.
Teaching time, Mr. Nazerman.
Time to teach.
Now, last time you
taught me gold, right?
What are you going
to teach me tonight?
Tonight I teach you
to save your pennies.
I'm going to do that, Mr. Nazerman.
Yes, sir.
Now, in the meantime,
I'm learning business
from a master, right?
So I got to know one thing,
Something I've been
thinking about.
How come you people come
to business so naturally?
"You people"?
Oh, I see. Yeah.
I see. I see.
You, uh...
You want to learn the secret
Of our success.
Is that right?
All right.
I'll teach you.
First of all, you start off
With a period of
several thousand years
During which you have
nothing to sustain you
But a great bearded legend.
You have no land to call your own,
To grow food on or to hunt.
You have nothing.
You're never in one
place long enough
To have a geography
or army or land myth.
All you have is a little brain.
A little brain and a
great bearded legend
To sustain you and convince you
That you are...
Special...
even in poverty.
But this, uh...
This little brain...
That's the real key, you see.
With this little brain
You go out and buy
a piece of cloth.
Cut that cloth in two.
Sell it for a penny more
than you paid for it.
Buy another cloth.
Cut it into 3 pieces.
Sell it for 3 pennies profit.
But during that time
you must never succumb
To buying an extra piece
of bread for the table
Or a toy for a child.
No!
No, you must immediately run out
And get yourself a still
larger piece of cloth.
So you repeat this
process over and over,
And suddenly you
discover something.
You have no longer any desire,
Any temptation to dig into
the earth to grow food
Or gaze at limitless land
and call it your own.
No, no. You just go on and on,
Repeating this process
over the centuries.
And suddenly you make
a grand discovery.
You have a mercantile heritage.
You are a merchant.
You're known as a usurer,
A man with secret resources,
A witch, a pawnbroker,
A sheeny, a mockie, and a kike!
You're really some
teacher, Mr. Nazerman.
You're really...
Really the greatest.
Jesus?
Yeah?
Como va tu trabajo?
Va bien, mama.
Muy bien.
Si?
Si.
Te gusta tu jefe?
Quien, Nazerman?
Si.
Uh-huh.
Sabe muchas cosas.
Si?
Estoy apprendiendo
muchas cosas por el.
Ay, que bueno.
Algun dia voy a tener
mi propio negocio.
Ay, que bueno.
Uno no va salir del
tapo careo apartamento.
Entonces quiere decir que
de ahora en adelante
Vas hacer buen muchacho.
Of course.
I am a very good boy.
I am a good boy.
Un buen muchacho.
Ok, good boy.
Say good boy.
Pero...
Good boy.
No es lo mismo que decir goodbye?
No, es otra cosa.
Ven aqu. Ven aqu.
Good boy.
Say good boy.
Good.
Good...
Boy.
Right. I am...
I am...
A good-I am.
I am. I am...
I am...
A good...
A good boy.
Nazerman...
I can't even look at him anymore.
I start to blush.
Nazerman of leipzig.
Look, Tessie...
Don't be an hysterical woman.
Neither one of us
has done anything
That we should feel guilty about.
You'd better go and see him.
I was in Auschwitz, too.
I came out alive.
You came out dead.
I'll have some coffee for
you when you come out.
Yeah. Yeah.
Guilt.
And there it is.
Guilt to find yourself alive.
And so you wrap yourself
In a kind of shroud
And feel you share
the dignity of death
With those who really died.
Tell me...
Does blood ever flow
through you, Sol Nazerman?
Can you feel pain?
No.
You are a fake.
You breathe, you eat, you walk.
You make money.
You take a dream and
give a dollar...
And give no hope.
I survive.
Survive?
A coward's survival,
and at what a price!
No love. No passion.
No pity! Dead!
Sol Nazerman, the walking dead!
It's wednesday.
Yeah, so it's wednesday.
We were to have lunch together.
In fact, you set the day yourself.
Had you forgotten?
Yes, I'm afraid I had.
Well, it-it doesn't matter.
Here I am.
Miss Birchfield, I feel I
must be honest with you.
I do not wish to inflict
a failure on you,
But I do not welcome
your interest.
You were in a concentration camp,
Weren't you?
That's no concern of yours.
Would you like to hear
a little about me?
It really doesn't matter.
No, I don't believe you
when you say that.
When I was a little girl,
I was fat and amiable,
and everyone liked me.
The boys used to think
I was a great sport.
I remember some of them
even told me solemnly
That I reminded them
of their sisters.
Well, in that odd category,
I went to lots of parties
And I had loads of friends
And there was nothing wrong.
Until one day I discovered
that I'd acquired...
A most excruciating malady...
Loneliness.
One day there was a young man.
We fell in love.
We got married.
He died. Like that.
His heart just stopped.
And I found out that loneliness
Is the normal state of affairs.
For most people.
My dear miss Birchfield,
How touchingly naive you are.
Oh! You have
discovered loneliness!
You have found out that the
world is unjust and cruel.
Let me tell you something,
my dear sociologist...
That there is a world
different than yours,
Much different, and the people
in it are of another species.
Now, I ask you a question.
What do you know?
I guess I'm out of my depth.
Oh, I would say so.
But what happened to me...
Is nothing.
No!
That's not so.
What makes you so bitter?
Bitter?
Oh, no, miss Birchfield,
I am not bitter.
No, that passed me by
a million years ago.
I'm a man of no anger.
I've no desire for vengeance
For what was done to me.
I have escaped from the emotions.
I am safe within myself.
All I ask and want
is peace and quiet.
Why haven't you found it?
Because people like
you will not let me!
Miss birchfield, you
have made the afternoon
Very tedious with
your constant search
For an answer.
And one more thing.
Please...
stay out of my life.
You shouldn't have done that.
What's the matter, uncle?
Don't you like wednesdays?
You shouldn't have touched it.
Well, it's done.
The boss wants you to sign these.
There'll be no papers signed today.
Look, maybe you don't understand.
I understand you perfectly.
I said no papers signed today. Leave
them, but no papers get signed.
The boss ain't going...
I said no papers get signed today!
Ok.
You're a tough man, Mr. Nazerman.
I mean, he looks tough, but...
Why don't you mind
your own business?
You know...
You worry me when you look
like that, Mr. Nazerman.
What-what is wrong with you?
Hmm?
I don't know.
Good afternoon, Mr. Nazerman.
Mr. Nazerman, for some days now
I've been trying to give an idea
Some sort of shape, a-a pattern.
Now-now, Mr.- Mr...
Socrates...
Socrates himself
Was on the very borderline
of drama, right?
Right, and look at Baudelaire.
Baudelaire and all his
strange, sacred mysticism.
And who knows?
Perhaps the marquis de...
Exactly what was it
That you came to pawn, Mr. Smith?
Pawn? Oh, of course.
To pawn.
I- I did bring...
I... I...
I had it somewhere.
Just stand still.
Stand still for a minute.
Now, think.
Just for once in your life,
Try to be rational
and think exactly
What you came in here to pawn.
I...
Nothing.
I had nothing to bring.
I...
I will miss talking to you.
What makes creatures
like that exist?
Why-why did you call him creature?
Because he's black?
No, not because he's black.
I don't care what he is.
I'm nondiscriminatory,
nonsectarian.
Black, white, or yellow,
they're all equally...
Equally what?
Scum. Rejects.
You're a mighty hard
man, Mr. Nazerman.
I mean, after all,
They are children of god.
Ain't they?
You believe in god, Ortiz?
I don't know, Mr. Nazerman.
But you believe in god,
And I make book on that.
I do not believe in god
Or art or science
Or newspapers or
politics or philosophy.
Well, then, Mr. Teacher...
Ain't there nothing you do believe?
Money.
All right.
Then you teach me
About money then, Mr. Nazerman.
All right, Mr. Ortiz.
Now, come here.
Firstly, money can increase
or decrease in value.
Secondly, money is risky,
but at a given moment,
One has some idea of its worth.
Thirdly, money can
buy you many things...
Comfort, luxury, relief from pain,
Sometimes even life itself,
And now you listen to me,
And you listen very carefully.
Next to the speed of
light, which einstein says
Is the only absolute
in the universe,
Second only to that, I rank money!
Well...
You believe me, that's
all you need to know.
That's what life's all about?
That's what life is all about.
You mean, money is the whole thing?
Money is the whole thing.
I'll see you later, Mr. Nazerman.
Please, please?
Please, please, listen to me.
Honey, I can get you the money.
I got some gifts I could sell.
Extras from the customers.
You know.
Baby, you don't need them others...
Tangee and buck,
most that Robinson...
They just poison.
Baby, nothing they do
for you won't hurt you.
Oh, please, please, let me chip in.
I can get it for you.
I know I can.
Money. Money.
That's the whole thing.
Sure.
Sure, honey, only no going
back to them others.
Oh, baby...
I'm just thinkin' of you.
Damn loot.
I'm going to get it.
I'm going to get it and fast!
Chico! Come. Sit.
How come you don't join with us?
I got some thinking to do.
Oh?
You know what I think?
I think you got
something on your mind
You want to talk about,
Or you wouldn't be here
in the first place.
You want I should romance you
a little before you talk.
Listen, you hear me, tangee.
I got nothing to say, see?
I just got to think.
I just got a lot of thinking to do.
All right.
Ain't nobody pressuring you.
And if...
If I decide to do anything at all,
I got to call the moves.
We had you figured for that.
And if the thing goes,
I say if...
There'll be no shooting.
Ok, man.
You need a piece,
but just for show,
Because shooting is trouble.
It's stupid.
We can do without it.
No matter what, understand?
If I decide to go ahead with it,
If...
I say when and how.
If.
I got some stuff to pawn.
We'll start off with this.
That's an expensive locket.
No sense in fooling around with it.
It's gold.
I'll give you $20 for it.
$20? It's worth at least 100.
Maybe it is, but not to me.
This locket was a present, a gift
From a man for a private session.
Pawnbroker... you got
it in your power
To make me a beat up old woman.
What makes you say that?
'Cause if my boss finds out
I've been messing
around in private...
He don't hold still for
nothing like that,
So if it was to get out to him,
He'd make me old before my time.
Hello.
Mendel is dead.
My father's dead.
Did you hear what I just said?
Yeah, I heard what you said, yeah.
Uh...
Just a minute.
Hang that up, would you, please?
Hello.
Papa is dead.
What am I going to do, Sol?
Well, you bury him.
There's nothing else to do.
Nothing?
Nothing. Nothing.
When you talk like that,
you're not human.
You want me to come cry with you?
Yes.
The hell with your crying.
I need someone to help me.
I can't come now.
I can't leave the store.
The store.
Big... important... store.
Where do you think
your money comes from?
You wouldn't get
your father's corpse
Into the ground if
not for the store.
Papa is dead.
That's what you wanted, isn't it?
I'm good, pawnbroker.
I'm real good.
I know things you haven't
never even dreamed about.
Just $20 more.
I make you happy.
Like you've never known.
I'll show you how pretty I am.
Don't you say nothin'
about this, you hear?
Nothin'. Like I said,
If my boss was to find out
I been messin' around in private...
So don't tell Rodriguez nothin'.
Rodriguez?
Rodriguez...
the big man...
The boss.
The biggest in Harlem.
You mean...
You work for Rodriguez?
Oh, yeah.
Oh, he's got lots of
irons in the fire.
He's a powerful man,
So it's better if you
don't tell him a thing.
But I got to get me some money.
Look.
Look.
That's it. Look.
Look.
Look.
That's it. Look!
It don't cost you nothin' to look.
That's it. Just look.
Look.
Look.
Aah!
I can't tell you, Nazerman,
How I've looked forward to this.
People I come in contact with...
They're dumbheads.
You've got background.
The real thing.
Me, I never had a
regular education,
But I've got a feel for things.
You...
Are a welcome change
of pace for me.
Say...
If all you wanted was
to come here and stare,
I could've sent you a picture.
Ok, partner...
What's your beef?
That whorehouse down
the street from me...
Do you own it?
You wouldn't be trying to get...
It's your whorehouse, isn't it?
Assume it is, then what?
I don't want your money
if it's from there.
Say that again.
I don't want your money
if it's from there.
Why?
It's money that comes
from filth and horror!
That's what it is, professor.
Then...
We can have no longer
anything to do further...
Professor...
You don't know it, but
the lecture is over.
Now, you're going to listen to me.
Where do you think the money
You've been living on
comes from, professor?
Money you pay for
an old jew's keep,
Money you give Tessie.
Money you pay for a nice,
fat house on long island
And the nice, fat family
you support there?
Oh, I know all about you.
And how. I know where
your money comes from...
From me.
And one of the places I get it most
Is from whorehouses
And bowling alleys and parking lots
And hotel linens and tenements.
Now tell me where you
thought it was coming from.
I don't know.
That makes you stupid, professor.
You're living right in it!
Right in the middle of
one big whorehouse,
Right in the bosom of the world!
How do you say it...
Filth, horror?
Right in the middle and
you don't know it.
Or maybe something else...
Because you don't want to know.
Are you that kind of man, professor,
that doesn't want to know about things,
Feel about things?
Are you that kind?
That makes you nothing!
A ton of nothing!
You give me a front,
and I give you money,
So don't hang up on me, professor.
Not again.
Look at me.
Look at me!
I said...
Those papers you haven't signed...
By tomorrow morning, signed.
What?
Yes.
Yes?
Yes.
Yes?
Yes?
Yes.
Yes?
Yes.
Yes, yes, yes, yes.
Oh, yes.
Happy dreams, uncle.
Come in.
Can I get you something?
Coffee?
No, I thank you. No.
I was out on the terrace
when you phoned.
I couldn't sleep.
Would you...
It's very lovely in the morning.
That's why I got this apartment...
This terrace.
The city and the river.
We had a...
We had a river in Germany.
Tell me about it.
That was long ago.
That was...
That was before Europe
became a graveyard.
What made you come here?
I don't know.
I don't know.
Just...
Things have been happening lately,
And...
I felt I needed to be with someone.
What things, Mr. Nazerman?
Well, it's just that suddenly,
In the last few days,
I feel afraid, and...
It's been a long
time since I felt...
Anything.
Fear.
Fear, fear.
That's what I felt.
And then I, uh...
I called you.
I'm sorry that you're so alone.
Oh, no, no, no.
You don't understand.
It's just that there
have been memories
That I have...
Well, I thought that I had...
Pushed them far away from me,
And they keep rushing in...
And then there are words...
Words that I thought I have
kept myself from hearing
And... now...
Now they...
Flood my mind.
Yeah.
Today is an anniversary.
What happened?
Happened?
Yes.
I didn't die.
Everything that I loved...
Was taken away from me and...
I did not die.
Mr. Nazerman...
There was...
Nothing I could do.
Ha.
Nothing.
Strange?
I could do nothing.
No, there was nothing I could do.
Why do you sit like that?
I got... chilled.
I got chilled listening to you...
And not being able to
do anything for you.
Sol!
Sol, don't let him fall!
David?
Sol, he's falling!
Oh, god, David!
Sol! Sol!
Ruthie!
I can't do anything!
Oh, my god, I can't do nothing.
David. David!
David! David!
Mr. Nazerman.
Mr. Nazerman.
Are you all right?
You-you don't look good.
Listen, I...
I- is there anything I can...
Mr. Nazerman.
Do you remember me?
The Oratory Award.
Just to carry me over until I...
Well... I have this for you.
Don't scratch them.
They're surely worth $10.
$50.
$2.00.
You're crazy.
$2.00 for a leica camera?
What the hell are you saying?
$1.00.
That's better?
You're out of your mind for sure.
Whatever you want to give.
I've got no use for them anymore.
How much do you want to borrow?
Oh, I-I don't know.
$20?
$50.
I'll let you have it for $2.00.
Why, yes, I'll just
take that watch.
Now, just wait a minute.
This says, uh...
It says 121/2 bucks, lady.
You got a mouth, boy.
Pawnbroker says...
I don't care.
You want this article,
You come up with $12.50.
That's what the sign say.
Mr. Nazerman.
Mr. Nazerman, are you ok? Huh?
Leave me alone, Ortiz.
Ok, I'll do that, Mr. Nazerman.
I'll do that. First I want to know,
Are you ok?
I'm ok.
Are you sure?
Yes, I'm sure! I'm ok.
Now just leave me alone.
That's all right. I'm just
concerned, that's all.
After all, you're my teacher.
Ha. I'm your what?
You're my teacher.
Hmm.
I'm a student to you.
You're nothing to me.
For true?
For true.
You mean, I'm like...
The rest of them out there?
That's right.
You're like the rest
of them out there.
You're nothing to me.
I'll go for lunch now.
Go to lunch.
Do what you please,
But just leave me alone.
Now, go!
See you later.
It's at closing time.
Hmm?
I said it's at closing time.
How come?
That's when it's got to be.
Now I said it,
And I'm saying it again.
No shootin'.
What's the matter,
You worried about the jew?
No.
I'm worrying about Jesus Ortiz.
Now...
I got a plan.
Then this jive cop, he said,
"Mon, I'm sympathetic
To the problems of your race."
You were supposed to deliver
the papers this morning.
They better be signed.
Sign them.
And if I don't sign the papers...
What do you do to me
then, you kill me?
Oh, yes.
So kill me.
Pardon me, uncle.
Professor...
You have to kill me.
That's what you want.
That's what you really
want, professor, isn't it?
I'll tell you what.
You'll die...
But not when you want to.
Not when you want to so bad.
One day it'll happen to you...
Just the time when
you wish it hadn't.
I'd like to borrow
some money on this.
I- I want to borrow $10 on this.
I collect them.
You'd be surprised how many people
Use them for decoration.
There's a monarch in here.
And the great spangle fritillary.
The mourning cloak...
And...
The one with the eye design, tha...
Thank you.
Well, gentlemen, what do you want?
The money.
The money.
Now, we ain't playin'.
Now you open that safe fast.
Well, come on!
Well, come on!
Look...
Go home.
We ain't jokin', mister.
You get that money
out of that safe.
You get it.
Hey, no sweat.
It's open.
Step aside, uncle.
What do you want to die for, uncle?
The money don't mean that
much to you, does it?
Now... you move.
Get out of the way of that safe...
No shooting!
Back up!
Back up!
Jesus!
Jesus! Jesus!
Jesus!
Ay, ay, ay!
Dios mio!
I... I said no shootin'.
I said no...
not to hurt you.
No...
No, don't hurt you.
No.
No, don't hurt you!
Back it up, back it up!
Let's go!