The Pawnbroker (1964)
In what many, including Steiger himself, considered his best performance, he plays Sol Nazerman, a Holocaust survivor running a pawnshop in Harlem. This isn't just an underrated role; it's one of the most devastating portraits of trauma in American cinema.
Steiger is a black hole of emotion, a man who has witnessed unspeakable horrors and walled himself off from the world entirely. Director Sidney Lumet uses jarring, Resnais-like flashbacks to fracture Nazerman's present, showing how the past is never truly past. Steiger's performance is quiet and implosive, a stark contrast to his more famously explosive characters. He conveys a universe of pain in his hollowed-out eyes, making the film a tough but essential watch. It earned him an Oscar nomination and remains a masterclass in controlled, internalized acting.
No Way to Treat a Lady (1968)
Just a year after his Oscar win, Steiger took a hard left turn into black comedy with this stylish thriller. He plays Christopher Gill, a theatrical serial killer with a mother complex who dons a series of disguises—an Irish priest, a German plumber, a campy hairdresser—to dispatch his victims and taunt the detective on his tail (George Segal). The film is a wicked satire, blending a genuinely tense cat-and-mouse game with subversive humor. Steiger is clearly having a blast, chewing scenery with surgical precision. It's a performance that shows off his incredible range, proving he could be as funny as he was fearsome. In a decade defined by his dramatic weight, this film is a reminder that Steiger was also a brilliant and fearless character actor.
A Fistful of Dynamite (1971)
Often lost in the shadow of Sergio Leone's other masterpieces, this epic Zapata Western (also known as 'Duck, You Sucker!') is a chaotic, political, and deeply entertaining film. Steiger plays Juan Miranda, a greedy peasant bandit who inadvertently becomes a hero of the Mexican Revolution after teaming up with an Irish explosives expert, played by James Coburn. While Coburn is the cool, cynical revolutionary, Steiger is the film's hot-headed, emotional core. His performance is broad and charismatic, a thousand miles away from the quiet torment of 'The Pawnbroker' or the sinister intellect of his famous villains. He grounds the film's wild tonal shifts, making Juan's journey from self-serving thief to reluctant revolutionary believable and compelling. It’s a flamboyant, powerful performance in one of Leone’s most overlooked gems.
The Illustrated Man (1969)
Based on a collection of stories by sci-fi legend Ray Bradbury, this film is admittedly a flawed and bizarre artifact of the late '60s. But as a showcase for Steiger's willingness to take ambitious risks, it's fascinating. He plays Carl, a man whose entire body is covered in 'skin illustrations'—tattoos that come to life to tell futuristic parables when stared at. The film weaves together three of these sci-fi tales, with Steiger appearing in different roles within them. The movie itself was a critical and commercial disappointment, but Steiger's central performance is haunting. He portrays Carl as a tormented soul, cursed by his living art and searching for the mysterious woman who created it. It’s an odd, experimental film that proves Steiger was never afraid to venture far outside the mainstream.
