The Landlord

The Landlord is a 1970 American comedy-drama film directed by Hal Ashby, adapted by Bill Gunn from the 1966 novel by Kristin Hunter. The film stars Beau Bridges in the lead role of a privileged and ignorant white man who selfishly becomes landlord of an inner-city tenement, unaware that the people he is responsible for are low-income, streetwise residents. Also in the cast are Lee Grant, Diana Sands, Pearl Bailey, and Louis Gossett Jr. The film was Ashby's directorial debut.

This article is about the 1970 film. For other uses, see Landlord (disambiguation).
"The Landlord (film)" redirects here. For the 2007 short film starring Will Ferrell, see The Landlord (2007 film). For the 1940 German film directed by Heinz Helbig, see Der Herr im Haus.
The Landlord
promotional poster
Directed byHal Ashby
Screenplay byBill Gunn
Based onThe Landlord
by Kristin Hunter
Produced byNorman Jewison
StarringBeau Bridges
Lee Grant
Diana Sands
Pearl Bailey
CinematographyGordon Willis
Edited byWilliam A. Sawyer
Edward Warschilka
Music byAl Kooper
Production
companies
Mirisch Company
Cartier Productions
Distributed byUnited Artists
Release date
  • May 20, 1970 (1970-05-20)
Running time
113 minutes
LanguageEnglish
Budget$1.95 million[1]

Plot

Elgar Enders, who lives off an allowance from his wealthy parents, buys an inner-city tenement in Park Slope, Brooklyn, which is undergoing gentrification, planning to evict the occupants and construct a luxury home for himself. However, once he ventures into the tenement, he grows fond of the low-income black residents. Enders decides to remain as the landlord, and help fix the building. He rebels against his WASP upbringing, and to his parents' dismay, romances two black women.

The first is Lanie, a mixed-race dancer at a local black club. Lanie has light skin and features due to a mother of Irish descent, and a father of African descent, and has experienced colorism. Their relationship is strained, as Elgar has an affair with one of his tenants, Fanny, and gets her pregnant. Her boyfriend Copee, a black activist with an identity crisis, is enraged when he finds out about the pregnancy, and tries to kill Elgar with an axe but ultimately stops.

The Enders family is shaken by their son's behavior, but reluctantly accepts him. Ultimately, Fanny gives the child up for adoption to start a new life. The story ends with Elgar’s taking custody of the child, mending his relationship with Lanie, and moving in with her.

Cast
ActorRole
Beau BridgesElgar Winthrop Julius Enders
Lee GrantJoyce Enders
Diana SandsFrancine "Fanny" Johnson
Pearl BaileyMarge
Walter BrookeWilliam Enders
Louis Gossett Jr.Copee Johnson (as Lou Gossett)
Marki BeyLanie
Melvin StewartProfessor Duboise
Susan AnspachSusan Enders
Robert KleinPeter Coots
Will MackenzieWilliam Enders Jr.

Charlie Murphy, older brother of Eddie Murphy, lived in the neighborhood where the film was shot, and he appears in a brief scene as a boy stealing Elgar's hubcaps.

Reception

The film was a commercial disappointment. Arthur Krim of United Artists later did an assessment of the film as part of an evaluation of the company's inventory:

What was expected to be provocative material to the new modern film audience of 1968-1969 in depicting black and white relationships in an urban setting, emerged as a film which we felt would be of limited interest to the audience of 1970 - an audience more and more sated with films of this genre. This is still a type of film we intend to continue to make but at one-quarter the cost. Unfortunately, at the time this film was programmed, unrealistic optimism about the potential audience for this type of film prevailed.[2]

Critical reaction

The film garnered mostly positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has received a 92% overall approval from 12 critics.[3] Upon its release, New York Times film critic Howard Thompson, called the film "a wondrously wise, sad and hilarious comedy."[4] On September 19, 2007, journalist Mike Hale discussed the film in a New York Times article called "Before Gentrification Was Cool, It Was a Movie". Hale praised the film for tackling the racial tension that arose in the aftermath of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and wrote in surprise how the film "would disappear after its 1970 release – rarely shown and just as rarely discussed."[4]

Awards and nominations
Award Category Nominee(s) Result Ref.
Academy Awards Best Supporting Actress Lee Grant Nominated [5]
British Academy Film Awards United Nations Award Hal Ashby Nominated [6]
Golden Globe Awards Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture Lee Grant Nominated [7]
Laurel Awards Top Female Supporting Performance 4th Place
Top Female Star of Tomorrow Diana Sands 6th Place

See also

References
  1. "The Films of Hal Ashby". Beach, Christopher (2009). Detroit, Michigan: Wayne State University Press, p. 175, ISBN 978-0-8143-3415-7.
  2. quoted in Tino Balio, United Artists: The Company that Changed the Film Industry, Wisconsin Press, 1987 p 314
  3. "The Landlord". Rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  4. Hale, Mike (19 September 2007). "Before Gentrification Was Cool, It Was a Movie". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  5. "The 43rd Academy Awards | 1971". Academy Awards. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
  6. "Film in 1972". British Academy Film Awards. British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
  7. "The Landlord". Golden Globe Awards. Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Retrieved 28 December 2017.

Further reading
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