The Landlord
This articleneeds additional citations forverification.(January 2015) |
The Landlord | |
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![]() promotional poster | |
Directed by | Hal Ashby |
Screenplay by | Bill Gunn |
Based on | The Landlord 1966 novel byKristin Hunter |
Produced by | Norman Jewison |
Starring | Beau Bridges Lee Grant Diana Sands Pearl Bailey |
Cinematography | Gordon Willis |
Edited by | William A. Sawyer Edward Warschilka |
Music by | Al Kooper |
Production companies | Mirisch Company Cartier Productions |
Distributed by | United Artists |
Release date |
|
Running time | 113 minutes |
Language | English |
Budget | $1.95 million[1] |
The Landlordis a 1970 Americancomedy-drama filmdirected byHal Ashby,adapted byBill Gunnfrom the 1966 novel byKristin Hunter.The film starsBeau Bridgesin 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 areLee Grant,Diana Sands,Pearl Bailey,andLouis Gossett Jr.The film was Ashby'sdirectorial debut.
Plot
[edit]Elgar Enders, who lives off an allowance from his wealthy parents, buys an inner-city tenement inPark Slope, Brooklyn,which is undergoinggentrification,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 the landlord and help fix the building. He rebels against hisWASPupbringing 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 her having a mother of Irish descent and a father of African descent, and has experiencedcolorism.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 stops. He is taken away in astraitjacket.
In recovery at the hospital, Fanny tells Elgar she can't raise the child herself with Copee returning home. Elgar balks at being a single father, so Fanny suggests they give the child up for adoption, but only to a white family to start a new life. The story ends with Elgar taking custody of the child, mending his relationship with Lanie, and moving in with her.
Cast
[edit]Actor | Role |
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Beau Bridges | Elgar Winthrop Julius Enders |
Lee Grant | Joyce Enders |
Diana Sands | Francine "Fanny" Johnson |
Pearl Bailey | Marge |
Walter Brooke | William Enders |
Louis Gossett Jr. | Copee Johnson (as Lou Gossett) |
Marki Bey | Lanie |
Melvin Stewart | Professor Duboise |
Florynce Kennedy | Enid, the Realtor |
Susan Anspach | Susan Enders |
Robert Klein | Peter Coots |
Will Mackenzie | William Enders Jr. |
Charlie Murphy,older brother ofEddie 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
[edit]The film was a commercial disappointment.Arthur Krimof 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
[edit]The film garnered mostly positive reviews from critics. OnRotten Tomatoes,it has received a 93% overall approval rating from 14 critics.[3]Upon its release,New York Timesfilm criticHoward Thompson,called the film "a wondrously wise, sad and hilarious comedy."[4]On September 19, 2007, journalist Mike Hale discussed the film in aNew York Timesarticle called "Before Gentrification Was Cool, It Was a Movie". Hale praised the film for tackling the racial tension that arose in the aftermath of theassassination 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
[edit]Award | Category | Nominee(s) | Result | Ref. |
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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 |
References
[edit]- ^"The Films of Hal Ashby".Beach, Christopher (2009). Detroit, Michigan:Wayne State University Press,p. 175,ISBN978-0-8143-3415-7.
- ^quoted in Tino Balio,United Artists: The Company that Changed the Film Industry,Wisconsin Press, 1987 p 314
- ^"The Landlord".Rottentomatoes.Retrieved13 January2015.
- ^abHale, Mike (19 September 2007)."Before Gentrification Was Cool, It Was a Movie".The New York Times.Retrieved13 January2015.
- ^"The 43rd Academy Awards | 1971".Academy Awards.Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.Retrieved28 December2017.
- ^"Film in 1972".British Academy Film Awards.British Academy of Film and Television Arts.Retrieved28 December2017.
- ^"The Landlord".Golden Globe Awards.Hollywood Foreign Press Association.Retrieved28 December2017.
Further reading
[edit]- Sieving, Christopher J.Soul Searching: Black-Themed Cinema from the March on Washington to the Rise of Blaxploitation,Wesleyan University Press (2011). 280pp.https:// amazon /Soul-Searching-Black-Themed-Washington-Blaxploitation/dp/0819571334
External links
[edit]- 1970 films
- 1970s romantic comedy-drama films
- 1970s satirical films
- American romantic comedy-drama films
- American satirical films
- Films about race and ethnicity
- Films based on American novels
- Films directed by Hal Ashby
- Films set in Brooklyn
- Films set in New York City
- Films about interracial romance
- United Artists films
- Films about landlords
- 1970 directorial debut films
- 1970s English-language films
- 1970s American films
- Films produced by Norman Jewison
- 1970 comedy-drama films