The Landlord (1970)

At the age of twenty-nine, Elgar Enders "runs away" from home. This running away consists of buying a building in a black ghetto in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn. Initially his ... See full summary »

Director:

Hal Ashby

Writers:

Bill Gunn (screenplay), Kristin Hunter (novel)

Stars:

Beau Bridges, Lee Grant, Diana Sands

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Beau Bridges	...	Elgar
Lee Grant	...	Mrs. Enders
Diana Sands	...	Fanny
Pearl Bailey	...	Marge
Walter Brooke	...	Mr. Enders
Louis Gossett Jr.	...	Copee (as Lou Gossett)
Marki Bey	...	Lanie
Mel Stewart	...	Professor Duboise (as Melvin Stewart)
Susan Anspach	...	Susan Enders
Robert Klein	...	Peter (as Bob Klein)
Will Mackenzie	...	William Jr.
Gretchen Walther	...	Doris
Douglas Grant	...	Walter Gee
Stanley Greene	...	Heywood
Oliver Clark	...	Mr. Farcus

Storyline

At the age of twenty-nine, Elgar Enders "runs away" from home. This running away consists of buying a building in a black ghetto in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn. Initially his intention is to evict the black tenants and convert it into a posh flat. But Elgar is not one to be bound by yesterday's urges, and soon he has other thoughts on his mind. He's grown fond of the black tenants and particularly of Fanny, the wife of a black radical; he's maybe fallen in love with Lanie, a mulatto girl; he's lost interest in redecorating his home. Joyce, his mother has not relinquished this interest and in one of the film's most hilarious sequences gives her Master Charge card to Marge, a black tenant and appoints her decorator.

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Plot Keywords:

tenant | mulatto | love | adultery | marriage | 

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Taglines:

Watch the landlord get his.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 May 1970 (USA)

Also Known As:

A háziúr

Filming Locations:

51 Prospect Place, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cartier Productions, Mirisch Corporation, The

Technical Specs

Runtime:

112 min 110 min (Turner library print)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Hal Ashby:  bearded hippie/groom in opening shot.

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Quotes

Elgar Winthrop Julius Enders: You know what NAACP means, don't you?
Joyce Enders: You tell me what it means.
Elgar Winthrop Julius Enders: It means "Niggers Ain't Always Colored People"!
William Enders Sr.: What did he mean by that?
Joyce Enders: He just called us niggers.

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Connections

References The Littlest Rebel (1935)

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Soundtracks

"Let Me Love You"
Lyrics and Music by Al Kooper
Sung by Lorraine Ellison

User Reviews

Insightful "Landlord"

After 33 years things have certainly changed but this film still touches on issues that were very controversial back then and even now some of the events that take place are subject to debate. This story is about a young white entrepreneur named Elgar Enders (Beau Bridges) and he buys a New York tenement in a ghetto with plans on having the tenants move out so he can renovate it into his own place to live. He moves in and meets Marge (Pearl Bailey) who tells him about the people that live there and he finds out that many of the tenants owe back rent for several months. Elgar also meets Franny (Diana Sands) and they both seem to like each other but she is in love with Copee (Louis Gossett Jr.) who doesn't like Elgar and is always threatening him. Elgar gets a lot of flack from his parents and his mother Joyce (Lee Grant) who doesn't understand him says she will help him with new curtains. Elgar meets a light skinned black woman named Lanie (Marki Bey) and he falls in love and wants to marry her but Franny shows up at his door one day and tells him that she is pregnant with his child.

This film was directed by the great Hal Ashby who makes his directorial debut after spending many years working as an editor. Ashby had worked on some of Norman Jewison's films and the two had become good friends. Jewison wanted to help Ashby on his first film and he was one of the producers. The script is sharply written and each character is very well detailed so that by the end of the film the viewer has a good understanding of each of them. The script does tackle racism and its look at on both perspectives of whites and blacks. Ashby uses colors to make points like the all white house and white clothing that the Enders have while the run down tenement that is occupied by mainly black residents has mainly gray tones with some of the interior shots having red. Along with the sharp script and direction this film has several very good performances in it. Lee Grant picked up an Oscar Nomination for her funny role as Bridges mother and the scene with her and Pearl Bailey is a classic. Bailey was making a rare film appearance and she would only appear in one more film until her death. Arguably the best performance comes from Sands. She shows so many layers to her character Franny and if a role ever deserved an Oscar Nomination it was this one. She's terrific here and sadly she would pass away from cancer only 4 years later. Bridges was still a very young actor when he was cast and even though he hadn't yet developed into the fine actor that he is today his performance is still sincere. Several up and coming actors appear in small roles like Susan Anspach, Robert Klein, Gloria Hendry, Trish Van Devere and Hector Elizondo. After all the time that has passed this film still comes across as poignant and pertinent.