The landlord is a brilliant study on race relations!! Beau Bridges gives a funny, yet sensitive performance! Backup cast gives him strong support, including a young Marki Bey!!! Film needs to be better known by blacks and whites!! Blu-ray arrived on schedule & in perfect condition!! See this movie, please!!
ich kid buys NewYork brown stone to turn it in to his playboy paradise. Nice plan but he became involved with the lives of his tenants. If you like history, then this story about failed urban renew is interesting. It is a product of its time and of power to the people and the great society of lbj. If you want to see young Beau Bridges you got it here and you can understand him when he talks. As for the master test is going to be a twice watched movie, I think not the story is just not engaging despite the cas
What a pleasant surprise this movie turned out to be! Fantastic cast, great story, and the full unleashing of Hal Ashby as a director! And what a task to take on dealing not only with a interracial relation, but infidelity, and elitism in 1970. Beau Bridges is magnificent as Elgar. A pampered 29yr old from a rich family in upstate New York. Feeling confined and unfulfilled, he buys a tenement house in a ghetto area that’s prospect to become trendy. Upon arriving at the house, he meets and is threatened by the tenants. Learning he really is the landlord, they butter him up and are sweet to him. Pearl Bailey is outstanding as Marge, the buildings un-appointed ambassador if you will. As Elgar gets friendly with the tenants, tries to wield some authority, and plan his trendy makeover, he also has to deal with his rich family. Who still view him as a drifting child with pipe dreams that hopefully he will grow out of. Elgar also meets an attractive girl at a bar, who turns out to interracial mixed. As Elgar falls in love and tries to explain and introduce her to his family, he also winds up in a one night stand with a tenant whose husband has gone off to jail again. Problem is, his little fling has caused a pregnancy out of it. So the movie takes a very dramatic turn in how Elgar, his relations, and the tenants deal with this. Though extremely human, touching, and humorous, the story and direction is a little bewildered here and there. Elgar breaks down the 4th wall at the beginning addressing the audience, then has impromptu dream sequences where he confronts his past and values and addresses those more for himself. And then they give way to extended inter cuts of the impending tension (nurse in hallway as best example) And as great as Marge is, the 2nd and 3rd acts pretty well do away with her. Though fitting with the story, she was such a character I could’ve seen more of if possible. But for a first big outing for Hal, and Beau Bridges, Lou Gossett, Susan Anspach, etc. it’s pretty remarkable the commitment, and leeway Norman Jewison as the producer gave everyone to work with. And though somewhat dated today in looks, it’s dialog is as fresh as ever. A moving and touching story that should make one laugh and cry throughout.
Early Beau Bridges. Funny and heartbreaking. Too bad Diane Sands early passing. A truly gifted actress. It’s been over 35 years since I have sent it and I still find it relevant.
I first saw this movie when I was in Vietnam during service in the 70’s. It looked as good on DVD as I remember it in the movie. The quality was really great..
I had seen this movie when I was in my early teens and enjoyed it recently just as much … I love the story line and the humour. I received this item with great speed once the order went through.
This is a great film and it is from the guy that did “Being There” the best way to look at this movie is to watch “Being There” and then look At “The Landlord” . The movie was made back in 1971. A rich man has nothing better to in life then to become a slum landlord. Yes it is the great white hope in a black area. This movie came out aound the time another movie that is very hard to find now days “They don’t Wear Black Tie’s “Brazilian film
The Landlord is a very important film for fans of Hal Ashby and Seventies cinema in general. It was the first movie directed by Ashby, who went on to enjoy one of the best directorial runs of the 1970s with Harold and Maude, The Last Detail, Shampoo, Bound for Glory, Coming Home and Being There. Quite why it took so long for The Landlord to come out on DVD in the UK is a mystery, but it was never released on VHS over here so perhaps it’s simply the case that no-one even remembers it? If that is the case then it’s a real shame because it’s a very watchable film – not Ashby’s best but far from his worst. It’s full of Hal’s trademark quirky humour and social commentary, with a great performance from Beau Bridges. Well worth a watch for any film fan!
While bits are dated, this is still a surprisingly timely comedy/drama/satire about
race, done with style and inventiveness – especially in the editing.
Sheltered rich boy Beau Bridges buys a tenement in an African-American Brooklyn
ghetto, with the idea of fixing it up as a home for himself, only to get deeply involved
with the various eccentric characters who live there.
While making a cartoon of the rich white world, it’s a funny, insightful cartoon (maybe
not quite up to Ashby’s great “Harold and Maude”, but in a similar universe), and the
fact that no one in either world is let off the hook for their actions and attitudes, and
real people pay real prices gives this a surprisingly emotional edge.
While not quite perfect, it’s worthwhile, funny touching and intelligent.
And while I don’t love that MGM has put this out only in DVD-R (theoretically less stable
and long-lasting than normal commercial DVDs, no extras, etc) at least this
terrific film is available once again.
It’s so good to see this film on DVD finally. Hal Ashby’s debut directorial effort (made possible by Norman Jewison) is a solid effort with great performances by Beua Bridges, Lou Gosset Jr., Markie Bey, Lee Grant and, most notably, the incredible Diana Sands in one of her final roles. Ahead of it’s time editorially, and insigntful (for 1970) this is a grittier, hipper take on themes alluded to in “Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner”, but done with much more flavor, flair, and contemporary focus. Although Ashby went on to do several landmark films (i.e. “Shampoo”, “Being There”, “Coming Home”) this is still my favorite. Thanks MGM!
This is a DVD on demand (= DVD-R, which will ONLY play on dvd players; ie no PC drive, no dvd recorder etc) coming from MGM.
DVD has no menu or extras.
Picture looks very good even on 46″ monitor (ie upscaled by BD player + TV)
Picture quality: 8.5/10
Sound quality: 8/10
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1 (1.85:1 orig.)
Run time: 1:50’25” (acc. to imdb.com, an amazon.com-owned website, film orig. runs 112 min??)
Chapters: 22
Audio: English
ST: none
RC: 1
Bonus: none
ASIN: B003B3NV6S
Studio: MGM
Do you think this film should go BLU too?
Visit my Listmania lists ‘Friends of Blu-ray’ Pt. I-V
The relative obscurity of “The Landlord” is somewhat puzzling. It’s also puzzling that it has only been given a proper DVD release until now. It’s trenchant observations on race and bigotry make “Look Who’s Coming To Dinner” seem horribly dated. I think that lies in the fact that the makers of the film take an unjaundiced look at their subject matter. There are actual full-bodied characters here and not caricatures. There are no convenient heroes and villains here just people with their virtues and warts fully exposed. You can divorce “The Landlord” from the time it was made and it’s evident truths about human nature ring true today. One aspect I found intriguing was how an unwanted pregnancy was handled. Despite the grief that would be caused by bringing the child to term at no time is abortion alluded to. You have to bear in mind that at the time the film was made Roe v. Wade was a few years away. This is a brilliantly directed film by Hal Ashby who was making his debut here. This isn’t a conventional narrative with a number of flashbacks, first person narratives, and fantasy sequences being employed. Not only is the audience challenged by the film’s subject but also stylistically. “The Landlord” is unlike any film I’ve ever seen. I remember years ago a local film critic said he had seen the film some 50 times just to pick up the richness of it’s detail. The first(and last) time I saw it was in a truncated form on UHF. Now having seen it as it’s intended I now know what that critic meant.
I first saw this film in the mid-70s when ABC ran it on TV. The movie grabbed me right away. I told everyone about this movie, but ABC never ran it again. It’s played infrequently over the decades, but has lately been showing up on cable. Now, FINALLY, to have it released on DVD is the kind of respect this film deserves.
Year Nightbeats
This is the first film directed by Hal Ashby, now regarded as one of the great directors of the 70s, and it’s frankly my favorite of his films. Filled with energy and brilliant editing styles (Ashby won the Oscar for editing In The Heat Of The Night) and natural, low-key performances, which is unusual for a comedy from any decade. Visually it’s just as striking, being the first feature film shot by Gordon Willis, who then went on to shoot The Godfather.
Beau Bridges gives one of his best performances of his career, as does Lee Grant, Pearl Bailey and Lou Gossett Jr.
It’s one of the best edited films I’ve ever seen. Not fast cutting, but invisible and unpredictable. There’s a brilliant scene with Pearl Bailey and Lee Grant which has to have been semi-improvised which is staggeringly brilliant. I’ve run it in classes when I talk about film editing.
The DVD could be better image-wise, but considering that it was shot on high-speed film at the time it’s not surprising that there is a graininess to it. The color itself is wonderful. And, let’s face it, to have this film available at all is to give kudos to MGM/UA and The Mirisch Corporation for finally releasing it.
There are not extras or even a menu, one of the new DVD-R on-demand DVDs that are being made available of older films from the studios’ vaults, but I’m not complaining.
Finally, I was concerned about whether this film might be dated at all. It was made in 1968-1969 during the rise of the Black Power and Black Is Beautiful era. I gave the film to a close friend who is an actor and African American to get his input. He came back to me and said he watched the movie twice and that it was the film he’d been waiting his whole life to see: a film about the Black American Experience that wasn’t trying to be definitive, but was completely honest with it’s characters, none of which were caricatures or stereotypes, and where everyone looked like, spoke like and behaved like people he’d known and grew up with. This makes The Landlord even more of a rarity: a hip film from the late-60s/early-70s that still holds up today.
Thank you to MGM/UA and please keep more of these treasures from the vault coming.
I searched for years after seeing this movie when it was first released, but it didn’t seem to be available on VHS. I was very pleased to find a copy – in great condition. Beau Bridges and Pearl Bailey are terrific in this tale of a rich white boy’s foray into the black culture of the late 60’s/early 70’s – the impact of the tenants in the building he buys in a black neighborhood (just beginning to be gentrified) and his on their lives (his involvement with a female tenant who’s husband is in jail). But I think the best part of the movie may be Lee Grant’s performance as his mother. Underrated as an actress who I believe was mainly known on tv, she hits a perfect note as a spoiled white woman who can’t quite remember which of her many beaus she actually married (after a night of drinking with Pearl Bailey). Some hard truths about the gap – culturally and economically – between black and white are played out very well here and the love story is quite touching. Terrific movie that has aged well.
I discovered this film by accident while reading a black cinema history book by Donald Bogle. I was fascinated by the movie once I saw it. It’s become one of my favorites. This is an art house film about a wealthy white man who becomes a landlord of a Brooklyn tenament and makes connections with two very different black women. I love the boldness and complexity of the film and the directing was dreamy and odd–making it a surreal visual experience. I was captivated, as usual, by the spectacular performance of the late, great superior Diana Sands, who died too soon: I think she would have been one of Hollywood’s biggest black actresses had she lived. She is mesmerizing in this film. I definitely recommend this movie to anyone interested in movies that explore race relations and the complexities of human relationships.
A rich, sharply observed social satire that proceeds from farce to tragedy with logic and integrity. What a pleasure.
Although Hal Ashby, first-time director, and Gordon Willis, almost as new to feature cinematography, deserve the highest praise for their contributions, I split the lion’s share of credit for the film’s success between Bill Gunn’s biting, hilarious script and the perfectly cast ensemble:
Beau Bridges is deceptively nuanced in a deceptively tough role: Elgar Enders, an unmarked, unformed trust-funder whose scheme of renovating a tenement house into a groovy bachelor pad is his trial by fire waiting to happen. His relentless lessons in humility would be exhausting if they weren’t leavened with (dark) humor. Had Bridges chewed some scenery, he might have garnered an Oscar. As it is, he opts for a bewildered spontaneity that sure looks like great acting to me.
Elgar’s mother Joyce (Lee Grant) and Marge (Pearl Bailey), a tenant in Elgar’s building, have a lengthy, hilarious scene over bottle after bottle of fortified wine that would be a comic touchstone if only more people knew about the movie. Observes Marge: “You can get at those hamhocks a little better if you take those gloves off, honey.”
Diana Sands as Fanny Copee is flat out hilarious when the script calls for it (Broadly pouting, having sussed what a light touch Elgar is: “Complaints? Well let’s see… The roof leaks, the oven door’s broke, the toilet runs all day, and you’re awful cute to be a landlord…”), equally wrenching when the script calls for that. Marki Bey offers a lived-in performance as Lanie, another of Elgar’s romantic intrigues: Lanie is sad, serious, but not despairing. Watch the “Spinal Meningitis Festival Ball” scene closely- she’s given almost no dialogue, but her reactions supply all the eloquence required: joy, apprehension, tenderness.
Lou Gossett is first seen embodying The White Man’s nightmare version of The Urban Black Male, but it’s a put-on. Still, the film plumbs the pain behind the role-playing, and finally it’s clear that the pain is bottomless: (“D-don’t let them transplant my heart til I’m dead,” he pleads, his mind finally snapped). Mel Stewart is the droll, menacing Prof. Dubois, another of Elgar’s tenants, who would despise Elgar if such a feeling weren’t beneath him. Stingingly aloof as he is, the professor delivers the jab to Elgar’s conscience that helps end the film on a hopeful note.
“The Landlord” impresses first with its wit, then with the seriousness of its intentions.
I agree- they DON’T make ’em like this anymore- honest, bold, uncompromising, socially and politically meaningful… yet (lest we forget) ENTERTAINING. Like Stanley Kubrick,the late Hal Ashby didn’t direct a whole lot of films, but most of them were built to last (“Harold & Maude”, “The Last Detail”, “Being There”, “Shampoo”). “The Landlord” was Ashby’s impressive directorial debut in 1970. Spoiled rich kid Beau Bridges, worrisome to his parents due to his “liberal views”, buys a run-down tenement building with intentions to rennovate. His introduction to, and subsequent involvement with, the various black tenants is played sometimes for laughs, sometimes for intense drama, but always for real, and that’s the magic of Ashby’s work. The social satire is dead-on, but never preachy (are you listening, Spike Lee?). The ensemble work is top-notch, with a young Lou Gossett (with hair!) giving a memorable dramatic turn, and the lovely Susan Anspach hilarious as Bridges’ perpetually stoned and bemused sister. The scene in which Pearl Bailey and Lee Grant (two more knockout performances) get drunk and bond over a bottle of “sparkling” wine is a minor classic all on its own. Don’t miss this one.
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The landlord is a brilliant study on race relations!! Beau Bridges gives a funny, yet sensitive performance! Backup cast gives him strong support, including a young Marki Bey!!! Film needs to be better known by blacks and whites!! Blu-ray arrived on schedule & in perfect condition!! See this movie, please!!
ich kid buys NewYork brown stone to turn it in to his playboy paradise. Nice plan but he became involved with the lives of his tenants. If you like history, then this story about failed urban renew is interesting. It is a product of its time and of power to the people and the great society of lbj. If you want to see young Beau Bridges you got it here and you can understand him when he talks. As for the master test is going to be a twice watched movie, I think not the story is just not engaging despite the cas
What a pleasant surprise this movie turned out to be! Fantastic cast, great story, and the full unleashing of Hal Ashby as a director! And what a task to take on dealing not only with a interracial relation, but infidelity, and elitism in 1970. Beau Bridges is magnificent as Elgar. A pampered 29yr old from a rich family in upstate New York. Feeling confined and unfulfilled, he buys a tenement house in a ghetto area that’s prospect to become trendy. Upon arriving at the house, he meets and is threatened by the tenants. Learning he really is the landlord, they butter him up and are sweet to him. Pearl Bailey is outstanding as Marge, the buildings un-appointed ambassador if you will. As Elgar gets friendly with the tenants, tries to wield some authority, and plan his trendy makeover, he also has to deal with his rich family. Who still view him as a drifting child with pipe dreams that hopefully he will grow out of. Elgar also meets an attractive girl at a bar, who turns out to interracial mixed. As Elgar falls in love and tries to explain and introduce her to his family, he also winds up in a one night stand with a tenant whose husband has gone off to jail again. Problem is, his little fling has caused a pregnancy out of it. So the movie takes a very dramatic turn in how Elgar, his relations, and the tenants deal with this. Though extremely human, touching, and humorous, the story and direction is a little bewildered here and there. Elgar breaks down the 4th wall at the beginning addressing the audience, then has impromptu dream sequences where he confronts his past and values and addresses those more for himself. And then they give way to extended inter cuts of the impending tension (nurse in hallway as best example) And as great as Marge is, the 2nd and 3rd acts pretty well do away with her. Though fitting with the story, she was such a character I could’ve seen more of if possible. But for a first big outing for Hal, and Beau Bridges, Lou Gossett, Susan Anspach, etc. it’s pretty remarkable the commitment, and leeway Norman Jewison as the producer gave everyone to work with. And though somewhat dated today in looks, it’s dialog is as fresh as ever. A moving and touching story that should make one laugh and cry throughout.
I first saw this movie when I was in Vietnam during service in the 70’s. It looked as good on DVD as I remember it in the movie. The quality was really great..
race, done with style and inventiveness – especially in the editing.
Sheltered rich boy Beau Bridges buys a tenement in an African-American Brooklyn
ghetto, with the idea of fixing it up as a home for himself, only to get deeply involved
with the various eccentric characters who live there.
While making a cartoon of the rich white world, it’s a funny, insightful cartoon (maybe
not quite up to Ashby’s great “Harold and Maude”, but in a similar universe), and the
fact that no one in either world is let off the hook for their actions and attitudes, and
real people pay real prices gives this a surprisingly emotional edge.
While not quite perfect, it’s worthwhile, funny touching and intelligent.
And while I don’t love that MGM has put this out only in DVD-R (theoretically less stable
and long-lasting than normal commercial DVDs, no extras, etc) at least this
terrific film is available once again.
DVD has no menu or extras.
Picture looks very good even on 46″ monitor (ie upscaled by BD player + TV)
Picture quality: 8.5/10
Sound quality: 8/10
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1 (1.85:1 orig.)
Run time: 1:50’25” (acc. to imdb.com, an amazon.com-owned website, film orig. runs 112 min??)
Chapters: 22
Audio: English
ST: none
RC: 1
Bonus: none
ASIN: B003B3NV6S
Studio: MGM
Do you think this film should go BLU too?
Visit my Listmania lists ‘Friends of Blu-ray’ Pt. I-V
Year Nightbeats
This is the first film directed by Hal Ashby, now regarded as one of the great directors of the 70s, and it’s frankly my favorite of his films. Filled with energy and brilliant editing styles (Ashby won the Oscar for editing In The Heat Of The Night) and natural, low-key performances, which is unusual for a comedy from any decade. Visually it’s just as striking, being the first feature film shot by Gordon Willis, who then went on to shoot The Godfather.
Beau Bridges gives one of his best performances of his career, as does Lee Grant, Pearl Bailey and Lou Gossett Jr.
It’s one of the best edited films I’ve ever seen. Not fast cutting, but invisible and unpredictable. There’s a brilliant scene with Pearl Bailey and Lee Grant which has to have been semi-improvised which is staggeringly brilliant. I’ve run it in classes when I talk about film editing.
The DVD could be better image-wise, but considering that it was shot on high-speed film at the time it’s not surprising that there is a graininess to it. The color itself is wonderful. And, let’s face it, to have this film available at all is to give kudos to MGM/UA and The Mirisch Corporation for finally releasing it.
There are not extras or even a menu, one of the new DVD-R on-demand DVDs that are being made available of older films from the studios’ vaults, but I’m not complaining.
Finally, I was concerned about whether this film might be dated at all. It was made in 1968-1969 during the rise of the Black Power and Black Is Beautiful era. I gave the film to a close friend who is an actor and African American to get his input. He came back to me and said he watched the movie twice and that it was the film he’d been waiting his whole life to see: a film about the Black American Experience that wasn’t trying to be definitive, but was completely honest with it’s characters, none of which were caricatures or stereotypes, and where everyone looked like, spoke like and behaved like people he’d known and grew up with. This makes The Landlord even more of a rarity: a hip film from the late-60s/early-70s that still holds up today.
Thank you to MGM/UA and please keep more of these treasures from the vault coming.
Although Hal Ashby, first-time director, and Gordon Willis, almost as new to feature cinematography, deserve the highest praise for their contributions, I split the lion’s share of credit for the film’s success between Bill Gunn’s biting, hilarious script and the perfectly cast ensemble:
Beau Bridges is deceptively nuanced in a deceptively tough role: Elgar Enders, an unmarked, unformed trust-funder whose scheme of renovating a tenement house into a groovy bachelor pad is his trial by fire waiting to happen. His relentless lessons in humility would be exhausting if they weren’t leavened with (dark) humor. Had Bridges chewed some scenery, he might have garnered an Oscar. As it is, he opts for a bewildered spontaneity that sure looks like great acting to me.
Elgar’s mother Joyce (Lee Grant) and Marge (Pearl Bailey), a tenant in Elgar’s building, have a lengthy, hilarious scene over bottle after bottle of fortified wine that would be a comic touchstone if only more people knew about the movie. Observes Marge: “You can get at those hamhocks a little better if you take those gloves off, honey.”
Diana Sands as Fanny Copee is flat out hilarious when the script calls for it (Broadly pouting, having sussed what a light touch Elgar is: “Complaints? Well let’s see… The roof leaks, the oven door’s broke, the toilet runs all day, and you’re awful cute to be a landlord…”), equally wrenching when the script calls for that. Marki Bey offers a lived-in performance as Lanie, another of Elgar’s romantic intrigues: Lanie is sad, serious, but not despairing. Watch the “Spinal Meningitis Festival Ball” scene closely- she’s given almost no dialogue, but her reactions supply all the eloquence required: joy, apprehension, tenderness.
Lou Gossett is first seen embodying The White Man’s nightmare version of The Urban Black Male, but it’s a put-on. Still, the film plumbs the pain behind the role-playing, and finally it’s clear that the pain is bottomless: (“D-don’t let them transplant my heart til I’m dead,” he pleads, his mind finally snapped). Mel Stewart is the droll, menacing Prof. Dubois, another of Elgar’s tenants, who would despise Elgar if such a feeling weren’t beneath him. Stingingly aloof as he is, the professor delivers the jab to Elgar’s conscience that helps end the film on a hopeful note.
“The Landlord” impresses first with its wit, then with the seriousness of its intentions.