The Landlord

Infobox Film
name = The Landlord


caption = promotional poster
director = Hal Ashby
producer = Mirisch Company
United Artists
writer = Kristin Hunter
Bill Gunn
starring = Beau Bridges
Lee Grant
Marki Bey
Diana Sands
Pearl Bailey
Louis Gossett, Jr.
cinematography =
editing = William A. Sawyer
Edward Warschilka
distributor =
released = 1970
runtime = 113 min.
language = English
budget =
music =
awards =
imdb_id = 0065963
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"The Landlord" is a 1970 film directed by Hal Ashby, which was based on the novel by Kristin Hunter.

Elgar Enders (Beau Bridges), a man who lives off his parent's wealth, buys himself an inner-city tenement, planning to evict all the occupants and construct a luxury home for himself. However, once he ventures into the tenement, he gradually grows fond of the low-income black residents who dwell there. Enders decides to remain as the landlord, and help fix the apartment building. He rebels against his WASP upbringing, and to his parents' dismay, he romances two black women, Lanie and Fanny, (Marki Bey and Diana Sands, respectively).

Elgar falls for Lanie, a dancer at a local black club. Lanie is a beautiful black woman who has a mother of Irish decent, and a father of African descent, thus she has light skin and features, and has experienced colorism because of it. Their relationship is strained, as Elgar has an affair with one of his tenants, Fanny, and gets her pregnant. Consequently, 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. The Enders family is shaken and stirred by their son's decisions and behavior, but reluctantly accepts him. Ultimately, Fanny disowns the illegitimate, caucasian looking child and gives him to Elgar. The story ends with Elgar taking custody of his love child, mending his relationship with his girlfriend Lanie, and moving in with her.

Awards and recognition

Lee Grant was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in the and the Golden Globe Awards, for her role as Elgar's neurotic mother.

External links

*imdb title| id=0065963|title=The Landlord
*amg movie|id=1:98622|title=The Landlord
*rotten-tomatoes|id=landlord|title=The Landlord