The Landlord – Radiance

Director: Hal Ashby
Screenplay: Bill Gunn
Based on a Novel by: Kristin Hunter
Starring: Beau Bridges, Lee Grant, Diana Sands, Pearl Bailey, Walter Brooke, Louis Gossett Jr., Marki Bey
Country: USA
Running Time: 112 min
Year: 1970
BBFC Certificate: 12

1970’s The Landlord, which was based on a novel by Kristin Hunter, was a title that Norman Jewison had intended to direct. However, before it went into production, Jewison was offered the chance to make the film adaptation of the popular Broadway hit Fiddler on the Roof and didn’t want to turn that down.

So, rather than abandon the project or put it on hold, Jewison asked his friend and regular editor Hal Ashby to helm the film, marking his directorial debut. Ashby agreed and The Landlord became the first in a stellar collection of films the director made during the 1970s.

Radiance Films are turning their attention to The Landlord, releasing it on Blu-ray as part of their impressive collection. I like the small handful of Ashby films I’ve seen a great deal but hadn’t yet watched The Landlord, so requested a copy to review. My thoughts follow.

The film is a comedy-drama that follows Elgar Enders (Beau Bridges), a privileged young white man who purchases a dilapidated tenement building in a predominantly black neighbourhood in Brooklyn. His initial plan is to evict the current residents and transform the building into a luxurious bachelor pad. However, after moving in, Elgar becomes increasingly drawn to the vibrant community and its inhabitants.

As he spends more time with the tenants, Elgar begins to question his preconceived notions and privileged upbringing. He forms close bonds with several residents, including the building’s matriarch, Marge (Pearl Bailey), and the charismatic and attractive Fanny (Diana Sands). One drunken night, he ends up sleeping with the latter, despite her being married to the activist Copee (Louis Gossett Jr.). Elgar also falls for Lanie (Marki Bey), a mixed-race dancer, with whom he forges a relationship.

Following his romances and friendships with the inhabitants of the building, Elgar abandons his original plans and becomes invested in the well-being of his tenants. However, his often thoughtless meddling and bed-hopping antics seem to be causing more trouble than good.

I liked The Landlord a lot. I find films tackling race can often get a little preachy and suffer from problems most ‘message’ films do in making simple arguments about what is right or wrong. However, The Landlord takes a more textured approach, whilst blending any issues tackled with raucous humour.

I don’t feel qualified to discuss the racial politics of the film in any great detail but I did appreciate the way The Landlord didn’t centre on any ultra-noble Sidney Poitier-like character (as was often the case at this time) but around a large cast of richly varied, often flawed black characters. These are ‘real’ people, not some God-like figures, meant to ‘prove’ that people of colour can be as respectable, or rather more respectable, than Caucasians. Instead, the black characters in the film are simply shown to be human – equal to their white counterparts whilst displaying imperfections both similar to them and of their own.

I also appreciated the way that it subverted the idea of the ‘white saviour’ character. Early on in the film, you would be forgiven for thinking that Elgar is becoming a changed man and will ‘save’ the ‘poor black folk’. However, this turns out to not be the case. I won’t elaborate further as I’m already spoiling the film a little as it is.

The white characters here are played quite large, often being clueless or unsympathetic, but this seems to be more a comment on wealth and privilege than race, depicting their lives as being more artificial and their outward appearance a facade. These characters, largely from Elgar’s family, fuel the film’s more farcical elements too.

Whilst directed by a white male, the screenplay was written by Bill Gunn, an African-American, and based on a novel by Kristin Hunter, an African-American woman. So the film has a strong black perspective behind it.

The divisions and conflicts between races and classes are still sadly present today, meaning the film is as relevant now as it was then. The idea of a wealthy young man buying out a property in a ‘ghetto’ and ruining the lives of those within it, without even necessarily meaning to, is also depressingly on-point in today’s housing crisis in the UK.

Looking away from any issues tackled in the film, the cast is superb. Bridges was only 29 at the time of making the film but was perfectly cast in the lead role and already had a lot of experience in TV and a few films. It’s some of the supporting cast that most impresses though. Pearl Bailey, who plays Marge, and Lee Grant, who plays Elgar’s mother, both have a lot of fun with their roles and a lengthy scene they have together where Marge gets Mrs. Enders drunk is one of the highlights of the film. At the other end of the spectrum, Louis Gossett Jr. delivers one of the more powerful performances in the film as Fanny’s boyfriend Copee. His pent-up rage explodes in a pivotal scene and the raw aftermath of this is shockingly portrayed by the gifted actor, who sadly passed away earlier this year.

The film looks good too, shot by the great Gordon Willis on location. There’s an effective use of colour, with a strong contrast particularly made between the worlds of the rich white family and the poorer black families. Reportedly, to avoid trouble when shooting in Brooklyn, Ashby would hire locals. This likely helped add to the natural flavour of the scenes.

Overall, The Landlord is an enjoyable, lively ‘dramedy’ that paints a complex picture of race relations and class division at an interesting period in American history.

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