(Hal Ashby, US 1970, 113 min.)

Beau Bridges stars as a rich, privileged 29-year-old who uses his family’s money to buy a tenement building in Brooklyn with the hopes of transforming it into his dream bachelor pad. Complications ensue when the callow youth tries to get the building’s African-American tenants to move out. An unpredictable, warmhearted, and ultimately romantic comedy, former editor Hal Ashby’s first feature as director also co-stars Diana Sands, Pearl Bailey, Lou Gossett Jr., and, in an Oscar®-nominated performance, Lee Grant. “Full of sharp absurdist humor. Hal Ashby’s debut is one of his best…The dialogue is crisp and often quite startling, the picture has originality and depth”—Pauline Kael.

Program Notes

In 1969 producer-director Norman Jewison began production on a screen adaptation of Kristin Hunter’s 1966 novel, The Landlord. Jewison was in a position to make any film he wanted with United Artists after the financial and critical successes of In the Heat of the Night (1967) and The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), and opted to use that leverage to make “an experimental, satirical film, from a script by an unknown black screenwriter [Bill Gunn].” Days before production on The Landlord was set to begin, Jewison opted to produce the film, rather than produce and direct as originally intended, due to pre-production beginning on his next project, Fiddler on the Roof (1971). Jewison’s decision to move to Europe, out of disillusionment with the political climate of the United States, was also a factor in his stepping down from directing. Jewison selected Hal Ashby to replace him as director.

Ashby had worked his way up from the Universal Studios mailroom to become an editor. While he was editing The Loved One (1965), Ashby was introduced to Jewison. They became friends and Jewison asked Ashby to edit The Cincinnati Kid (1965). Ashby went on to edit Jewison’s next four films, including In the Heat of the Night, which garnered him an Oscar for Best Film Editing.

“Ashby’s direction [of The Landlord] is slick,” commented Rob Edelman in his entry on the film in Magill’s American Film Guide. Indeed, in The Landlord, Ashby made use of the skills he picked up as an editor, particularly pacing and artful juxtaposition, to reinforce the cultural divide between Elgar Enders (played by Beau Bridges), his privileged family, and the residents of the ghetto tenement Elgar purchases.

However, Ashby’s developing skills as a director were seen as far more valuable to the film overall, according to critics of the day. In his 1970 review for The New York Times, Howard Thomas did state that “every camera frame, by this ex-cutter, is made to count.” Nevertheless, Thomas viewed Ashby more as a new director than former editor, and commented upon the extraordinary acuity and free-wheeling crispness of style Ashby brought to The Landlord. The review from Variety paid less direct compliments to Ashby, but noted that, “[The Landlord] is most successful when people are interacting with people.” Edelman confirmed this observation, declaring the performances in The Landlord “top-notch,” but singled out Lee Grant’s performance as Mrs. Enders, for which the actress received a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination.

Despite receiving generally positive reviews, The Landlord did not do well at the box-office. Yet, as Rebello pointed out, the socially conscience satire “catapulted Ashby’s reputation” in Hollywood, which lead to more offers to direct. Furthermore, the socially liberal content, eccentric characters, and theme of rebelling against conformity established in The Landlord would go on to define Ashby’s future body of work.

~Rachel Bauer, Student, L. Jeffrey Selznick School of Film Preservation

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