X
  • 1970
  • R
  • United Artists
  • 1 h 52 m
  • 1970
  • R
  • United Artists
  • 1 h 52 m
The Landlord

Summary 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 thought...

Directed By: Hal Ashby

Written By: Bill Gunn, Kristin Hunter

  • 1970
  • R
  • United Artists
  • 1 h 52 m
  • 1970
  • R
  • United Artists
  • 1 h 52 m

The Landlord

Metascore Generally Favorable Based on 12 Critic Reviews
75
User Score Available after 4 ratings
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Summary 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 thought...

Directed By: Hal Ashby

Written By: Bill Gunn, Kristin Hunter

Top Cast

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Critic Reviews

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Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 12 Critic Reviews
75
92% Positive
11 Reviews
8% Mixed
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 12 Critic Reviews
75
92% Positive
11 Reviews
8% Mixed
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews
91
The film captures a moment, playfully but without losing sight of the stakes, when the hot political temperatures of the late ’60s and early ’70s made change of one kind or another look inevitable.
By Keith Phipps FULL REVIEW
88
With so many brilliant collaborators and points of view, whose movie—whose dream—is it anyway? Ashby seems to say it’s all of ours.
FULL REVIEW
80
It holds up as terrifically fresh and constantly enjoyable, thanks to the collision of two social milieus that American cinema rarely puts side by side.
By Tim Robey FULL REVIEW
75
The film offers some fine performances, and Ashby's quirky but skillful direction allows the individual personalities of the characters to shine through. The script has a few uneven moments, none of which damage the overall quality of the film, and Willis captures the atmosphere of both rich and poor New York lifestyles with an impressive visual style.
FULL REVIEW
75
Instead of staying on that safe, predictable level, it begins to dig into the awkwardness and hypocrisy of our commonly shared, attitudes about race.
By Roger Ebert FULL REVIEW
70
Beau Bridges heads the uniformly excellent cast as a bored rich youth who buys a black ghetto apartment building and learns something about life.
FULL REVIEW
50
The Landlord is a glossy, flat, fake Hollywood attempt at black social comedy.
FULL REVIEW

User Reviews

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Details

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Production Company Cartier Productions, The Mirisch Corporation
Release Date May 20, 1970
Duration 1 h 52 m
Rating R
Genres
Tagline Watch the landlord get his.
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Awards

Academy Awards, USA
• 1 Nomination
Golden Globes, USA
• 1 Nomination
Laurel Awards
• 2 Nominations

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