The Landlord

The Landlord is a 1970 film directed by Hal Ashby, based on the 1966 novel by Kristin Hunter. The film stars Beau Bridges in the lead role of a well-to-do white man who becomes landlord of an inner-city tenement, unaware that the people he is responsible for are low-income, streetwise residents. Also in the cast are Lee Grant, Diana Sands, Pearl Bailey, and Louis Gossett, Jr.. The film was Ashby's first film as director.

Plot

Elgar Enders (Beau Bridges), a man who lives off his parents' wealth, buys himself an inner-city tenement, in the transitional neighborhood of 1970 Park Slope, Brooklyn, 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.

Elgar falls for Lanie (Marki Bey), a dancer at a local black club. Lanie is a beautiful black woman who has a mother of Irish descent, 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 (Diana Sands), and gets her pregnant. Consequently, her boyfriend Copee (Louis Gossett, Jr.), a black activist with an identity crisis, is enraged when he finds out about the pregnancy, and tries to kill Elgar with an axe. He ultimately stops. The Enders family is shaken and stirred by their son's decisions and behavior, but reluctantly accepts him. Ultimately, Fanny gives the child up for adoption to start a new life. The story ends with Elgar taking custody of child, mending his relationship with Lanie, and moving in with her and the baby.