The Landlord
Director: Hal Ashby
Year Released: 1970
Rating: 1.0
Beau Bridges buys a house in the slums to fix up for himself (?) but soon learns the true meaning of equality and freedom (?) as he impregnates an African-American woman (?), almost gets killed by her husband and revolts against his plantation-owner parents. It's never clear in what way Bridges' character is supposed to change - he's not that closed minded or bigoted - so what is supposed to be his 'education' in race relations is pointless; it panders to its 'hip' liberal audience. The black humor works whenever Lee Grant is on-screen - she almost single-handedly saves the movie - but any attempt at frivolity is lost towards the end, when it really becomes heavy-handed. Not surprisingly, Norman Jewison produced.
