The Landlord

Hal Ashby’s 1969 debut clearly sprang from the mind behind ‘Harold and Maude’. It’s the tale of a bourgeois brat (Beau Bridges) from an old-money family who buys a tenement block in a black neighbourhood intending to create the perfect bachelor pad, but ends up falling for the residents instead. Loose, funky and rough around the edges in that trademark late ’60s screw-sense-let’s-try-it fashion, ‘The Landlord’ succeeds thanks to terrific performances, political nous, flawless photography from Gordon Willis, a handful of sublimely witty moments and an overall sense of rebellious fun.