Description

1945, on an old cargo ship somewhere deep in the Pacific ocean: Captain Morton strives to become commander, so he demands the maximum quality of work from his crew, without granting them any freedom or favors - ignoring that they're thousand of miles away from the front. In one word: he drives his crew crazy. They are near mutiny, but no-one dares to do the first step. Until Ensign Pulver plays a prank on the captain that triggers fatal consequences... ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Should be a classic if not!
First time I seen this movie, I loved it! Hadn't seen Mr. Roberts prior to seeing Ensign Pulver, but after seeing Mr. Roberts...Ensign Pulver is the video I bought!

Interesting Premise for a Sequel
This is not a bad sequel from director Joshua Logan. It more or less picks up where MISTER ROBERTS left off but is presented with an entirely knew cast in familiar roles. Robert Walker Jr. is Ensign Pulver. Burl Ives is the Captain. Walter Matthau is good as Doc. He has the cynicism and wit but lacks the good-natured purpose of being that William Powell demonstrated in MISTER ROBERTS. To its credit the film tries to uncover the facade that the Captain wears night and day. Is he really a no good miserable excuse for a human being or is there something lurking deep inside that keeps his humanity from emerging. Pulver sets out unravel the enigma. There are some great moments of comedy and humanity and the film does have a great supporting cast that includes Jack Nicholson, James Farentino, Millie Perkins, Tommy Sands, Al Freeman, Jr., James Coco and Larry Hagman that keeps it all moving.

Mister Roberts #2
Although not as classic as Mister Roberts, this is still a great movie. Hech, I didn't even know there was a sequel, so I bought both copies. They have both earned a Top Shelf placing in my bookcase. All characters play great parts, even though James Cagney and Henry Fonda aren't in this movie. It would have been great to see some of the actors from the Mister Roberts, even though the 'new' doc, played by Walter Matthea does a great job. Both he and the "old Ensign" make great movies together! As most movies drag the chain nowadays going for 2-3+ hours, this is one movie I thought could go on and not get boring. Another classic and great fun for all family to enjoy. We wish more movies were like this nowadays. No Swearing, No Violence, No War .... not even a bullet is fired. An allround great movie.

Sound General Quarters!
The sequel to "Mister Roberts" returns to the worst ship in the navy, with the worst officer on that ship squarely in its sights. Pulver is equally the ressurection and damnation of the ship, being responsible for more action and chaos than the crew has seen in it's whole tour. Pulver's problems are only beginning when he's stranded on a raft with the Captain, a positively venemous Burl Ives. What happens after shows the transformation of the lecherous, ambitious, adolescent Pulver into an adult, or does it? Keep your eyes on the movie and always count your marbles.

One must divorce all thoughts of Mr. Roberts to truly enjoy.
This movie, although no where near the classic status of Mr. Roberts, from which it is drawn, is a decent comedy.

Robert Walker takes over the role of Jack Lemmon and Burl Ives, not James Cagney, is the captain. Walter Matthau is great as the ship's doctor. It has some great comedic moments ("tastes like dead frogs.")

Again, not a classic, but worth viewing. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Movies like The Landlord just don't get made anymore. Nowadays, the plot--an idle, wealthy young man (Beau Bridges) buys a tenement house in a poor black neighborhood and finds himself confronted and changed by the radically different lives his tenants lead--would be the basis for a broad comedy or a ponderous, self-important statement picture in which the hero comes to a profound understanding of something bland and inoffensive. But in the 1970s, a movie could be something too slippery to categorize. The Landlord is part social satire, part character study, part serious examination of race and class--and it delves into these things without having any answers or even strong advice, just a sense of the reality it depicts. Bridges, with his baby-faced innocence, is excellent, as are Lee Grant as his capricious mother and Pearl Bailey and Lou Gossett as some of his tenants; the rest of the cast is less recognizable but just as good. The movie uses abrupt editing to juxtapose the past and present or upper- and lower-class environments; the production and costume design use black and white to subtly comment on our responses to color in the world. The accumulation of all this lacks the focus that might make The Landlord a great movie, but it is a provocative, unpredictable, and engaging one, and well worth watching. --Bret Fetzer ... Read more

Reviews (5)

The Landlord a cult classic
Beau Bridges is the son of a wealthy but racist white mom, who falls in love with a black woman named Fanny and who ends up actually having a baby with her!!!

Elgar's mother, Mrs. Enders is the owner of a building in
which several black people live in. Mrs. Enders cares nothing about the people except that they pay her on time with rent.
Elgar, on the other hand, is a sensitive and open minded
guy who gets along with everyone in the building with the

exception of a black racist professor named Professor Duboise (Melvin Stewart). Every encounter these two have, results in either Duboise mocking the white society, or
Duboise, try to show Elgar how superior black people are
to white people. When it was it released it probably got alot of controversy because interracial romances was something that just wasn't shown on screen. Making things more complicated is the fact, that black men and women still didn't have the rights that white people in the time. It's a great example of great cinema directing, in one scene, Elgar Enders (Beau) has just made love to

Fanny, then the girls leans over and tells him that she
loves her boyfriend Copee (played by Louis Gosset Jr in
one of his first movie appearences). The scene then cutaways to Elgar running to talk to another girl for advice while Fanny is telling Elgar this. Copee is a black, jealous and violent boyfriend of Fanny. When he learns that Fanny is pregnant and he is not the father, he goes berserk, beating Fanny into telling him who the father is.

Once Copee, learns who it is, he grabs an axe and goes
after Elgar!!!! I loved the film because it breaks several stereotypes:

*It shows that color doesn't matter when we are talking about love, it's all about the feelings a man and woman feel for each other that is important.

*Elgar represents a group of conscious men who don't see Blacks and other minorities as inferior. In fact, throughout the film, Elgar is actually happier with his black friends than with his own mother.

*There are several messages about the dysfunctional family.

Elgar's mother (Lee Grant) is a rich white woman who has everything, yet she is a cold, miserable woman.

It was interesting to see Louis Gossett Jr. (Copee) as a crazy , jealous boyfriend . He usually plays good guy roles, but in this role, he nails his part by playing a guy who

has completely lost it.

The movie was directed by Hal Ashby, a man who has directed
several important cult films of our time including:
*Being There (1979 film with Peter Sellers ) *Shampoo (Great 1975 film with Warren Beatty and Julie Christie)
* Coming Home (A good 1978 film with Jane Fonda)
This is a very good movie, hard to find on video, but I highly recommend it.

A bit confusing, but a decent movie about race.
In case you don't know what the movie is about, I'll tell you. Beau Bridges plays a man who became a landlord to a ghetto area in Brooklyn. He wants to tear it down, but changes his mind when he meets some of the locals. The movie started off really well, and then got a little confusing with the plot and the relationship between Beau's character and Lanie, who he slept with after a party and got her pregnant. There also is a lot of weird edits that just come out of nowhere, but it's a decnt movie about racism, the lower class, and freedom. It's also quite funny, espeically the part when Marge and Joyce, a white woman and a black woman, get drunk together. Decent movie

A bit dated, but fun
Pearl Bailey, Diana Sands, and Lou Gossett, Jr. all give powerful performances. My favorite line was delivered by Diana Sands while pointing at her very pregnant belly. Pearl Bailey could easily give Queen Latifah a run for her money if she were around today. Don't get it twisted, I love Queen Latifah. Unfortunately a very young Beau Bridges was out of his league, and the ending seemed forced and derivative (I thought) of The Graduate. Hopefully someone will release this on dvd soon.

Hal, we need you now!
I agree- they DON'T make 'em like this anymore- honest, bold, uncompromising, socially and politically meaningful... yet (lest we forget) ENTERTAINING. Like Stanley Kubrick,the late Hal Ashby didn't direct a whole lot of films, but most of them were built to last ("Harold & Maude", "The Last Detail", "Being There", "Shampoo"). "The Landlord" was Ashby's impressive directorial debut in 1970. Spoiled rich kid Beau Bridges, worrisome to his parents due to his "liberal views", buys a run-down tenement building with intentions to rennovate. His introduction to, and subsequent involvement with, the various black tenants is played sometimes for laughs, sometimes for intense drama, but always for real, and that's the magic of Ashby's work. The social satire is dead-on, but never preachy (are you listening, Spike Lee?). The ensemble work is top-notch, with a young Lou Gossett (with hair!) giving a memorable dramatic turn, and the lovely Susan Anspach hilarious as Bridges' perpetually stoned and bemused sister. The scene in which Pearl Bailey and Lee Grant (two more knockout performances) get drunk and bond over a bottle of "sparkling" wine is a minor classic all on its own. Don't miss this one.

"explores black consciousness"
Based on the novel by African American novelist, Kristin Hunter, this movie explores the intricacies of black consciousness during the 1960's. Further it examines the effect of gentrification on existing communities. It stars Pearl Bailey, Lou Gossett and features a spectacular performance by the late, great Diana Sands. The film is visually provacative and incorporates a number of literary techniques that add dimension. It stands out above many of the "blaxploitation" flix of its day and is an overlooked classic. ... Read more

Reviews (10)

BEAUTIOUS!!
Probably the funniest scene in movie history is Willie walking down the courthouse steps in that green outfit, with fur cape and hat. The outfit is so outrageous (even by Seventies standards) that bystanders walking along the street during filming can't beleive their eyes. The actor playing Willie can barely keep a straight face.

Now Willie has reformed his ways, and is now Gordon on Seseme Street. I bet his old ...buddies sometimes drive by and give him a double-take:

"Willie?"

"Uh, no man. I'm Gordan."

Willie oh Willie D
Willie Dynamite is one of the best movies about Pimpin I have ever seen. I don't know if it is meant to be funny, but it is hilarious. The outfits, the hats, the car, and the walk all make Willie D one of the funniest characters I have ever seen. Two scenes in particular stick out. When he gets all seven of his girls out of jail and is leaving the court to his theme song, with the girls walking behind him. His strutt, and suit make it classic. Second when he "Pimp Jogs" down the stairs of the court house in his green suit with big fur, and fur hat to match. This movie is one of the best, when can I get it on dvd?

EUROPEAN VHS FORMAT TO BUY PLEASE,
I live in Europe and saw only saw AMERICAN PIMP, but not other pimp movies since they are in
"VHS Features:NTSC format (US and Canada only. This VHS will probably NOT be viewable in other countries. Read more about VHS formats.)"

IS IT POSSIBLE TO BUY THESE MOVIES IN EUROPEAN VHS FORMAT?

THANKS

MY FAVORITE, NEXT TO THE MACK!
THIS IS MY FAVORITE MOVIE, NEXT TO THE MACK, AND THEN, SUPERFLY,AND HIT MAN, FEATURING PAMALA GRIER!(PAM)
I THINK, THIS MOVIE IS A WONDERFUL,PIMPISH FLICK!!!...
IF YOU EVER SEE THIS MOVIE, ON CABLE CALLED, DRIVE BY, YOU WILL SEE THAT WILLIE D(ROSCOE ORMAN)AND, THE WOMAN CALLED PASSION (JOYCE WALKER) PLAYS IN IT TOGETHER, IN 1997, THEY ARE STILL ALIVE AND WELL!

Willie is Dynamite
The best Blaxploitation and fictional pimp narrative I've ever seen. Of course, that's all terribly relative to the genre and time period. A "good" Blaxploitation film means it has a solid ENOUGH storyline and that the producers spent a little money on it to make it seem like an actual film. This one scores high on both counts, and you find yourself trying to figure out what could possibly happen next. And for a film made in 1973, it's surprisingly fresh.

The story starts off with our anti-hero, Willie Dynamite (who was the bald Black guy on Sesame Street. You'll never look at Oscar the Grouch the same again) under seige from all sides, as he is set upon by an old flame-turned-social worker, the cops, and a wickedly funny pimp named "Bell" (played by Roger Robinson) who wants to take Willie's dynamite hoes because he won't join the newly formed pimp organized front.

And my God, the outfits.
Willie sports some of the most outlandish stuff you've ever seen, and when he walks down a set of courthouse stairs, prepare to be rewinding the tape a few times.

To top it all off, it has a moralty play woven throughout that you both admire and despise: you dig it because it's cool to have a movie from that time with a moral, but without being preachy; you despise it because it can only mean the end of Willie, who, despite his lifestyle, you come to like. Or maybe it's the white fez with triple tassles. I'm not sure.

But while Willie is great, the character to watch for is Bell, who steals every scene he's in. He's the cat that does the speech that's clipped into "American Pimp" about vision, and it's even funnier when you have it in context.

A well-done farce that pushes all the right buttons, and a perfect movie to watch with a bunch of your wacky friends or REALLY cool family. ... Read more