The Ruling Class (1972) Reviews

• One of the best black comedies ever to come out of Britain... a side-splitting indictment of their class system.

  lbo34102003-08-20

  British `dark comedy' was possibly as its zenith with this rich Peter O'Toole offering by director Peter Medak. O'Toole is Jack Gurney, the youngest and `somewhat eccentric' heir to the House of Gurney. He suddenly finds himself being forced by his late father's will into taking up his role in British society - assuming the family seat in the House of Lords. The biggest problem is not that the late Earl of Gurney has just accidentally hung himself wearing a cocked hat and a ballet skirt, or that Jack has just released himself from `hospital' where the doctors were treating his `nerves.' No the biggest problem is that, on a good day, the new 14th Earl of Gurney thinks he's Jesus Christ and, on a bad day, he thinks he's Jack the Ripper! And if that mix of the macabre doesn't make you chuckle, try this unexpected twist. At several poignant moments throughout the film, the cast will suddenly break from straight-faced dialogue into a full-blown, song and dance numbers, some of which would make Busby Berkley proud. In one case, the tune of `Connect 'dem Bones' is ushered up to punctuate a scene with O'Toole lecturing the local gentry about the need for capital punishment. Herein lies one of the big reasons why this film is so off-the-wall and refreshingly funny. For my money, this is one of the most original, thought-provoking and honest critiques of the British class system ever to be put on film. O'Toole is simply mesmerizing as he juggles Jack's multiple personalities, the funniest of which is Christ or, as he prefers it, `J.C.' It's hysterical to watch the cumulative effect of J.C.'s `touched' outlook on the members in his stuffy, conspiring family who are out to get Jack committed permanently. A true `Must See Film' for anyone who enjoys a juicy, sardonic, intelligent black comedy, especially when the topic focuses on the silly pomposity of the British upper classes.

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• Best British film EVER

  meryles2002-12-04

  This movie has EVERYTHING!!!!! I'm serious. Does it have musical numbers? Yes, it does. Beautiful costumes, fabulous sets, serial killers, witty dialogue, burlesque striptease, opera and aristocracy, romance and insanity, jealousy and drama, comedy and theology? Yes, yes, yes!!! Oh, why couldn't there be more films like this? In a way, it reminded me of "The Ninth Configuration" although that movie lacked humor. Peter O'Toole is just gorgeous, as well. My father (psychiatrist) says that this film is just about the only accurate film representation he's seen of MANIA, but when i asked him about it, he didn't recall the musical numbers. So i suppose it's got something for everyone. I could write about THE RULING CLASS for hours and hours and compare it to everything in the entire world but i don't want to give anything away. This is an absolute MUST-SEE for anyone with an interest in film, England, mental disorders, or dancing the Varsity Rag.

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• A moving and disturbing critique of our sets of belief systems.

  bozsi2001-12-14

  The Ruling class is a disturbing commentary on the nature and necessity of our whole belief systems. It both highlights the extreme fragility of those beliefs, and takes gently mocking aim at us for our dependency on them. Viewed in that light, the film succeeds 100%. When viewed merely as a satire on the British ruling classes, of course it doesn't. It goes far deeper, becoming also an essay on our tendency to manipulate others for our own benefit: the characters' collective idiosyncrasies serve as punctuation for that essay. Brilliantly acted, often hilarious but always profoundly moving, it is a genuine classic of its kind, notwithstanding its undeniable, though relatively minor, flaws. I'd love to have it on DVD!

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• The insanity doesn't matter... but proper behavior does.

  roarshock2000-07-03

  Peter O'Toole has often played characters who are obsessed and even a bit mad. But in The Ruling Class he is utterly over the top crazy, and it's a bit disquieting how naturally he slips into the role. Yet this is a comedy, a wonderfully bizarre, often black comedy that deals with acceptable and unacceptable behavior -- insanity, and morality, being irrelevant. It's characters mostly belong the English elite, but they simply stand in for all those whose power and prestige demand that appearances be kept up. So this isn't a film for everyone. And some may not like the way it swings from the very flippant to the very dark. It requires a wide range of humor to enjoy it all. Unfortunately, I hear that enjoying it all may be impossible. It seems that all home versions are cut several minutes from the theatrical release, sometimes much more. The longest length available is apparently 141 minutes, so that is the one to get.

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• Outrageous, flawed masterpiece. O'Toole is unforgettable.

  Lupercali2004-12-25

  'The Ruling Class', released in 1972, is a farce on the British aristocracy, and (at least from this distance), you have to wonder if it is much less relevant today than when it was made. There is still a House of Lords, and it has taken the intervening 32 years to have fox-hunting almost banned. Briefly, the Earl of Guerney dies in a ridiculously fetishistic manner, and leaves his estate to his son, Jack, much to the outrage of his family, since Jack has been a voluntary mental patient for the past 8 years. A plan is hatched to marry him off, get a mail heir, and then through diverse intrigues, gain possession of the estate. Unfortunately Jack books himself out and shows up. Jack, who believes himself to be God, is played by Peter O'Toole, resplendent in Jesus hairdo and varying hilariously between Biblical sounding pronouncements and schizophrenic word-salad nonsense. Generally he is entirely manic, except when he is sleeping on the huge wooden cross, in full view of anyone who walks into the manor. This was made two or three years before O'Toole literally almost drank himself to death, and one gets the feeling that they didn't so much write this part for him as set him loose on the set and tell him 'Be yourself'. This isn't meant as an insult. O'Toole is utterly magnetic, whether making Shakespearean pronouncements, running madly about, or as his even more insane incarnation as Jack the Ripper after he is 'cured'. The film lurches from hilarious satire to very dark humour, containing scenes which are genuinely alarming if not outright terrifying (again, mostly thanks to O'Toole). Other standouts include Arthur Lowe as the long-suffering Communist butler, and Alistair Sim as a hilariously doddering bishop. The film itself is all over the shop. Even at the most unexpected moments, the cast is likely to suddenly break out into a musical number. Another schizophrenic patient is wheeled in who proclaims himself to be the 'High-Voltage God', and who can shoot 10 million volts from his fingertips (whether the lightning bolts crackling from his fingers are imaginary or real, who knows?). It can lurch from lunacy like this to genuinely chilling scenes including brutal violence and murder. Generally speaking the second half of the film, after Jack's 'cure' is much darker. The flaws? Well, I think the second half is definitely unnecessary long. My VHS copy is 156 minutes, and if the current version is 141 minutes, that could be an improvement, if they carved some of the later scenes out. Basically it out-stays its welcome a little. Having made its point, it rather harps on it. All the same, there is nothing really like this in British cinema (except perhaps the even more obscure, and even more mad, but rather less scalding 'Sir Henry at Rawlinson End'). The cast is uniformly terrific, some of the dialogue is priceless, and it has some of the funniest scenes from 70's British cinema. You do need to be able to roll along with the changing mood of the film though, because what for the most part is a hilarious satire develops into a very, very black comedy.

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