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Rating:  -
Outstanding! Forget Lawrence of Arabia. This is THE Peter o'Toole role!
Even his only competing ranters Richard Harris & Burton could not have brought the hip eccentricity necessary for this role. This is a defining role like Jack Nicholson in Cuckoo's Nest or Malcom McDowell in Clockwork Orange. Yes, it's funny, but you will find yourself smiling between the jokes at the overall feeling that pervades. I'm not surprised by the few negative reviews by people who don't "get it" (they were not meant to). I am amazed that this was nominated for several Academy Awards. Ah, how far they've fallen since 1972. This was a wide-release cult film that stands as one of the best of the 70's, from a decade containing a wealth of classics. It's a subversive bon-bon for the twisted intelligentsia who will revel in the language, themes, scenery and faces.
Rating: -
This old movie is a joy for Peter O'Toole fans. He is vulnerable, evil, sweet, loving, twisted, cruel, deceitful, transparent, innocent, corrupt, powerful,broken,weak and strong. All that and song and dance too, by a man who's beautifully in his prime. I think he's just wonderful in this one. And, the script is brilliant. I am happy to be able to get it on DVD now.
Rating: -
This film is a GEM!!! A wonderful tongue-in-cheek snigger at the Ruling Class in Britain which got the movie banned there for decades,(if it still is not)! Riddle:Q."What's it like going from the House of Commons to the Upper House,(House of Lords)?" A."Like going from the animals to the vegetables!" But,you know,"Chacun pour soi!"
Rating:  -
...what about the rest of us?This film deserved it's SMALL audience..It is supposed to be a satire on the British upper classes,but it is so burdened down with unfamiliar,and boring pretensions as to make it a yawnfest from start to finish..the one-note joke about the dotty Peter O'toole charecter,who is supposed to become an Earl,or a Baron,or some other suchlike meaningless title but is as nutty as a fruitcake,and believes himself to be Jesus Christ to boot hardly makes up for the tedium that is so much a part of this picture...O'Toole,hanging from a cross near the swimming pool,or ranting and raving about his mission in life may look good in a one minute advertisement for this flick,but when you pay your money to own it on DVD you gotta sit through all of those OTHER minutes,when it becomes questionable if watching this movie or watching grass grow is the more entertaining past-time..I would opt for watching the grass grow...
Rating: -
"The Ruling Class" is the kind of sharp, intelligent, vicious satire that only the Brits can do this well. It is by turns, curious, silly, dry, sharp and nasty as a cat's litter box. The plot twists are as crazy as the main character, and the movie's theme, "the idle rich have a way of protecting themselves" is as pertinent today as it was in 1972. Indeed, this is the type of movie which could only be made in the 1970's, the last time when the authority structures and "the ruling classes" were regarded with general suspicion by the rest of society.
In a bravura performance which should have won him an Oscar, Peter O'Toole plays Jack Gurney, heir to an English earldom. There's only one problem: Jack is in the looney bin because he thinks he's Jesus Christ. The plot revolves around how the rest of Jack's relatives plan to "cure" him so he's just "sane" enough to inherit and then manipulate him to their own ends. Needless to say, sly, cynical jokes about religious and social hypocrisy are abundant, and they're all right on the money.
Like the very best of British satires, the more you bring to this movie, the more rewards it holds. A knowledge of Verdi operas, 19th Century French Romantic literature, English music hall traditions, and English public school songs will enhance one's enjoyment of this movie immeasurably, although none of it is necessary to appreciate the wit and silliness of what's going on here. Alistair Sim, as the nervous, confused and senile archbishop is a gem throughout, a man whose conflicts are all too obvious because they're all too human.
Eventually, Jack is "cured," and the change his personality undergoes is radical, to say the least. To tip it off would be to give things away, but its rather remarkable what the filmakers have to say is a socially acceptable alternative to wanting to be Jesus Christ.
Watch out for the ending of this movie. It's violent, vicious and totally uncompromising. It's meant to repel the viewer and does so effectively. Don't let that prevent you from enjoying the rest of all the brilliance and wit this film has in such abundance, however. Yes, the scene in Parliament is over-long, overdone and the one flaw in the movie, but, that aside, this film will make laugh, make you cry, make you think and make you angry, all at the same time. How many movies today can you think of that manage to do all that?
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