The Ruling Class (1972)
Retrofit Drive In
“I'm purged of doubts and negative innuendos.
Today, I want to bless everything.
Bless the crawfish with its scuttling walk.
Bless the trout, pilchard and periwinkle.
Bless Ted Smoothey of 22 East Hackney Road.
Bless the mealy redpoll,
the black-gloved wallaby and W.C. Fields...
who's dead but lives on.
Bless the snotty-nosed giraffe.
Bless the buffalo.
Bless the Society of Women Engineers.
Bless the pygmy hippos.
Bless the mighty cockroach.
Bless me!
Today's my wedding day!”
--Peter O’Toole as Jack in The Ruling Class
Jesus Christ, this is one strange movie. If you ever wondered how a returning messiah might make out in the post-Beatle pre-disco Seventies, look no further than The Ruling Class (1972).
In its time, it was the comedic hit of the art houses. At least the first half was. Peter O’Toole, who had purchased the rights of the work by Peter Barnes, is hilarious in the role of Jack, the 14th Earl of Gurney. His inheritance and title kicks in shortly after the 13th Earl of Gurney is found clad in a tutu at the end of a rope he was using for what Roger Ebert called “a private sexual ritual.”
Where the 13th Earl may have had issues, the 14th believes himself to be the once and forever Christ. He blesses everything from the mounted crucifix on which he sleeps. He is the fair-haired sweet and innocent “God of Love,” the kind of savior you might find being gently fanned by palm-waving children. This Jesus, the wit and master of goodness, is able to leap into song and to dance the “Varsity Rag” and to understand what it sounds like when doves cry.
And cry they do. The family takes steps to correct his lordship’s delusion of his own personal Jesus, and the backfire sends this film’s legacy into cinematic obscurity. Nearly a half century after its release, Turner Classic Movies identifies The Ruling Class as “a commercial failure...that has since become a cult classic.”
Misunderstood but politely received at the time, O’Toole was nominated for an acting award but lost to Marlon Brando’s Vito Corleone in The Godfather, The Ruling Class retains its ability to puzzle and confound, to dash hope in a disturbing about face midfilm, and to replace humor and lightheartedness with fear and loathing.
The Lord be with you,
Professor Mikey
Feature: The Ruling Class (1972)
You Made me Laugh!!!!