The Ruling Class

It's difficult for me to get into the spirit of the thing when the film takes aim at such easy targets with such broad strokes. And the musical sequences reek of "look at how daring we are!" self-consciousness. There are a few humorous bits, and the butler has some great lines. But things don't really get cooking until the transformation just after the halfway point. Only then does the satire get some real bite to it, and the scenes from Jack's point of view are particularly impressive.

I am shocked by the darkness of this film, especially for the time it was released. A good laugh nonetheless.

Absolutely hilarious and savage comedy. One of the darkest and most cynical films that I have laughed nearly all the way through. Includes both a musical number and a failed suicide through hanging and for that, it has a place among the greats. A pity Medak later directed the dreck Species 2.

Witty, irreverent, cynical, and hilarious. O'Toole is amazing as the 14th Earl of Gurney. Though the film is a tad uneven, and the attacks on the aristocracy and modern religion are occasionally heavy handed, the film is on the whole incisive and relevant, demonstrating the hypocrisy and sad irony in modern "Christian" practice better than most films I've seen. It's also very entertaining, and defies traditional genre classification.

Quite extraordinary jet-black comedy/satire; unfortunately slightly overstays its welcome at 2 1/2 hours. O'Toole is astonishing as loony heir; not so much a case of perfect casting as a case of who else would you cast? Entire cast matches him, especially Harry Andrews who delivers a hilarious, and unusually meaty, cameo in the stunning prologue, and Lowe as drunken leftist butler who perceptively comments on proceedings. Clever, witty and surprisingly dark at times, especially in the 2nd half.

Ignore Peter O'Toole and you will see one of the finest comedic ensembles of the early seventies: even Mel Brooks would have offered up his soul for at least four of these weirdo geniuses. Pay attention to Peter O'Toole (or the vengeful God) and you will see one of the angriest, most eloquent Tourette's-inspired skewerings of class arrogance before Peter Greenaway invented Mr. Spica's restaurant. Haunting. Also, hilarious.

Absolute classic. So much content and energy that you're exhausted by the end. Everybody do the Varsity Rag!

Seems like a lot of effort to go through to make some basic jokes about the British class system. Peter O'Toole looks like a weird wax doll throughout.

Peaks early but it's always a joy to watch this assortment of bombastic characterizations and ideas. There were moments that are among some of the funniest material I've ever seen, also the wackiest, mainly supplied by Peter O'Toole in one of the most shamelessly brilliant performances around.

O'Toole takes the film on his back with his charisma as he plays a deluded man who thinks he's Christ. This is a wonderful cynical satire, poking fun primarily at British standards but it works quite well on a universal level as well.

An imaginative, experimental satire with a superb performance by Peter O'Toole. Only suffers from a final act which is a bit of a left turn into the issue of capital punishment.

Não é muito bom, mas tem algumas cenas inesquecíveis envolvendo o Peter O'Toole.

<3 O'Toole. If you hate rich people, as I do, you'll love this. And the split between sane and insane has always fascinated me.

tremendous mockery of societal norms regarding sanity and behavior. this is a black comedy for higher brain function. i simply cannot explain how amazingly it got wrapped up either, for a two and a half hour movie this doesn't meander and it certainly doesn't pull any punches.

Strange and eclectic, occasionally fun but often boring, this movie is perhaps a bit too long and at times too serious for what it is.

A misshapen oddity of a film, distorted with rage, filled with fierce grotesquerie, occasionally brilliant but more often tedious. The music numbers fall rather flat for me. Peter O'Toole's performance, particularly his address to the House of Lords, is incredible.

Too outlandish for me. Peter O'Toole is great, but I found it just too hard to get into the film.

A bit long and at times, a bit heavy handed, but there are moments of hilarity in its skewering of upper class, aristocratic dogma.

While the close-ups that punctuate the film's editing are a tad abrasive - and I personally enjoyed the first half more than the second half - the subject matter shines: equally horrible, hysterical, and poignant. A welcome attack on xenophobia, religiously-minded patriotism, and all the classist, sexist, hierarchical claptrap that inevitably follows.

Brilliant satire. O'Toole was never better, and he's supported by a first rate cast.

A bit too stagy. Arthur Lowe is perfect, though, and O'Toole is very good.

Great Movie

A red flag here, if you like it.

Brilliant, if slightly overlong, satire with O'Toole on top form. Would make a nice double bill with "A Clockwork Orange".