The Ruling Class (DVD, 2001, Criterion Collection)

My taste in everything is, of course, very refined so that I would opt to purchase this movie for my private collection only means it is of the highest caliber.

You still with me? Good!

The Ruling Class neatly skewers established Western dogma with outrageous comic elan. You need only view the first five minutes to fall helplessy in love with its hilariously dark viewpoint. Peter O'Toole in a singing/dancing role of Jesus/Jack the Ripper (Oops! What a giveaway!) is a tour de force you won't soon forget. Not recommended for evangelicals or people who've undergone lobotomies.

I love this movie and I am very glad to have it on DVD. A very young looking Peter O'Toole plays the only living son of an English Earl who has just committed suicide (probably accidentally) while wearing ballerina's tutu. Jack is supposed to inherit his father's title, but he thinks he is Jesus. The rest of his family plots to get him married quickly so he will produce a male heir and the title can be taken away from Jack because of insanity. It's a surreal black comedy that satirizes the British social class system. There are bizarre moments where the cast suddenly start singing and dancing as if it was a 1930s musical. Alistair Sim is wonderful as an exasperated Bishop and uncle of the Earl. Everyone's performance is enjoyable.

Peter O'Toole was outstanding. You will think about the message of this movie long after you view it. Irreverent(?) pehaps, but not in context of the mentally ill.