Badmovies.org Forum

The Ruling Class (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069198/)

Finally got to see this one after hearing about it (and hearing the "I am the electric Messiah!  The AC/DC God!" sound clip in My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult's "Kooler than Jesus") for years.

Well, I can't speak for my little brother, who I watched it with, but I thought it was brilliant.  While the editing and construction of the film seemed very much of its time, I think the movie holds up quite well.  I've always wondered about the ingrained class mentality in Britain, since it seems to come up time and again.  It's so up front, while here in America its something furtive hidden behind celebrity worship.  Of course, to say we live in a society with no class is not the same as saying we live in a classless society (ba-dum-bum).

So it's a bit of sadistic comedy, a bit of a musical, mostly insane and features a lot of faux-crucifixion and surprisingly little sex.  A "beloved cult classic" according to the back of the box.

I've avoided any summary of the plot; I think it's best if you go into this one blind.  Amusingly enough, The Godfather was released the same year, so how's that for a comparison?  No good?  Well, if you say so.

Five out of five stars.

Though, I've never seen it, it is one of those movies I need to see. I know when it came out 35 years ago, it was quite controversial, though it seems mild by today's standards.

That "ingrained class mentality" comes up at least two decades before this. At least, ever since the advent of the Hammer horror film, where the villains are usually the upper class barons and counts, the heroes are your middle class professors and doctors, and the victims are your lower class peasants.

And, at least one of the reasons for all this, was that many of your British filmmakers were members, not of the upper classes, but of the middle and lower classes.

I saw this years ago and loved it, need to see it again to see if it holds up. Parts I remember would seem dated or stagey now. But you have to judge them in the context of when they were made. I wonder how dated or goofy "bullet time" or wire fu will look to audiences 30 years from now.

I'm a huge Peter O'Toole fan and have tried to seek out many of his films, especially the ones he was nominated for Best Actor, like this one. What a shame he's never won, the Honorary Oscar was nice but it's not the same.

 :smile: Great movie, in my opinion, but..............

 :hatred: Yet another of those "offensive" films that our benevolent Publications Control Board chose to ban.

This movie's a trip.

very different and very original

I really enjoy this one

I have Criterion Collection of it