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The Ruling Class

The Ruling Class

Comedy · Drama · 1972

When the Earl of Gurney dies in a cross-dressing accident, his schizophrenic son, Jack, inherits the Gurney estate. Jack is not the average nobleman; he sings and dances across the estate and thinks he is Jesus reincarnated. Believing that Jack is mentally unfit to own the estate, the Gurney family plots to steal Jack's inheritance. As their outrageous schemes fail, the family strives to cure Jack of his bizarre behavior, with disastrous results.

Movie details

The Ruling Class

1972 Comedy · Drama 2h 34m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

7.2 / 10

6.9K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

83 %

Tomatometer

TMDB

6.5 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

When the Earl of Gurney dies in a cross-dressing accident, his schizophrenic son, Jack, inherits the Gurney estate. Jack is not the average nobleman; he sings and dances across the estate and thinks he is Jesus reincarnated. Believing that Jack is mentally unfit to own the estate, the Gurney family plots to steal Jack's inheritance. As their outrageous schemes fail, the family strives to cure Jack of his bizarre behavior, with disastrous results.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Ruling Class?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Peter Medak

Written by

Peter Barnes

Peter O'Toole

Peter O'Toole

Jack 14th Earl of Gurney

Alastair Sim

Alastair Sim

Bishop Lampton

Arthur Lowe

Arthur Lowe

Tucker

Harry Andrews

Harry Andrews

13th Earl of Gurney

Coral Browne

Coral Browne

Lady Claire Gurney

Michael Bryant

Michael Bryant

Dr. Herder

Nigel Green

Nigel Green

McKyle

Court is in session

Put The Ruling Class on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Sentimental Softie

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Cool Ironist

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.