King Ralph * (1991 John Goodman, Peter O’Toole, John Hurt, Camille Coduri) – Classic Movie Review 12,268

Sir John Vincent Hurt CBE (22 January 1940 – 25 January 2017).

Writer-director David S Ward’s 1991 American comedy film King Ralph stars John Goodman, Peter O’Toole, John Hurt and Camille Coduri.

A great tragedy has befallen the British royal family when a photography-based electrical accident wipes them out, leaving only one heir to the throne – John Goodman, a Las Vegas piano player and lounge singer, who ascends the British throne and becomes King Ralph.

Goodman should have been more careful choosing his first big starring role, giving a game but ill-judged performance, miles away from his success in TV’s Roseanne. Emlyn Williams’s fantasy novel Headlong is turned into an uncomfortable, touristy comedy, with overwrought performances from Peter O’Toole as Willingham, the King’s very proper private secretary, John Hurt as Lord Graves who is devising a fiendish plot, and Camille Coduri as a stripper with stage fright.

The clutch of excellent British stalwarts do what they can to help out, but that’s not much when the low-laugh script is so feeble. Emlyn Williams is not to blame. Not much of his 1980 novel is left in Ward’s screenplay, changing characters and making into a comedy. Williams died on 25 September 1987, aged 81, so he did not live to see what they had done to his novel.

Also in the cast are Richard Griffiths, Leslie Phillips, Julian Glover, Judy Parfitt, James Villiers, and Joely Richardson.

James Newton Howard composes the score and John Goodman performs the songs ‘Tiny Bubbles’, ‘Good Golly, Miss Molly’ and ‘Duke of Earl’.

Although an American film, it was shot by Kenneth MacMillan on historic locations in England. Alas for the film-makers, Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle were unavailable. So Wrotham Park, Syon House, Somerset House, Harewood House, Old Royal Naval College, Apsley House, Belvoir Castle, Hagley Hall, Lancaster House, and Blenheim Palace all stand in for Buckingham Palace. And Warwick Castle and Hever Castle stand in to represent interiors of Windsor Castle.

St Pancras railway station, Marylebone, London. is where the Finnish Royal Family arrive, while Highclere Castle is Lord Graves’ home and Dalton, South Yorkshire, is the location of Miranda’s parents’ home.

Universal Pictures launched a marketing campaign for the film, including an $8 million partnership with Burger King, no doubt helping to be a minor box office hit, along with the popularity of the stars. The film grossed $34 million In the US and $52.5 million worldwide against a budget of $23 million.

The cast are John Goodman as Ralph Hampton Gainsworth Jones, Peter O’Toole as Sir Cedric Charles Willingham, John Hurt as Lord Percival Graves, Camille Coduri as Miranda Greene, Ann Beach as Miranda’s Mother, Jack Smethurst as Miranda’s Father, Richard Griffiths as Duncan Phipps, Leslie Phillips as Gordon Halliwell, James Villiers as Prime Minister Geoffrey Hale, Joely Richardson as Princess Anna of Finland, Niall O’Brien as Inspector Thomas McGuire, Julian Glover as King Gustav of Finland, Judy Parfitt as Queen Katherine of Finland, Leo Jean as Grampy, Gedren Heller as Punk Girl, Ed Stobart as Dysentery, Gareth Forwood as the Duke, Rudolph Walker as King Mulambon of Zambezi, Michael Johnson as Hamilton, Caroline Paterson as Burger King Counter Girl, Tim Seely as The King of England, Alison McGuire as The Queen of England, Chantal Claire, Topaz Hasfal-Schou, and Charlotte Pyecroft as the Dukettes, and Jason Richards as Ralph II.

Sir John Vincent Hurt CBE (22 January 1940 – 25 January 2017).

Gareth Forwood (14 October 1945 – 16 October 2007) had some success as a character actor with more than 40 credits in film, TV and theatre. He was the only child of actors Anthony Forwood and Glynis Johns, who married in 1942, but divorced in 1948. Anthony Forwood then lived for 40 years with his partner Dirk Bogarde in England and in France.

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 12,268

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