King Ralph

King Ralph is also a nickname for Canadian politician Ralph Klein.

King Ralph
File:King Ralph poster.JPG DVD cover
Directed by	David S. Ward
Written by	Emlyn Williams (novel) David S. Ward (screenplay)
Produced by	Sydney Pollack
Starring	John Goodman, Peter O'Toole, John Hurt
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release dates	February 15, 1991
Running time	97 min.
Language	English
Budget	Unknown

King Ralph (1991) is an American film starring American actor John Goodman in the title role of Ralph Jones. The movie also starred Peter O'Toole as the King's private secretary Sir Cedric Willingham, Camille Coduri as Ralph's girlfriend Miranda Greene, and John Hurt as the British peer Percival Graves, who schemes to get Ralph removed so that Parliament will make Graves the new King. The story is vaguely based on that of the novel Headlong by Emlyn Williams, which is not a comedy but a serious and well-researched story; very little of the story, including the characters, survived the transition to the screen.

The film was a box office flop.

Tagline: 'A comedy of majestic proportions'

Synopsis

In the film, the entire Wyndham family (based on the real-world House of Windsor), which in this film is the current ruling family of the United Kingdom is entirely wiped out in a freak accident. The entire family had been together for the first time in six years when they were electrocuted after the metal platforms they were standing on for a family photograph became wet during a storm, and it appeared that there were no surviving members of the Wyndham family left.

The British government immediately begins a search led by royal valet Cedric Willingham to find if there are any surviving Wyndham heirs to whom to pass the title of monarch to them. A researcher finally locates a living heir named Ralph Jones, an American.

In Las Vegas, Ralph Jones works as a lounge singer/piano player in one of the main casinos. He is a easygoing slob, singing a Don Ho piece, Tiny Bubbles while watching a football game on TV. Phipps and Inspector McGuire (Niall O'Brien) watch the performance and applaud with enthusiasm when he finishes. When Ralph returns to his room, he finds out that he's been fired for not performing to expected standards and replaced by a chimpanzee. Ralph meets Phipps and McGuire, who inform him that he is now the new King of England, and at first Ralph is skeptical over Phipps' claims. Phipps tells Ralph that his grandfather, the 1st Duke of Warren, had had a brief affair with a hotel maid while visiting the States, and this affair produced a child, Ralph's father. But since his father and grandmother have died, Ralph is the only surviving Wyndham heir, and Ralph is finally convinced when seeing the Duke's ring - an exact copy of one the Duke had given to his grandmother.

File:KingRalph2.jpg

King Ralph

Ralph is flown to London, where he meets Willingham for the first time and begins the long period of adjustment to make him a proper British monarch. Ralph also learns the hard way that the British monarch does not just "smile and wave".

Shortly after his arrival, Ralph heads for a local strip club, meeting the exotic dancer Miranda Greene (Camille Coduri). When she is unable to perform in front of a bunch of men and leaves the stage in embarrassment Ralph decided he wants to meet her, where he says he admires that she could not bring herself to take off her clothes in public. She's also skeptical of his claim to be the King, Ralph proposes that if he can prove he is the King, Miranda will go on at least one date with him. Ralph's appearance on a newscast proves to Miranda that his claim is legitimate.

Meanwhile, Lord Percival Graves (John Hurt), Prime Minister Sir Geffory Hale (James Villiers), and Willingham meet at 10 Downing Street to discuss Ralph's selection as King. Graves is opposed to the idea of an American on the throne, and he proposes to declare the Wyndham line at an end, and another line, the House of Stuart, the royal line again. As Graves is a Stuart, he would be next in line for the throne. Hale states that Jones has royal blood and says that unless Jones committed a grievous error the country would have to live with him.

Graves also learns about the meeting between Miranda and Ralph, and decides to use her as a way to cause embarrassment to Ralph and provide the excuse that Parliament needs to remove him from the throne. Graves offers Miranda money to maneuver Ralph into a compromising position, and Miranda initially takes the money. Ralph and Miranda continue their relationship, soon beginning to fall in love. Miranda soon returns the money to Graves, telling him she wants no part of his scheme, but she doesn't know Graves already has pictures. In order to protect Ralph, Miranda decides to break off the relationship.

The English arrange for Ralph to marry the Finnish Princess Anna (Joely Richardson); Ralph soon receives Princess Anna, her father King Gustav (Julian Glover), and mother Queen Katherine (Judy Parfitt) on an official state visit. Graves has photos of Miranda and Ralph kissing passed around at a royal ball given in honor of the Finnish royals. These photos, along with Ralph's wild rendition of a rock and roll song, ruins any chance of a marriage between Ralph and Princess Anna, and causes a Finnish company to award a coveted contract to the Japanese.

The palace staff begins an investigation and soon realizes that Ralph was set up. It was Graves who arranged to have the pictures taken, and Miranda confesses to Ralph her role in the scandal. Ralph finally learns that there is another heir to the throne, and Willingham admits that he is this second heir.

The next day Ralph addresses Parliament. After apologizing for his recent actions, he informs Parliament that he has helped work out a deal with the King of Zambezi that will create British jobs. Ralph then reveals that Graves has been working to sabotage his succession to the throne and has him arrested for violating the Treason Act of 1702. Finally, he tells the English people that while he tried his best to be a good king, he admits that his best will never be good enough and believes the English people deserve a better king. Thus, he has decided to abdicate his throne, and reveals that Willingham would be the next King.

Willingham becomes King Cedric I, and Ralph is free to pursue his romantic relationship with Miranda, along with his dreams of being a rock n' roll star. Ralph bids a tearful goodbye to his friends and his newly discovered relative King Cedric. Cedric gives Ralph a lucrative annual salary, a home in the country, and a state-of-the-art recording studio. Later Cedric names Ralph the 3rd Duke of Warren. In the end, a snapshot is shown in the future, where Miranda is shown with Ralph's young son, identified in the credits as Baby Ralph II, insinuating that this child might someday succeed Cedric as monarch.

Cast

• John Goodman ... Ralph Hampton Gainesworth Jones
• Peter O'Toole ... Sir Cedric Charles Willingham
• John Hurt ... Lord Percival Graves
• Camille Coduri ... Miranda Green
• Richard Griffiths ... Duncan Phipps
• Leslie Phillips ... Gordon Halliwell
• James Villiers ... Prime Minister Jeffrey Hale
• Joely Richardson ... Princess Anna
• Niall O'Brien ... Tommy McGuire
• Julian Glover ... King Gustav
• Judy Parfitt ... Queen Katherine
• Ed Stobart ... Dysentery
• Gedren Heller ... Punk Girl
• Rudolph Walker ... King Mulamboa
• Michael Johnson ... Hamilton

Historical and royal analysis

In reality, the scarcity of royals alluded to in the film is not possible. There are currently (April 14 2007) 1263 legitimate heirs to the British and other Commonwealth thrones. The first of those who do not reside in the UK is 60th in the real line of succession, and belongs to the Royal Family of Norway. Even if the fictional Wyndham dynasty had a different genealogy, there would still be many heirs who do not belong to the extended royal family present in the photographing tragedy.

Throughout the film Ralph is referred to as being King of England, however, no King of England has existed since the Act of Union in 1707. Instead, Ralph would be King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, as well as, by separate but parallel law, King of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, and Saint Kitts and Nevis.

Ralph would not be able to unilaterally declare his abdication to parliament. As demonstrated by the 1936 abdication crisis, a sovereign cannot abdicate the throne without the approval of each of his parliaments, as an alteration to the succession laws, in particular the Act of Settlement, must first be approved by all of the Commonwealth Realms.

The film supposes that there is a Finnish royal family, but Finland only had Frederick Charles of Hesse temporarily. However, this may have been a deliberate move on the part of the film's makers, to avoid possibly offending anyone by portraying a fictionalised version of a real European royal family. The king of "Zambizi" was also fictionalised -- Zambizi is not a real country.

The movie claims that Edward VIII abdicated because he wished to marry a commoner. This is untrue, and Edward VIII's abdication was due to his wish to marry a twice-divorced woman, which at the time was not permissible for a British monarch as he was also head of the Church of England. There have been marriages between the the British Royal Family and commoners, the most noted of which was the 1923 marriage that joined the future George VI with Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, the future Queen Mother Elizabeth.

The flags used as the British Royal Standard and the monarch's Coat of Arms are not copies of the actual things. As with many other details derived from real life in this movie, the standard used is slightly altered.

The crown in the movie has a diamond called the "Star of India" on it. In real life, the actual Imperial State Crown used by British Monarchs has the second largest piece of the "Star of Africa," also called the Cullinan Diamond. The first Star of Africa rests in the British royal sceptre, and is by far the largest cut diamond in the world.

Ralph is seen playing with Pembroke Welsh Corgis; the present British monarch has kept the same dog breed since the 1930s.

Quotes

Graves: 'By what right can you order my arrest?!'

Ralph: 'By the Treason Act of 1702, forbidding interference in the proper succession of a Monarch! Enacted by...' (mutters to himself the British Monarchs mnemonic and counting them on his fingers) 'Charlie, Charlie, James again.' (Then looks up and announces:) 'William the Third!'

Ralph (while singing in Las Vegas): 'And here's one by Mr. Don Ho, the godfather of Hawaiian Soul. Tiny Bubbles, in the wine. Make me happy, how they, make me feel fine. Howey Howey Hoo (tuns, and watching television sees the Bears go for a touchdown) Right he's in there! Tiny bubbles, make me warm all over (sees that the touchdown was no good) Are you shittin me? With the feelin that I'm gonna love you til the end of time.

Trivia

During his first date with Miranda, Ralph is playing Scrabble with her. When he plays the word 'Yo', she protests by saying that there is no such word. He answers that they are speaking the King's English, and he is the king, so if he says it, it's a word. (In the PC game version of Scrabble by Hasbro Interactive, 'Yo' is in fact a word that can be played during the game. Also, the official Scrabble website links to the Collins Word Exchange, which also verifies that yo is a valid word for Scrabble.)

• As the end credits roll, Ralph and his new band 'The Dukettes' perform the song "Duke of Earl".

• In John Goodman's seventh appearance as host of Saturday Night Live, he made a joke of King Ralph. While sitting on a throne with a large seven on it, he said it reminded him of this movie which 'seven people went to see'.

• In John Goodman's tenth appearance on Saturday Night Live, he made another joke about King Ralph. This time he was being interviewed, in character as Linda Tripp, in relation to the Monica Lewinsky scandal. One of the questions asked to the Tripp character is, "What do you think of John Goodman's portrayal of you on Saturday Night Live?". Goodman responds with much praise for Goodman as an actor, when the interviewer responds, "But didn't you see King Ralph? It was awful!" The interviewer then asks Tripp, "Did you regret doing it?" Goodman suddenly breaks character and asks, "What, King Ralph?"

External link

• King Ralph at IMDb