King Ralph
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- King Ralph is also a nickname for Canadian politician Ralph Klein.
King Ralph (first released on February 15, 1991) is a United States film starring John Goodman, who played 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 schemed to get Ralph removed so that Parliament would name him 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, effectively a well conceived and executed variation on the "fish out of water" theme, did not do as well at the box office as it might have, perhaps partly because of a poorly done co-promotion campaign with Burger King, which made the King seem malicious and destructive, rather than well-meaning but inexperienced.
Tagline: A comedy of majestic proportions
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Synopsis
In this film, the entire Wyndham family, which in this film is the current ruling family of the United Kingdom, dies in a freak electrical accident (they had all been standing on a metal platform just after a rainstorm, and an electrical current killed them when their photo was taken). It had been the first time the entire family had been together in a number of years. As a result of the accident, it appears that there are no surviving members of the Wyndham family left.
The British government immediately commissions a search to find if there are any surviving Wyndham heirs left, in order to pass the title of monarch to them. After an extensive search, a researcher finally locates a living heir. His name is Ralph Jones. Willingham's assistant Duncan Phipps (Richard Griffiths), brings the news to Willingham. Willingham asks if Jones is everything they hopes for. But Phipps responds, "He has his strengths and weaknesses. You see, he's an American." Willingham has a look of horror on his face as he tells Phipps to quickly list the strengths.
In reality, such scarcity of royals would not seem possible. There are literally thousands of legitimate heirs to the UK throne - even Wikipedia has listed hundreds of them. First ones in the real line of succession who do not reside in the UK, are apparently no farther than somewhere in placements around 50's - such as the royal family of Norway. Even if had the fictional Wyndham dynasty a different genealogy, still there would probably be a plentitude of persons in the line, who do not belong to the extended royal family present in the photographing incident.
In Las Vegas, Ralph Jones is working as a lounge singer/piano player in one of the main casinos. He is a slob who watches Football on a portable TV screen while working. 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 the casino had just fired him. Ralph meets Phipps and McGuire, who inform him that he is now the new King of England.
At first, Ralph is skeptical over Phipps' claims. Phipps tells Ralph that his grandfather, the 1st Duke of Warren, had a brief affair with a hotel maid while visiting the states. This affair produced a child, Ralph's father. But since his father and grandmother have since died, Ralph is the only surviving Wyndham heir. Ralph is more concerned about his immediate future, and what he would do for money. Finally, Phipps shows him the Duke's ring. It is an exact copy of the only other ring of this type known to exist, which the Duke had given to his grandmother. Ralph clearly remembers the ring his grandmother had, and is finally convinced when he sees the Duke's ring.
Ralph is flown to London. There he meets Willingham for the first time, and begins the long period of adjustment to make him a proper British monarch. However, his attraction to an English working class commoner and his inability to move beyond his own American working class mannerisms means that the best laid plans go astray. When Ralph's courtship of the English commoner becomes public, due to the work of Lord Graves hoping to secure the throne for himself. The public scandal erupts at a royal ball designed to arrange a royal marriage, and the scandal not only ruins any possiblity for proper marriage, but also prevents new factories from being open up and helping to combat a wave of early 1990s unemployment.
After some soul searching, Ralph comes to the conclusion that he is not ready to be King, and, after unmasking the conspirators, apologizes for his well meaning but boorish antics. After announcing that he has done a deal with the King of Zambezi to build that country's first motor car from parts made in Britain, thus creating British jobs, he reveals that Willingham, too, has royal blood and is, in fact, the next closest in line for succession to the throne. Willingham becomes King, and Ralph is recognised as 3rd Duke of Warren, who is free to pursue his romantic relationship with the English commoner, along with his dreams of being a rock n' roll star. In the end, a snapshot is shown in the future, where Miranda feeds Ralph's baby son, whose name is furthermore shown to be Ralph II. It appears as insinuation that the childless king Cedric will one day be succeeded by Ralph's issue on the throne.
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) "Charlie, Charlie, James again." (Then looks up and announces) "William the Third!"
Trivia
- During his first date with Miranda, Ralph is playing Scrabble with her. When he plays the word "Yo" she protests saying that there is no such 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.
- 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.
- As the end credits roll, Ralph and his new band "The Dukettes" perform the song Duke of Earl.