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The Ritz

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Review

Adapted from gay playwright Terrence McNally's hilarious Broadway hit, this riotous farce stars Jack Weston as a straight Cleveland garbage collector on the lam from his Mafioso brother-in-law who hides out in a New York gay bathhouse. There, he encounters the spit-fire Googie Gomez (Rita Moreno reprising her Tony Award-winning role - "You thought I was a drag queen?"), a hunky, high-pitch-voiced Treat Williams, F. Murray Abraham, an active steam room and a bevy of half-naked studs. At one point the frazzled and corpulent Weston almost loses his virginity to a smitten "chubby chaser." Not as hilarious or as refined as the Broadway production, but very entertaining nonetheless, it's an innocent frenetic comedy that gently pokes fun at gays.

-- Raymond Murray

Customer Reviews

Finally on DVD

Amos Lassen wrote on 02/22/2011:

“The Ritz”
Finally on DVD
Amos Lassen
One of the funniest films ever made is finally available on DVD, Terrence McNally’s “The Ritz”. It is also an excellent adaptation of a Broadway play. The cast of Jack Weston, F. Murray Abraham, Treat Williams and Rita Moreno is fantastic and the laughs keep coming.
Gaetano Proclo (Jack Weston) is a fat, sloppy, quivery, middle class nobody who just happens to be married to the daughter (Kay Ballard) of a mob king. His brother-in-law, Carmine (Jerry Stiller), hates him. Gaetano feels sure that Carmine is going to kill him so he jumps into a cab and the driver to take him to the last place anyone would ever look for him and he finds himself at The Ritz, a gay bathhouse. From here on things bet hilarious. The surprise is “Amadeus”, F. Murray Abraham, as a screaming queen who quite possibly put all other screamers to rest. Rita Moreno, as a bathhouse diva ala Bette Midler, busts a gut to gain recognition as a singer among towel-clad men. Treat Williams, as a blonde, plays a private detective with a very high voice and is wonderful. Then there is Claude (Paolo Poeti) as a chubby chaser who glances at Weston and immediately falls in love.
Because this is a farce, stereotypes rule but even with that everything is good, clean fun, “The Ritz” is a comedic look at what were a New York bathhouse and the way some people lived before the AIDS epidemic. This is what makes it poignant, especially for members of the gay community. The movie, however, is geared to a straight audience. It is a look at mistaken identities, intentions that are misunderstood and a look at clueless straight society. It is an example of a movie that is well-crafted and has a wonderful cast. It almost made me wish that those days that were would return. We get a comic reflection of a time period which we will never see again that had certain melancholiness.

Rita is hilarious

Trentsa (trentsa@satx.rr.com) wrote on 10/14/2004:

This movie was very funny. Treat Williams is completely hot as a youngster, and Rita Moreno was hysterical as a performer mistaken for a drag queen. I recommend it.