1976'a "The Ritz," based on the Broadway play by Terrence McNally, is an absolute riot.
On the run from the brother-in-law Carmine (Jerry Stiller) who's trying to kill him, Gaetano Procio (Jack Weston) orders a cab to take him someplace where no one can find him. The cabbie takes him to The Ritz, a gay bathhouse. There, Gaetano meets some bizarre characters: a chubby chaser (Paul Price); a macho man with a high voice (Treat Williams); Puerto Rican entertainer Googie Gomez (Rita Moreno) whom Gaetano assumes is a drag queen; his own wife (Kaye Ballard) who comes searching for him dressed as a man; and someone just there to party and enter the talent contest (F. Murray Abraham).
The laughs are non-stop in this somewhat dated but very funny movie, complete with a talent show where Weston is one of the Andrews sisters, mistaken identity, and Googie's unbelievable nightclub act, during which she sings "Everything's Comin' Up Roses." The performances are all terrific, but Moreno has the killer role as Googie, who claims a producer named Seymour Pippin got her fired from both Sound of Music and Camelot. Kaye Ballard has a scene at the end of the film that had me screaming with laughter. She is just fabulous.
Truly a no-miss. Unfortunately they don't make this kind of comedy any longer.
On the run from the brother-in-law Carmine (Jerry Stiller) who's trying to kill him, Gaetano Procio (Jack Weston) orders a cab to take him someplace where no one can find him. The cabbie takes him to The Ritz, a gay bathhouse. There, Gaetano meets some bizarre characters: a chubby chaser (Paul Price); a macho man with a high voice (Treat Williams); Puerto Rican entertainer Googie Gomez (Rita Moreno) whom Gaetano assumes is a drag queen; his own wife (Kaye Ballard) who comes searching for him dressed as a man; and someone just there to party and enter the talent contest (F. Murray Abraham).
The laughs are non-stop in this somewhat dated but very funny movie, complete with a talent show where Weston is one of the Andrews sisters, mistaken identity, and Googie's unbelievable nightclub act, during which she sings "Everything's Comin' Up Roses." The performances are all terrific, but Moreno has the killer role as Googie, who claims a producer named Seymour Pippin got her fired from both Sound of Music and Camelot. Kaye Ballard has a scene at the end of the film that had me screaming with laughter. She is just fabulous.
Truly a no-miss. Unfortunately they don't make this kind of comedy any longer.