Portland Public Library

The Ritz, Warner Bros. Pictures presents a Richard Lester film ; produced by Denis O'Dell ; screenplay by Terrence McNally ; directed by Richard Lester

eng

videorecording

MPAA rating R ; for nudity, adult situations, strong sexual content, and adult language

The Ritz

191912135

Warner Bros. Pictures presents a Richard Lester film ; produced by Denis O'Dell ; screenplay by Terrence McNally ; directed by Richard Lester

91

"With The Ritz, Terrence McNally's hit Broadway play of the same name is cinematized by director Richard Lester. Jack Weston plays Gaetano Proclo, a minor mob flunky who's been targeted for elimination by his brother-in-law, Carmine Vespucci (Jerry Stiller). Gaetano takes refuge in what he thinks is a Turkish bath. Actually, it's The Pits. That's the name, "The Pits"--A gay bathhouse (this is the pre-AIDS era), where the exquisitely awful Googie Gomez (Rita Moreno) entertains the homosexual patrons with her ear-splitting renditions of such show tunes as "Everything's Coming Up Roses." Hoping to save his neck by pretending to be gay, Gaetano effusively praises Googie. Assuming that he is a big-time Broadway producer, she plays up to him. Everything would be hunky-dory, except that the bathhouse is owned by the very mob that has put a contract on Gaetano. What follows is an old-fashioned door-slamming farce, except that there are no doors to slam."--www.allmovie.com

general

live action