A stage-derived lost-trousers comedy combining Some Like It Hot with La Cage Aux Folles as meek schmoe Jack Weston hides from his homicidal mafioso brother-in-law in a Manhattan gay bath-house. Despite a star turn from Rita Moreno as hopelessly over-the-top Broadway singer Google Gomez, whose rendition of Everything's Coming Up Roses is so appalling she can only work as a female impersonator, this lacks the wit necessary for real farce. Lester, who filmed the whole thing in England for added artifice, opts instead for hectic confusion, cheap fag jokes, Andrews Sisters transvestite karaoke and hiding-under-the-bed routines. F. Murray Abraham scores an early hit role as a camp follower, while Treat Williams is stuck with a one-joke character as a straight private eye who happens to have a squeaky voice.
The Ritz Review
Mafioso Carmine, at the behest of his father, his out to kill his brother-in-law Gaetano. Realising that his life is in danger, Gaetano decides to hide out in an all-male bath house in New York City. Carmine discovers he's there, but will have to search through the weird and wonderful clientele of the Ritz to find him.
Release Date:
01 Jan 1976
Running Time:
91 minutes
Certificate:
15
Original Title:
Ritz, The
Although there are a couple of amusing characters, this film is let down by a poor script with its obvious and base humour, and it never really succeeds in becoming a true farce.
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