KnotMissPriceless Why so much hype?

Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

SpunkySelfTwitter It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

drednm Sweet and hysterically funny film based on a hit Broadway play by Terence McNally,THE RITZ is a 1970s New York City bath house. Into this asylum of loony characters comes Gaetano Proclo (Jack Weston), a man in disguise running from his hateful brother in law (Jerry Stiller).Weston immediately meets up with several crazy gay men and gets involved in a show. Chris (F. Murray Abraham) decides to show him the ropes but things get manic when a chubby chaser (Paul B. Price) sets his heart on Weston. In the meantime, Stiller has a sent a naive detective (Treat Williams) to find Weston. Amid the confused identities and chases in and out of rooms, we also meet the immensely untalented Googie Gomez (hysterically funny Rita Moreno) who sings at the clubs, hosts the talent show, and is always on the lookout for a big-time producer. Of course Weston and Williams assume she's a male transvestite.Stiller soon arrives and starts shooting up the place, but he's followed by his wife (Kaye Ballard) who is assumed to be a man! Stiller and Ballard arrive as the talent show opens with Moreno fracturing lyrics in Puerto Rican as she sings "Everything's Coming Up Rose's" and "Begin the Beguine." Moreno specializes in show tunes since she was fired from both "The Sound of Music" and "Camelot" by the infamous producer Seymour Pippin.Everything comes to a head when Weston, Price, and Abraham disguise themselves as the Andrews Sisters to hide from Stiller. They mime a funny "Gay Caballero" number and bring down the house.Many of the stars here were in the original Broadway production: Moreno (who won a Tony Award), Weston, Abraham, Stiller, Price, and the chorus boys (John Everson and Christopher J. Brown). And along with Williams and Ballard, we also have Bessie Love (Maurine) and Dave King (as Abe) co-starring. And look for John Ratzenberger (TV's "Cheers") and Peter Butterworth and Leon Greene (both from "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum").Although the film takes place in a gay bath house, the film is extremely funny and not offensive. This is a sweet, pre-AIDS gay comedy with a terrific cast.

Rod_Z This has got to be one of the funniest films I've seen, Rita Moreno is excellent as Googie Gomez failed Broadway star and now singing in "the pits" at the Gay bathhouse "The Ritz"...Treat Williams had me in stitches with his voice and Jack Weston is superb as the man on the run and hiding "in the last place anyone would look for me"...Although this harks back to a time now gone the comedy is still as fresh as ever. Look out for the "Chubby Chaser" who constantly refuses to have anything to do with Lean muscled Treat because he's too skinny and chases Jack Weston around from start to finish! And the Andrews Sisters skit is a hoot.... If you haven't seen this film what are you waiting for..!

tim.halkin A well crafted, door-slamming comedy ala 'Noises Off' with a wonderful cast. Rita Moreno playing a no-talent bathhouse singer gives the performance of her lifetime (we all know how talented she really is, so seeing her 'off' is a lot of fun). Treat Williams is delicious as the soprano detective. Jack Weston, Paul B. Price, F. Murray Abraham, Kay Ballard and Jerry Stiller add their spices to this wonderful ensemble. It makes you wish that the days of the Continental Baths would come back - at least the wonderfully tacky shows at poolside!

Gerald A. DeLuca THE RITZ is a zany and broadly played little farce directed by Richard Lester. It is an adaptation of a Broadway play by Terrence McNally, later acclaimed for MASTER CLASS and the hit musical THE FULL MONTY. It is set in a New York club-bath for gays. Dying gang leader George Coulouris tells his son Jerry Stiller and daughter Kaye Ballard that he wants Ballard's husband, Jack Weston, a Cleveland sanitation company owner, to be killed. That's the only plot there is. Weston tells a cabbie to take him to a place where no one will suspect he is hiding. Enter "The Ritz," a seedily elegant gay paradise with its clients that include self-mocking F.Murray Abraham, and chubby-chaser Paul B. Price. The cast is uniformly amusing, especially Rita Moreno as Google Gomez, an untalented Latin singer whom Weston mistakes for a drag queen. She frequently steals the show from everyone. Moreno got a Tony Award for her Broadway portrayal of that role. Also good is the improbably squeaky-voiced detective played by Treat Williams. Some of the resulting mayhem is very funny indeed; some stretches are more ho-hum. Nevertheless, it is a generally successful piece of entertainment regardless of one's sexual orientation.