A man (Jack Weston} discovers his brother-in-law (Jerry Stiller)is trying to kill him. He gets into a cab and tells the cabdriver to take him where he won't be discovered. He's taken to the Ritz-a gay bathhouse.This is an adaptation of a successful Broadway play. Most of the cast from the play recreate their parts in the movie including Rita Moreno who won a Tony for the play.It's well-done with the cast going full force. The play was a slamming door farce that almost never works in movies but here it does. Also the movie is refreshingly non-homophobic. And Moreno and Treat Williams (as a detective) are hysterical. Worth watching.

I first saw this movie in the 70's, and have never forgotten it. When I tried to rent it at local movie outlets-no luck. It was like Christmas in July, when I finally located it on e-bay. This has to be one of the funniest movies ever made..even my politically correct daughter couldn't stop laughing. The movie is so well done-giving the actors freedom to do things we are not used to seeing them do. Its hard to decide who's my favorite-gogi gomez I think. Rita Moreno is unbelievably funny. Those who take offense to comedy about gay society, should chill out and watch this. Its not so much about being gay, as it is about learning to accept differences. I love it love it love it. A true comedy classic!!!

Chunky, quivering, middle-class ordinary Gaetano Proclo (Jack Weston) is 'married to the mob' in the form of wife Vivian (Kaye Ballard)--and his crazy brother-in-law Carmine (Jerry Stiller) hates him. Certain that Carmine is about to kill him, Gaetana hops a cab, tells the driver to take him to the last place any one would ever look for him... and suddenly finds himself hiding out in the middle of a gay bath house.But this only the first ten or fifteen minutes of the film: there is much, much more to come, and all of it is over the top hilarious. Jack Weston, Jerry Stiller, and Kaye Ballard are perfectly cast in their roles, but would you believe F. Murray Abraham (Oscar winner for AMADEUS) as the screaming queen to end all screaming queens? How about Rita Moreno as a no-talent lounge singer who is busting a gut to become a bath-house star just like Bette Midler? Or Treat Williams as a P.I. with blonde hair and a squeaky voice? My own favorite of the bunch is Paolo Poeti as Claude, a "chubby chaser" who takes one look at Jack Weston and falls in love at first sight--and then proceeds to make his life absolute hell by chasing him all over the bath house. Before it's all over you'll find people hiding under beds, thrown into swimming pools, impersonating the Andrews Sisters, and being pursued by unwanted lovers of the wrong persuasion, all to absolutely hilarious, incredibly giddy effect.Like most farces, THE RITZ deals in stereotypes--but it is never mean spirited in its portraits, and the cast carries off the eccentric characters (both straight and gay) with considerable aplomb. Filmed long before the AIDS crisis, THE RITZ offers a comic look at a New York gay bath house and a way of life that would soon come to a grinding halt--a fact that gives the film a certain unintended poignancy for gay viewers. Even so, you don't need any specialized background to enjoy this laugh-out-loud movie, which is as much (and really more) for a straight audience as it is for a gay one. Highly, highly recommended... call over some friends, turn up the steam heat, break out some bath towels, and get ready for a true laugh riot.Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer

It was 1976, Tehran Iran. Terry, also American, and I were bored at work and on the spur of the moment decided to skip out and check out the Tehran Film Festival. Boy, did we have no idea what we were getting in for.It just so happened that the next film on the bill was The Ritz. We knew nothing about it, but we hailed our driver, raced downtown to the theater, and made it in just in time.Before long, we were rolling on the floor. Truly, we couldn't hold on to our seats, I can't speak for Terry but the tears were just pouring down my face from laughter. And what made this worse was that, in a mostly packed theater, it seemed that most of the time the two of us near the back were the only ones laughing. Oh, every once and while the Farsi sub-titles would catch-up and the rest of the theater would let out a good laugh, I guess they were having a good time, but it was amazing to us how much was being missed, even some of the visual humor.I suppose we were both just overdo for some comic relief, but I've watched this film again through the years and it remains one of the funniest films I have ever seen. Jack Weston as the everyman-victim is perfect, as is Rita Morena as a never-quite-been, trying with varying degrees of success, to retain her dignity, her temper, and her dreams. And the rest of the cast -- who can you fault? Yes, from the dark opening deathbed scene, to all the madcap mistakes that follow, this is farce that at times sinks almost as low as the Three Stooges, but keeps sailing from floor to floor with surprise laughs at every turn.Some folks can't seem to get past the subject matter, I guess. But if you can find this movie, and you can open your mind beyond the lifestyle to just enjoy all the zaniness that happens, then hang on to your towel!