Rating: R
Genre:
Comedy
Release Date: 01/08/2008
SubTitles: English/French
Dubbed: English
Sound: DD1
Run Time: 91 Minutes
Flags: Nudity, Adult Situations, Strong Sexual Content, Not For Children, Adult Language
Distributor/Studio: Warner Home Video
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. The supporting cast includes
Kaye Ballard,
Treat Williams,
George Coulouris,
F. Murray Abraham,
Dave King, and (as one of the patrons) a pre-
Cheers John Ratzenberger.
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
;)
