At 'The Ritz,' the chased and unchastel

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By Wilma Salisbury

The Ritz" is nothing but 90 minutes of nuttiness.

MASSA

The Terrence McNally Broadway comedy about a Cleveland garbage man who accidently stumbles into a gay Manhattan bathhouse has been effectively translated to the screen by writer McNally and director Richard Lester.

The fruity farce opens in a Brooklyn residence where family members have gathered around the deathbed of an Italian patriarch. Among the mourners are Papa's daughter (Kaye Ballard) and her husband (Jack Weston) from Cleveland.

When Weston hears his father-in-law's last curse and realizes what his brother-in-law (Jerry Stiller) is going to do, he jumps in a taxi and asks the driver to take him to the place his murderous in-laws are least likely to look for him.

The naive and terrified Weston is dropped off at The Ritz, where the rest of the action is filmed.

In Review

In the ensuing series of madcap adventures among patrons of the sleazy homosexual hideout, director Lester capitalizes on every conceivable sight gag and slapstick situation.

Leading the parade of Ritz regulars are Googie Gomez, a plastic Puerto Rican pits performer played to perfection by Rita Moreno; Claude Perkins (Paul B. Price), a chubby chaser who loves male jelly rolls; Chris (F. Murray Abraham), a friendly flirt who spends the night cruising the corridors, and Michael Brick (Treat Williams), a straight detective with a suspiciously high-pitched voice.

The hilarity stems from Weston's alarm at finding himself pursued simultaneously by his would-be executioner and his new-found bathhouse friends. Which fate, he wonders, would be worse.

Inextricably involved in a game of mistaken identities, Weston ultimately tries to escape

recognition by donning wig, mink coat and lipstick and imitating one of the Andrews sisters.

The breathless action requires Weston and his pursuers to chase boisterously among the odd assortment of nearly nude fairies who loll around the steam room, swimming pool, lobby and guest quarters.

In the chasing process, people get pushed in the pool, assaulted in their rooms, hidden under other people's beds and shocked in the steam

room.

The film's humor is sometimes strained. The level of taste is low, and the pauses for laughs are obvious. Nonetheless, the performances are skillful, and "The Ritz," overall, is fairly funny entertainment.

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