Carmine Vespucci (Jerry Stiller) and Vivian Proclo are attending to their mobster father on his deathbed who proclaims, "Get Proclo". He means to kill Vivian's husband Gaetano Proclo (Jack Weston). With a hit out on his head, Proclo hides in The Ritz, a gay bathhouse and hotel, under the name Caramine Verspucci. Chubby-chasing Claude keeps chasing him. Chris (F. Murray Abraham) is a regular. Michael Brick (Treat Williams) is a squeaky-voiced new arrival private detective hired by the real Vespucci to find the balding fat Proclo. Proclo goes out and returns with a bad wig. Googie Gomez (Rita Moreno) sings in the night club hoping to catch a Broadway producer.
It's a great wacky start. I love all the wacky characters. The plot meanders around in this weird hotel and it loses some of its steam. It needs a better overarching plot. I kept waiting for it to get going in one direction but it keeps going around and around. It's still fun even if it's very artificial. It feels like a screwball Broadway play and that's what it turns out to be. It's very play-like in its mechanics.
It's a great wacky start. I love all the wacky characters. The plot meanders around in this weird hotel and it loses some of its steam. It needs a better overarching plot. I kept waiting for it to get going in one direction but it keeps going around and around. It's still fun even if it's very artificial. It feels like a screwball Broadway play and that's what it turns out to be. It's very play-like in its mechanics.