ADULT FILMS GO AFTER A DIFFERENT MARKET

Adult video is being nudged into a new direction. The hard-core cassettes, the essence of the business, won’t fade but “softer” alternative movies are springing up, partly to appease a growing, more demanding market, partly because of competition and partly to avoid violation of tougher community standards.

Communities around the country are cracking down on the adult-film traffic in video stores. Many retailers, fearing police raids, are hesitant to carry hard-core films.

“The word around the business is that there are 12 states that adult-film companies can’t ship to,” said Richard Steel, an executive with an adult film company. “There’s a feeling that if the movies were less hard core and more like regular movies, some of the pressure would ease. Maybe some stores wouldn’t mind carrying films that weren’t as raunchy.”

Consequently, more adult-film producers are making movies with more plot lines and higher production values than in the past. “We can’t glut the market with cheap films that offer nothing but sex,” Steel said. “There’s enough of that out there. There’s a new kind of film that offers more plot and characterization. With this kind of film, you can edit out the sex and still have a movie.”

Shifts in audience tastes are dictating changes. “Audiences are becoming more discriminating,” Steel said. “They’re complaining to retailers that some of films aren’t any good. Some of the formulas aren’t working as well as they used to.”

The couples audience in particular, which has increased with the boom in videocassette recorders, has become a force in the adult-film market. “These are your average ordinary people who like to watch something spicy once in a while,” Steel said. “These aren’t the kind of people who would go to adult theaters, but they might rent an adult movie to watch after the kids are in bed. They want plot and characters and romance. They want a new kind of adult film. Adult-film companies are finally coming up with mature films for this audience.”

MORE CHRISTMAS MOVIES: Cassette companies keep adding to the list of holiday releases. “Pale Rider,” the Western directed by and starring Clint Eastwood, will be out on Dec. 9 (Warner Video, $79.95). One of last summer’s hits, it should be among the holiday season’s most popular rentals.

RCA/Columbia has announced the Nov. 15 release of “Perfect,” which stars John Travolta as a Rolling Stone reporter and Jamie Lee Curtis as an aerobics instructor. An early release last summer, it didn’t do very well at the box office. But, because of the stars, it’s one of those box-office duds that’s likely to be a hit on videocassette.

KIDVID: During the holiday shopping season, some first-rate movies for youngsters will be available at reduced prices. One is the 1939 version of “The Wizard of Oz,” starring Judy Garland, which will be released next month by MGM/UA for $29.95. After the holiday season it will return to its former price, $59.95. Also, two best-selling Disney cassettes, “Pinocchio” and “Robin Hood,” will cost just $29.95 from early November through the end of January.

A good way to introduce toddlers to the animal kingdom is a year-old videocassette, “Meet Your Animal Friends” (Children’s Video Library, $29.95), which is narrated by Lynn Redgrave. It’s full of footage on cute animals. Available Nov. 13.

According to the chart in Video Insider magazine, “Pinocchio” is still the most popular kidvid cassette. At the new price it should reign throughout the holiday season. TOP CHILDREN’S VIDEOS 1--”Pinocchio” (Disney). 2--”The Care Bears Movie” (Vestron). 3--”The Transformers, Vol. 2” (Family Home Entertainment). 4--”The Transformers, Vol. 1” (Family Home Entertainment). 5--”Rainbow Brite-Monstromurk Menace” (Children’s Video Library). 6--”Strawberry Shortcake Meets Berrykins” (Family Home Entertainment). 7--”Voltron: Defender of the Universe” (Sony). 8--”Voltron Battles the Planet Doom” (Sony). 9--”Robin Hood” (Disney). 10--”He-Man, Vol. 12” (Magic Window).

OLD MOVIES: Good news for fans of ‘50s war movies. “Men in War” (1957), about an American platoon behind enemy lines during the Korean war, will be available in December (Prism, $49.95). It’s second only to Stanley Kubrick’s “Paths of Glory” among ‘50s war films. Also starring Aldo Ray, “Men in War” features a Robert Ryan performance that nearly matches his great one in “The Set-Up” (1949).

In December, Embassy is releasing, at $59.95, “Dead End,” with Humphrey Bogart and Sylvia Sidney. Directed by William Wyler, this grim drama, set in New York tenements, is notable for introducing the Dead End Kids. Also from Embassy, the atmospheric “Farewell, My Lovely” (1976), with Robert Mitchum as Philip Marlowe and Sylvia Miles in a vivid supporting role.

Another December debut is Sam Peckinpah’s Western “The Ballad of Cable Hogue” (1970) on Warner Video at $59.95. Co-starring Jason Robards Jr. and David Warner, this is Peckinpah at his most subtle.

For Three Stooges aficionados: “The Three Stooges, Vol. 13” (RCA/Columbia, $29.95), due out Nov. 15. Among the three films in this one-hour cassette is “Three Little Pigskins.”

OLD MOVIE BARGAINS: The full-length American version of Sam Peckinpah’s 1969 “The Wild Bunch,” considered among the best Westerns ever made, will be available at half price, $29.98, on Warner Video. But that reduced price will only be in effect until Nov. 21. Beginning next week, you can buy “Splash,” the Darryl Hannah-Tom Hanks mermaid comedy, and “Country,” the farm drama starring Jessica Lange, at the reduced price of $29.95. Both, on Touchstone Video, are normally $79.95 and will revert to that price after the holiday season.

NEW AND COMING MOVIES: An excellent but overlooked movie is out this week, “The Return of the Soldier” (Thorn/EMI/HBO, $79.95), starring Alan Bates, Julie Christie, Ann-Margret and Glenda Jackson. This World War I drama about a soldier (Bates) with amnesia was buried on the art house circuit.

The week’s other noteworthy releases are “Pumping Iron II: The Women” (Vestron, $79.95), the controversial documentary about female body builders and “Secret Admirer” (Thorn/EMI/HBO, $79.95), which is strictly for C. Thomas Howell fans.

Wednesday will be “Ghostbusters” day. Much of the business in video stores for the week after will be customers renting or trying to rent this hugely successful comedy (RCA/Columbia, $79.95). “Baby” (Touchstone, $79.95) the adventure about a baby dinosaur, will also be in the stores next week.

The last week in October belongs to “Beverly Hills Cop,” which should be the year’s most popular cassette. At $29.95, fans will be renting and buying this one.

November releases: “Brewster’s Millions,” with Richard Pryor and John Candy; the James Bond adventure “A View to a Kill”; the Chuck Norris thriller “A Code of Silence”; “Vision Quest,” starring Matthew Mondine; the Albert Brooks comedy, “Lost in America”; and the biggie of the month, “Gremlins,” which will be released Nov. 25.

The summer comedy hit, “Fletch,” starring Chevy Chase, is due out in December.

TOP VIDEOCASSETTES, RENTALS 1--”The Breakfast Club” (MCA). 2--”Amadeus” (Thorn/EMI/HBO). 3--”The Killing Fields” (Warner Home Video). 4--”Desperately Seeking Susan” (Thorn/EMI/HBO). 5--”Missing in Action 2: The Beginning” (MGM/UA). 6--”The Sure Thing” (Embassy). 7--”The Karate Kid” (RCA/Columbia). 8--”A Passage to India” (RCA/Columbia). 9--”Starman” (RCA/Columbia). 10--”A Soldier’s Story” (RCA/Columbia). TOP VIDEOCASSETTES, SALES 1--”Jane Fonda’s Workout” (Karl-Lorimar). 2--”Prince and the Revolution Live” (Warner Music). 3--”Amadeus” (Thorn/EMI/HBO). 4--”Prime Time” (Karl-Lorimar). 5--”We Are the World: The Video Event” (MusicVision). 6--”Desperately Seeking Susan” (Thorn/EMI/HBO). 7--”Pinocchio” (Disney). 8--”The Breakfast Club” (MCA). 9--”Madonna” (Warner Music). 10--”Wrestlemania” (Coliseum).