HOME ACCIDENTS: NOW YOU CAN FIGHT BACK

By DENNIS HUNT

Nov. 22, 1985 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

Consumer expert David Horowitz, always armed with unsettling statistics, immediately went to his heavy artillery. Explaining the need for stronger safety measures in homes with babies, he said:

“Home accidents are more of a danger to babies than diseases. They do more damage to babies and small children than all the childhood diseases combined. In America, about 26 million children are hurt in household accidents every year. What’s worse, 300 babies are killed every month in home accidents. It makes sense for parents to worry about disease prevention, but they should be more concerned about home accidents.”

Horowitz, of course, has a solution: Thoroughly baby-proof your home using his new videocassette, “The Baby-Safe Home “ (Embassy, $29.95) as your guide. It’s one of the best how-to tapes on the market.

The 45-minute cassette covers the household dangers that could occur to three age groups--infants (the first six months), crawlers (six months to a year) and toddlers (one to two years).

In the cassette, Horowitz and his wife, Suzanne, roam through a typical home, pointing out dangers and explaining how to eliminate them. “Parents think of lots of obvious things but they often miss certain hazards,” he said. “We may cover some things they might miss. Or we might offer simple ways to get rid of certain hazards--ways they might not have considered.”

Baby-proofing your home, Horowitz insisted, is inexpensive: “We concentrate on the cheap things you can buy to get rid of various hazards. It’s the little things that make a big difference.”

POP MUSIC: On Dec. 5, “Stand by Me: A Portrait of Julian Lennon” is scheduled for release by MCA for $29.95. Shot on his debut tour last spring, it’s an absorbing artist profile rather than a concert tape. At the beginning of the tour, he’s a nervous wreck. This hour cassette shows him slowly developing confidence and polish.

Lennon’s versions of the Drifters’ “Stand by Me” and the Beatles’ “Day Tripper” are extra added attractions. Neither appears on his only album, “Valotte.” Warning: this cassette, emphasizing a personality profile, offers mostly snippets of songs, not complete renditions, which may annoy some fans.

Released this week: “Monterey Pop” (Sony, $59.95), the 1969 movie about the first major rock festival held in Monterey in June, 1967. Possibly the best rock concert movie ever made. Also from Sony, “Stanley Jordan--The Magic Touch” ($16.95) and “Iron Maiden--Live After Death” ($29.95).

Additional releases this week: Duran Duran’s, “Arena” (Thorn, $29.95), featuring mostly concert footage, and three from A&M--;”Supertramp: Brother Where You Bound” ($19.95), “Amy Grant: Find a Way” ($19.95) and “Amy Grant: Age to Age” ($29.95), an excellent 90-minute cassette shot on the pop-gospel singer’s 1983 tour.

ODDS ‘N’ ENDS: Retailers weren’t happy to see Disney’s “Dumbo” on TV Monday night. One of the prime titles in the company’s reduced-price promotion, it’s selling for $29.95. But it’s likely that many parents taped the movie, erasing a huge chunk of its potential sales or rental audience.

According to a Disney spokesman, NBC decided to telecast “Dumbo” Monday night and refused to alter that decision. So Disney promised to make full restitution to retailers for any unused copies of the cassette left over when the promotion ends Feb. 1. Disney has explained to retailers that “Dumbo” should sell well anyway. The theory is that many people who are getting VCRs for Christmas--and didn’t have them when “Dumbo” was telecast--are potential buyers.

This year’s VCR boom, various experts predict, will end with a bang, with between 2 and 2 1/2 million VCRs sold during the last six weeks of the year.

WRESTLING BOOM: Wrestling vid expert Steelman Rocco claims there will be about 35 cassettes on the market by the end of the year. That’s quite a few, considering that the first, Coliseum Video’s “Wrestlemania”--a fixture on the Billboard Top 10 sales chart--was only released last June.

The big title for the holiday season, according to Rocco, is “The WWF Wrestling Classic” (Coliseum, $39.95). Due Dec. 11, it’s the cassette version of the famed 16-man elimination tournament held in Chicago on Nov. 7 and telecast on cable. The main attraction is Hulk Hogan’s victory over Rowdy Roddy Piper.

“There will be a ‘Wrestling Classic’ tournament every quarter (or, four times a year) that will be rushed out as a videocassette after the telecast,” Rocco noted.

“Wrestlemania II,” he predicted, is on the way: “There will be an event in January that will probably wind up as ‘Wrestlemania II.’ ”

New releases: Due next week on Coliseum at $59.95, “The Best of World Wrestling Federation,” “The World Wrestling Federation’s Amazing Managers” and “Wrestling’s Country Boys.” Available in the second week of December on USA Video at $39.95: “Monsters of the Mat, Vols. 1 and 2” and “All-Star Wrestling, Vol. 2.” On Dec. 18, Vestron will release “Ringmasters: The Great American Bash” at $59.95.

OLD MOVIES: On Embassy’s December release schedule is “The Wild Angels” (1966), directed by Roger Corman and starring Peter Fonda and Nancy Sinatra, whose performance is frequently cited as one of the worst since the dawn of talkies. The outlaw bikers are obviously patterned after the Hell’s Angels, feared and revered in the ’60. As the granddaddy of bike movies, it has earned a significant place in film history.

“Mikey and Nicky,” an overlooked 1976 gangster movie, came out last week (Warner, $69.95). It features fine performances by Peter Falk and John Cassavetes as two crooks on the lam. Elaine May wrote and directed.

Westerns--new releases for those who like the cowboy stars of the ‘30s and ‘40s: from Buena Vista, two $39.95 Hopalong Cassidy movies, “The Dead Don’t Dream” and “Dangerous Venture.” On All Occasion Video, at $19.95 each, “Rough Riders’ Roundup,” with Roy Rogers; “Border Phantom,” featuring Bob Steele; “Boots and Saddles,” starring Gene Autry, and “The Gunman From Bodie,” with Buck Jones and Tim McCoy.

NEW AND COMING MOVIES: This week’s most significant new release is Chuck Norris’ “Code of Silence” (Thorn, $79.95). Norris is an action/adventure hero in the Clint Eastwood/Charles Bronson class. This is probably his best film. Look for it to be a rental hit.

“Perfect,” with John Travolta and Jamie Lee Curtis, is also out this week (RCA/Columbia, $79.95). Despite a massive publicity campaign, it didn’t do very well at the box office last summer. But due to its attractive stars, it might just be a popular rental. Some industry observers are betting that this is the kind of film many fans figured they’d rather see on their VCRs.

“Gremlins” (Warner Video, $79.95), the No. 3 box-office hit of 1984, debuts on cassette early next week. Warner has shipped nearly 300,000 copies.

Due in two weeks: the latest James Bond movie, “A View to a Kill,” with Roger Moore and Grace Jones, and “Fletch,” starring Chevy Chase.” In the week of Dec. 8, the Clint Eastwood Western, “Pale Rider,” Disney’s “Return to Oz” and the teen fantasy, “The Heavenly Kid.”

Just announced: “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome,” last summer’s adventure hit, starring Mel Gibson and Tina Turner. It’s due Jan. 20 on Warner Video. Also, “My Science Project,” the teen fantasy with John Stockwell and Dennis Hopper, will be out Jan. 9 on Touchstone.

TOP CASSETTE RENTALS

1--”Beverly Hills Cop” (Paramount).

2--”Ghostbusters” (RCA/Columbia).

3--”The Breakfast Club” (MCA).

4--”Amadeus” (Thorn).

5--”Ladyhawke” (Warner Video).

6--”The Killing Fields” (Warner Video).

7--”Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment” (Warner Video).

8--”Desperately Seeking Susan” (Thorn).

9--”Missing in Action 2: The Beginning” (MGM/UA).

10--”The Sure Thing” (Embassy).

TOP CASSETTES, SALES