NFL Films Rushes Out Tape of Chicago Bears Season; Jane Wyman, Joanne Woodward Films in New Cassettes

The Chicago Bears’ victory over the New England Patriots also turned out to be a triumph for NFL Films Video.

A Chicago defeat would have forced the company to scrub its videocassette about the Bears’ season. Who wants a highlight tape about a Super Bowl loser?

But since the Bears won, NFL Films Video is releasing “World Champions! The Story of the 1985 Chicago Bears” today, a mere three weeks after the big game.

“We actually began the project two weeks before the Super Bowl,” explained Steve Sabol, vice president of NFL Films. “We had teams of editors working on it. It was finished the Tuesday after the game. If this is going to sell, we had to have it out while people are still interested in the Bears.”

The hourlong, $19.95 cassette features highlights of the Bears season, including a seven-minute segment on the Super Bowl, as well as a feature on the Bears’ 1963championship team and profiles of running back Walter Payton, coach Mike Ditka and, of course, William (The Refrigerator) Perry.

So far the company has orders for 80,000, which exceeds the total number of tapes--60,000--sold by NFL Films Video all last year. To no one’s surprise, more than 80% were shipped to the Chicago area. The inspiration for the venture was the phenomenal success of MPI’s “The Super Bowl Shuffle” cassette.

Usually NFL Video markets team-highlights tapes and an amusing “football follies” series. The company’s big release is generally in May, when a Super Bowl synopsis and the playoff teams’ seasonal highlights are marketed. If the Patriots had won the Super Bowl, a highlights tape would have been released in May also.

The NFL cassettes reach a small market because two-thirds of their business is mail order and phone order (800-NFL-TAPES). “Stores usually don’t want to carry our cassettes because they prefer to use the shelf space for movies,” complained David Grossman, the company’s sales director.

“The few that do carry them usually put them on the shelves where no one can find them--they’ll file the Super Bowl highlights next to ‘Superman.’ But the Bears’ tape is different. More stores are willing to stock it because the Bears are big business.”

NEW AND COMING MOVIES: Despite speculation, “Witness,” which has eight Academy Award nominations, won’t be coming out before the March 24 Oscar cermonies after all. Paramount announced Thursday that the Harrison Ford thriller, which has grossed $68 million in theaters, will be released April 9 at $79.95.

“Pee Wee’s Big Adventure,” “National Lampoon’s European Vacation” and “Volunteers” will be in the stores next week. “Summer Rental,” the John Candy comedy about a burned-out air traffic controller on vacation, is scheduled for Feb. 26 release on Paramount; “Silverado” and “Real Genius” debut the same day. “Bring on the Night,” Sting’s concert movie, will be available April 2 on Karl-Lorimar.

OLD MOVIES: The younger generation that regularly watches Jane Wyman’s acting excesses on TV’s “Falcon Crest” may not know that she was one of the finest actresses of the ‘40s. She won a best actress Oscar for “Johnny Belinda” (1948), portraying a deaf mute who is raped--an extremely daring theme for its time. That movie (MGM/UA, $59.95.) will be available March 18.

Speaking of films by excellent actresses, one of Joanne Woodward’s most acclaimed but least known movies, “Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams” is now available (RCA/Columbia, $59.95). She won the 1973 New York Film Critics award for her performance as a woman in the throes of a midlife crisis. When film historians discuss great acting performances as tortured, middle-aged women, this one is invariably cited.

Recent releases:

“To Have and Have Not” (1945), with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, directed by Howard Hawks with screenplay by William Faulkner--most Bogart fans place this in his Top Five (MGM/UA, $59.95); “All This and Heaven Too” (1940), with Bette Davis and Charles Boyer, about a scandalous romance in 1940s Paris (MGM/UA, $59.95).

“Mr. and Mrs. Smith” (1941). This screwball comedy, starring Carole Lombard and Robert Montgomery, was directed by--of all people--Alfred Hitchcock (Nostalgia Merchant, $19.95); from the same company at the same price, Orson Welles’ 1942 masterpiece, “The Magnificent Ambersons.”

ODDS ‘N’ ENDS: With CBS/Fox releasing “Return of the Jedi” on Feb. 25, there’s industry guessing over when the next blockbuster movie--from the rapidly shrinking supply--will debut on cassette. Several sources forecast that MCA’s “Back to the Future” will be the next big release after “Jedi,” possibly in mid-spring.

Tom Burnett, vice president of Embassy’s Charter Entertainment branch, explained why the company can’t release “Kiss of the Spider Woman” (nominated for four Oscars) earlier than April.

“The producers wanted to keep it in theaters as long as possible,” he said. “Also, if it had come out earlier, it would have had competition from blockbusters like ‘Rambo’ and ‘Return of the Jedi.’ April is the best time to put it out. And if it wins some awards, everyone will want to see it.”

Paramount has stopped accepting orders for “Beverly Hills Cop,” the best-selling cassette ever. Stores still have copies for sale and rent, but the available supply will dwindle in the next few months. Industry insiders say Paramount plans to reintroduce it in late fall during the publicity blitz for the Christmas theatrical release of the next Eddie Murphy movie, “The Golden Child.”

It’s possible that “Beverly Hills Cop” might be on cable TV before the end of the year, which would certainly reduce its appeal in the sales and rental market. But there’s no word yet about when “Cop” will make its cable debut.

CHARTS (compiled by Billboard magazine) TOP VIDEOCASSETTES, RENTALS 1--”Rambo: First Blood Part II” (Thorn/EMI/HBO). 2--”Prizzi’s Honor” (Vestron). 3--”Mask” (MCA). 4--”Beverly Hills Cop” (Paramount). 5--”Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome” (Warner Video). 6--”St Elmo’s Fire” (RCA/Columbia). 7--”Gremlins” (Warner Video). 8--”Pale Rider” (Warner Video). 9--”Ghostbusters” (RCA/Columbia). 10--”The Emerald Forest” (Embassy). TOP VIDEOCASSETTES, SALES 1--”Beverly Hills Cop” (Paramount). 2--”Jane Fonda’s New Workout” (Karl-Lorimar). 3--”Rambo: First Blood Part II” (Thorn/EMI/HBO). 4--”The Best of John Belushi” (Warner Video). 5--”Jane Fonda’s Workout” (Karl-Lorimar). 6--”Pinocchio” (Disney). 7--”The Wizard of Oz” (MGM/UA). 8--”Prizzi’s Honor” (Vestron). 9--”Miami Vice” (MCA). 10--”Gone With the Wind” (MGM/UA).