Race Car and Cycle Crashes for the Mash Market; Creating Your Own Foreign-Film Festival

“Americans absolutely love gore,” explained Joe Levin, spokesman for Powersports Video, which has released “Havoc VI,” a compilation of racing car and motorcycle crashes. “This was edited just for the American market.”

This $39.95, thrill-a-minute cassette offers an hour’s worth of crashes taped on the racing circuit, cleverly exploiting the fascination many of us apparently have with vehicular accidents. There are some genuinely hair-raising sequences shot by cameras strapped to crashing vehicles. You feel as if you’re actually in the accident.

Because of the camerawork and editing, it’s the best of the “Havoc” series.

“ ‘Havoc V’ doesn’t really give American audiences what they want, which is spectacular crash scenes,” Levin said. “In ‘V’ the announcer explains all sorts of things about the races. The average person watching the tape doesn’t care about that--all they want to see is crashes. So we made it more spectacular.

“We cut down on the replays, too. They’re boring, with tires flying here and auto parts flying there. It’s better to see it fast, just as it happens in a race.”

The Tarzana-based company also includes in its catalogue about 75 tapes mostly of various car, boat and motorcycle race highlights. According to Levin, the catalogue will offer 100 tapes by the end of the year.

Powersports, which has virtually cornered the market on racing cassettes, is the U.S. distributor for these tapes, which are mostly made in Europe.

“We don’t have any real competition yet, but it will come,” Levin predicted. “Other companies will eventually realize that the market for these tapes is potentially huge.”

FOREIGN FILMS: Embassy has dominated the foreign film classics market--Ingmar Bergman’s “The Virgin Spring” and “Winter Light” are its latest releases--but some other companies, such as Karl-Lorimar and Pacific Arts, have entered on a small scale. Media, with its Cinematheque Collection, launched last October, has quietly surged into second place.

Its 16-film catalogue includes some first-rate films, such as Bunuel’s “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie” and Kurosawa’s “The Hidden Fortress.” Recently Peter Marai, Media’s acquisitions consultant, announced a stepped-up release schedule for Cinematheque. Now the company will put out three titles every six weeks, instead of two every other month.

Cinematheque’s Sept. 5 release list includes a bizarre film about an aborigine tribe, “Where the Green Ants Dream” (1984), made in Australia by German director Werner Herzog. Also in September: “Time for Revenge” by Argentine director Adolfo Aristarain.

Highlighting Cinematheque’s fall schedule is Eric Rohmer’s “Clair’s Knee” and two Kurosawa films--”Red Beard” and “Throne of Blood.” Bunuel’s “The Milky Way” and two other Rohmer films from the early ‘70s--”Chloe in the Afternoon” and “My Night at Maud’s”--are in the Cinematheque vaults.

Unlike Embassy’s $29.95 titles, Cinematheque is charging $59.95 and $69.95. But, Marai contended, price won’t be a deterrent: “We’re trying to appeal to the hardened foreign-film collectors. If it’s available on cassette, they’ll buy it. The price isn’t that important to them.”

NEW AND COMING MOVIES: MGM/UA’s “Runaway Train,” the thriller with Jon Voight and Eric Roberts, will be available Sept. 23. Both stars received Oscar nominations for their performances.

On Sept. 17 Paramount will release “Lady Jane,” a costume drama about the nine-day reign in 1553 of Lady Jane Grey, starring Helena Bonham Carter. Its rental appeal may be boosted by Carter’s star role in “Room With a View,” which has been enjoying some popularity. CBS-Fox is planning to put out “Room With a View” around the end of the year.

Ralph Macchio, known for his two “Karate Kid” movies, also starred in “Crossroads,” about the adventures of young New York musician who travels south to become a blues guitar player. It will be out on RCA/Columbia on Sept. 19.

Coming on Aug. 19 from Touchstone, the romantic comedy “Off Beat,” about an offbeat romance between a librarian (Judge Reinhold) and a lady cop (Meg Tilly).

This week two Lou Gossett movies are available from CBS-Fox--the action/adventure “Iron Eagle”--a cross between “Top Gun” and “Rambo”--and the sci-fi drama “Enemy Mine,” co-starring Dennis Quaid.

Next week: “Youngblood,” the hockey drama starring Rob Lowe, and Argentina’s “The Official Story,” which won the Oscar as last year’s best foreign-language film.

Later in the month: “Trouble in Mind,” “Quicksilver,” “The Clan of the Cave Bear” and “Target.”

OLD MOVIES: Next week, MGM/UA will release, at $59.95, three excellent examples of Hollywood’s sentimental, flag-waving approach to World War II--”Bataan” (1943), “Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo” (1944) and “They Were Expendable” (1945).

The best of the lot, and arguably John Wayne’s finest war film, is “They Were Expendable,” directed by John Ford. Wayne’s performance is rated higher in “Sands of Iwo Jima” (1949) but “Expendable,” about PT boats battling Japanese cruisers, is considered by film historians to be a much better movie.

“Bataan” features one of Robert Taylor’s three best performances but it’s a cult classic among movie and TV buffs for another reason--a vivid portrayal by a young actor named Desi Arnaz. “Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo” stars Van Johnson and Spencer Tracy but is most famous as Robert Mitchum’s film debut.

New releases: “Craig’s Wife” (1936), which helped launch the career of Rosalind Russell, who plays a callous, greedy woman. On RCA/Columbia at $59.95. . . . “One, Two, Three,” a high-powered, 1961 satire of the Cold War starring James Cagney and directed by Billy Wilder. On MGM/UA at $59.95.

BRIEFS: Actress Donna Mills’ videocassette of makeup and beauty tips, “The Eyes Have it” (MCA, $19.95) is due Sept. 11. . . . Just released by Karl-Lorimar at $39.95: “The Best of Comic Relief,” that HBO benefit TV special with Robin Williams, Whoopi Goldberg and Billy Crystal. . . . In late September, Laura McKenzie will add one-hour, $24.95 cassettes on Las Vegas, Arizona, Mexican Beach resorts and Washington, D.C., to her Republic travel-tips series.

CHARTS (Complied by Billboard magazine) TOP VIDEOCASSETTES, RENTALS 1--”Back to the Future” (MCA).

2--”The Jewel of the Nile” (CBS-Fox).

3--”White Nights” (RCA/Columbia).

4--”Jagged Edge” (RCA/Columbia).

5--”A Nightmare on Elm Street 2” (Media).

6--”Cocoon” (CBS-Fox).

7--”Rocky IV” (CBS-Fox).

8--”Witness” (Paramount).

9--”Spies Like Us” (Warner).

10--”To Live and Die in L.A.” (Vestron).

TOP VIDEOCASSETTES, SALES 1--”Jane Fonda’s New Workout” (Karl-Lorimar).

2--”Back to the Future” (MCA).

3--”The Sound of Music” (CBS-Fox).

4--”White Nights” (RCA/Columbia).

5--”Casablanca” (CBS-Fox).

6--”The Jewel of the Nile” (CBS-Fox).

7--”Alice in Wonderland” (Disney).

8--”Jane Fonda’s Workout” (Karl-Lorimar).

9--”Playboy Video Centerfold 2” (Karl-Lorimar).

10--”Whitney Houston: The No. 1 Video Hits” (MusicVision).