Commercial Gets Top Billing in ‘Top Gun’; Scheider, Ann-Margret Hook Up in ’52 Pick-Up’

All the talk about that infamous Diet Pepsi commercial that comes with the cassette of “Top Gun,” out this week on Paramount Home Video at $26.95, has overshadowed “Top Gun” the movie.

Remember, it was an enormously popular film, grossing $170 million. Fans were awed by the jet-plane skirmishes and engrossed in the love story between a skilled, arrogant Navy jet pilot (Tom Cruise) and an astrophysicist (Kelly McGillis). Basically it’s an updated World War II movie, with Cruise in a role that might have been played by Van Johnson or John Garfield in the ‘40s.

Many critics blasted “Top Gun,” which was directed by Tony Scott, citing its predictable story--about the competition in pilots’ training school--and Cruise’s wooden acting. But to all those young females who swoon over handsome young Cruise, his acting skills are largely irrelevant.

Also, some critics had trouble believing the gorgeous McGillis as an astrophysicist.

Anticipating a huge demand, retailers and distributors bought a record 1.9 million copies of the “Top Gun” cassette. The big question, though, is how will those thrilling jet-battle scenes come across on TV screens? Some skeptical insiders are predicting they will lose so much of their grandeur and impact that, in the long run, rentals will suffer.

OTHER NEW RELEASES: Media’s “52 Pick-Up,” which is loaded with sex and violence, was considered one of the best sleazy thrillers of last year.

Roy Scheider plays a wealthy businessman who is blackmailed because of an affair with a young woman whose murder is unusually brutal. His wife (Ann-Margret) is kidnaped by two of the more unsavory hoods (John Glover and Clarence Williams III) you’ll see in any thriller. Vanity, as a hooker, spends most of her time undressed. John Frankenheimer directed a script based on a novel by co-scriptwriter Elmore Leonard.

Key Video’s “She’s Gotta Have It,” which did well in art houses, may be the best film ever shot in 16 millimeters in 12 days on a puny budget by a novice black film maker. Given the limitations on 29-year-old director Spike Lee, you can understand why his work was praised by critics.

This bawdy comedy, set in Brooklyn, concerns a lusty young lady (Tracy Camila Johns) who has to choose between three lovers. You marvel at what Lee does with so little. This should be a bible for young film makers.

OLD MOVIES: Often lauded as the best American movie of the ‘50s, “From Here to Eternity” (RCA/Columbia, $29.95), swept the Oscars in 1953, including best picture and best director (Fred Zinnemann). Donna Reed, a wholesome mom in a famous ‘50s sitcom, won an Oscar for portraying a hooker. Frank Sinatra’s best-supporting actor Oscar revived his sagging career.

Some film historians still contend that Burt Lancaster deserved the best actor Oscar over William Holden, who starred in “Stalag 17.” That famous “steamy” love scene, with the waves crashing over Lancaster and Deborah Kerr on the beach, seems very tame now.

The famed all-black musical “Stormy Weather” (Key, $59.98) features one of the great moments in movie-musical history--star Lena Horne singing the title song. After 44 years, it’s still a spine tingler. Fats Waller singing “Ain’t Misbehavin’ ” is another gem.

CHARTS

(Compiled by Billboard magazine)

TOP VIDEOCASSETTES, RENTALS 1--”Back to School” (HBO/Cannon).

2--”The Karate Kid Part II” (RCA/Columbia).

3--”Running Scared” (MGM/UA).

4--”Aliens” (CBS-Fox)

5--”Ruthless People” (Touchstone).

6--”Extremities” (Paramount).

7--”Big Trouble in Little China” (CBS-Fox).

8--”Heartburn” (Paramount).

9--”Flight of the Navigator” (Disney).

10--”Short Circuit” (CBS-Fox).

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

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

3--”Sleeping Beauty” (Disney).

4--”Aliens” (CBS-Fox).

5--”Callanetics” (MCA).

6--”Secrets of the Titanic” (Vestron).

7--”Star Wars” (CBS-Fox).

8--”Indiana Jones and Temple of Doom” (Paramount).

9--”Pinocchio” (Disney).

10--”Ruthless People” (Touchstone).