‘Legal Eagles’ Appeals Its Case to Home-Video Jury; Fine Performances Spark ‘Mona Lisa,’ ‘ ‘night Mother’

MCA’s “Legal Eagles,” which made its home-video debut Thursday, is a big-budget version of those sophisticated comedy-mysteries of the ‘30s and ‘40s. While dialogue carried those old movies, this script doesn’t have that kind of high-quality wit.

Directed by Ivan Reitman (“Ghostbusters”), it’s about two attorneys (Debra Winger and Robert Redford) helping a mysterious, seductive client (Daryl Hannah) by tracking a killer in Manhattan’s high-class art world.

“Legal Eagles” grossed about $47 million at the box office, but that didn’t come close to covering the studio’s extravagant production and marketing costs. Home-video grosses should help. Since renters love movies featuring lots of major stars, this should be a big rental hit. Brian Dennehy and Terence Stamp are part of the all-star cast.

COMING MOVIES: HBO/Cannon’s “Mona Lisa,” featuring the performance that earned Bob Hoskins an Oscar nomination, is due out on May 6. The grim “ ‘night Mother,” starring Sissy Spacek and Anne Bancroft, was acclaimed by many critics but died at the box office. MCA is reviving it for home-video audiences June 11.

For action fans, “Wanted Dead or Alive” is due May 26 on New World. Rutger Hauer stars as a cold-blooded bounty hunter in one of those slam-bang thrillers that invariably do well on home video.

One of the big summer hits should be the musical comedy “Little Shop of Horrors,” which Warner Video is releasing June 17. CBS-Fox’s “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” starring Whoopi Goldberg, should be another popular summer comedy. But there’s a possibility that the critical trashing of her current comedy, “Burglar,” may create a backlash affecting rentals on “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.”

France’s “A Sunday in the Country,” one of the best films of 1984, is due out on April 20 on MGM/UA. Its release now takes advantage of director Bertrand Tavernier’s high profile from “ ‘Round Midnight,” which earned Herbie Hancock an Oscar for best original score and Dexter Gordon a best-actor nomination.

Another exceptional foreign movie is the Oscar-nominated “The Decline of the American Empire” by French-Canadian writer-director Denys Arcand. MCA has scheduled the film, called the “sex-talk movie” because its characters engage in explicit banter, for a June 11 release. The release of “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” originally scheduled for this week, has been delayed to April 15. Also next week: Warner’s “True Stories”--the David Byrne film--and CBS-Fox’s “Down by Law.”

OLD MOVIES: Whether you’re into Bob Hope movies or not, you’ll probably like “Son of Paleface” (RCA/Columbia, $69.95), which is in a class with his best “Road” movies with Bing Crosby. This 1952 slapstick musical comedy is set in the Old West, with the good guys--Bob Hope as a Harvard dude and Roy Rogers as an undercover lawman--vs. a very bad girl, played by Jane Russell. It’s sight gags and one-liners galore. No matter how many times you see Rogers’ famed palomino, Trigger, in bed with Hope, battling for a bedspread, you’ll marvel at the horse’s smarts and comic timing. That funny sequence was done mostly without editing.

“The Ex-Mrs. Bradford” (Nostalgia Merchant, $19.95) is a 1936 comedy/mystery done in the amiable style of “The Thin Man” series. William Powell’s surgeon is much like his “Thin Man” character, Nick Charles--a witty, urbane foil for his screwball wife. The ex-Mrs. Bradford is played by Jean Arthur, who ranked with the best screen comediennes of that era. In this sophisticated tomfoolery, the couple solves a rash of race-track murders.

“Jolson Sings Again” (RCA/Columbia, $29.95), a 1950 release, is inferior--particularly the script--to the 1946 original, but Larry Parks, repeating the title role, turns in another strong performance. The sequel picks up where the original left off, following Jolson out of retirement, through some tough times and into World War II. Like the original, it’s very sentimental.

“Gambit” (MCA, $59.95) is one of the better heist films from an era when heist films were plentiful. This 1966 movie stars Michael Caine as a stylish thief who plans to steal a valuable statue with the help of a Eurasian singer (Shirley MacLaine). Caine, always adept at playing likable scoundrels, carries the movie. Since he just won an Oscar for “Hannah and Her Sisters,” this oldie will have added appeal for renters.

CHARTS (Compiled by Billboard magazine) TOP VIDEOCASSETTES, RENTALS 1--”Top Gun” (Paramount).

2--”Aliens” (CBS-Fox).

3--”Ruthless People” (Touchstone).

4--”Stand by Me” (RCA/Columbia).

5--”Back to School” (HBO/Cannon).

6--”About Last Night . . . “ (RCA/Columbia)

7--”Running Scared” (MGM/UA).

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

9--”The Fly” (CBS-Fox).

10--”52 Pick-Up” (Media).

TOP VIDEOCASETTES, SALES 1--”Top Gun” (Paramount).

2--”Jane Fonda’s Low-Impact Aerobic Workout” (Karl-Lorimar).

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

4--”Sleeping Beauty” (Disney).

5--”Callanetics” (MCA).

6--”The Sound of Music” (CBS-Fox).

7--”Star Wars” (CBS-Fox).

8--”Aliens” (CBS-Fox).

9--”Playboy Video Centerfold No. 4” (Karl-Lorimar).

10--”Alien” (CBS-Fox).