'Dundee' Gets a $29.95 Price Minus a Commercial Tie-in

By DENNIS HUNT

June 12, 1987 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

“Crocodile Dundee,” the Australian import that took a $170-million bite out of the theatrical box office, hopes to grab an equivalent chunk of the video market--by sporting a price of $29.95. Minus a commercial.

The last video to swamp the video sales market was “Top Gun,” which has sold 2.9 million copies to date at $26.95. But it starts off with a Diet Pepsi commercial. “Dundee” won’t have any such tie-in.

“Dundee,” the comedy/adventure starring Paul Hogan and Linda Kozlowski, will be released on Aug. 5 by Paramount Home Video, the company that also put out “Top Gun.” Australia’s all-time top-grossing film, “Dundee” is also the box-office champ among foreign films released in the United States.

Paramount will offer the tape at the lower price because it’s anticipated to be a “collectible”--a videocassette many people want to own.

“From the box-office figures, we knew it was doing a lot of repeat business,” said Tim Clott, Paramount Home Video senior vice president and general manager. “If people went to see it again and again in the theaters, they would probably buy the cassette if the price was low enough.

“We expect to ship 1.5 million-1.9 million at first,” Clott said. “Crossing 2 million shouldn’t be a problem.” That would put “Crocodile Dundee” in second place on the all-time list. “Top Gun” should be No. 1 on the Billboard videocassette sales chart until “Crocodile Dundee” comes along. Paramount has another big gun, “Star Trek IV,” waiting in the wings.

COMING MOVIES: Sylvester Stallone’s arm-wrestling epic, “Over the Top,” will be out Aug. 5 on Warner Video. MGM/UA’s “Duet for One,” a drama featuring Julie Andrews and Alan Bates, will be released July 14. Warner’s “Wisdom,” an action thriller starring Emilio Estevez and Demi Moore, is due July 22.

Next week: “Hannah and Her Sisters,” “ ‘Round Midnight” and “Little Shop of Horrors.” Other releases: “Everytime We Say Goodbye” (June 23), “No Mercy” (June 25), “Crimes of the Heart” (July 1), “The Golden Child” (July 8) and “The Color Purple” (July 9).

NEW RELEASES: MCA’s “ ‘night, Mother” didn’t do well at the box office but may appeal to renters. Sissy Spacek plays an unhappy divorcee who announces her suicide plans to her mother (Anne Bancroft), who’s also her housemate. The mother spends the evening--and the rest of this two-character movie--trying to change her daughter’s mind. While lauding the performances, critics charged that the whole situation isn’t very believable.

MCA’s “The Decline of the American Empire,” directed by Denys Arcand and starring a cast of unknowns, was a critical favorite. This controversial French-Canadian film is famous for its racy dialogue, which is presented in subtitles. Set in a Montreal college, it’s unlike any other campus comedy. The principals aren’t students but aging academics. Before a dinner party, a group of men engage in lewd, locker-room-style chatter--simultaneously, a group of women at a health club are doing the same thing. At dinner, the groups mingle for more bawdy chatter. By the end of the evening, drama seeps in and some relationships change. Too talky at times, some critics noted, but basically funny and touching.

MGM/UA’s futuristic sci-fi film “Solarbabies” is like “The Road Warrior” featuring a group of youngsters instead of Mel Gibson as Mad Max. It’s set in the future, when water is scarce and controlled by villains. These spunky kids, whose mode of transportation is roller skates, challenge the baddies. The heroes receive assistance from an iridescent, quasi-human ball. Richard Jordan and Jami Gertz star as the young leaders. Many critics thought the movie was downright silly.

OLD MOVIES: Without Greta Garbo, MGM/UA’s “Camille” (1936, $24.95) would be just another soap opera. But Garbo, in what many historians consider her best performance, lifts this tear-jerker to a higher level. She plays an elegant lady who’s beaten down by illness, class conflicts and financial problems. Her selfless love for a young aristocrat (Robert Taylor) is her undoing. Director George Cukor lets the pace lag during the character introductions, but the action picks up in the second half as the heroine’s woes pile up. As her lover, Taylor is too prissy and aloof. The big problem is that it’s hard to believe she would flip over such a stuffed shirt.

RCA/Columbia has re-released “The Professionals,” one of the all-time great Westerns (1966, $69.95). The film, directed by Richard Brooks, is a crafty embellishment of the tired old adventure plot--assembling a unit of tough specialists for a dangerous mission. This time, skilled mercenaries (Burt Lancaster and Lee Marvin) are hired to rescue the wife (Claudia Cardinale) of a rich rancher (Ralph Bellamy) from a gang of kidnapers headed by a murderous bandit (Jack Palance). Full of humor and marvelously staged action sequences, it was considered one of best adventure films of the ‘60s.

For a while, Lancaster was sort of an early-’50s version of Errol Flynn. Lancaster’s best swashbuckling-hero roles were in “The Flame and the Arrow” (1950) and “The Crimson Pirate” (1952). Both have been released by Warner Video at $19.98. Swashbuckler fans rank “The Crimson Pirate”--with Lancaster cavorting as a heroic buccaneer battling a Spanish villain--up there with Flynn’s classic “Captain Blood.” If you’re unfamiliar with this obsolete adventure genre, “The Crimson Pirate” is a great introduction. “The Flame and the Arrow,” with Lancaster as an Italian Robin Hood, offers fewer thrills but it does boast a nifty performance by Virginia Mayo, who was peerless at playing lovely heroines in costume dramas.

Liberace fans will probably take “Sincerely Yours” (Warner, $19.98) seriously and will undoubtedly love all his musical numbers. Others, however, will take this 1955 drama--made during his peak years as a TV star--for what it is, a cornball classic. He plays a superstar pianist with a schmaltzy style who goes deaf. Meanwhile, two pretty women (Joanne Dru and Dorothy Malone) are chasing him. If you see his performance, you’ll understand why Liberace never starred in another film. A fun bad movie that’s often rated among the worst of the ‘50s.

CHARTS (Compiled by Billboard) TOP VIDEOCASSETTES, RENTALS

1--”The Color of Money” (Touchstone).

2--”Peggy Sue Got Married” (CBS-Fox).

3--”Children of a Lesser God” (Paramount).

4--”Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” (Paramount).

5--”Heartbreak Ridge” (Warner).

6--”Legal Eagles” (MCA).

7--”Top Gun” (Paramount).

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

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

3--”Callanetics” (MCA).

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