Video Movies : <i> Recent releases, reviewed by Times critics.</i> : **** Excellent *** Good ** Fair * Poor

**** “Fat City.” RCA/Columbia. $69.95. PG.

Vintage (1972) John Huston, this story of a pair of boxers, Tully (Stacy Keach) and 18-year-old Ernie (Jeff Bridges), eking out their lives in gyms and barrooms on the fringes of Stockton, hasn’t an ounce of fat on it. From the script and novel of Leonard Gardner, this insider’s portrait of the real world of the ring is a great tragicomedy: The bitterly funny, pugnacious banter between young alcoholic Oma (Susan Tyrrell) and Tully provides the humor; the lives of the fighters, whose hopes reach only to the next day, are its tragedy. The bars, gymnasiums and picking fields of Stockton are meticulously shot by Conrad Hall in muted, unsentimental colors; every actor is fine, and the supporting cast are just what they seem--veterans of the ring and of life.