VIDEO . . . WHAT’S NEW : MOVIES

Five important films that fared poorly at the Oscars should recoup some losses when they make their video debut this weekend.

“Gorillas in the Mist” (MCA, $89.95, PG-13) is the story of Dian Fossey (Sigourney Weaver), who devoted her life to protecting the world’s largest primates from the world’s most destructive primates--and to changing people’s ideas about the former’s supposedly ferocious nature. Directed by Michael Apted (“Coal Miner’s Daughter”), the film is intelligent, exciting and moving.

“Tucker” (Paramount, no suggested retail price, PG) is another big-budget movie based on a real-life maverick--’40s auto maker Preston Tucker (Jeff Bridges). Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, the story of Tucker’s dreams and frustrations is told sympathetically and, typically, with an innovative style that’s occasionally distracting. Despite its rah-rah slant, the movie works--with vision and verve matching that of its subject. Martin Landau was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar; though favored to win, he lost to Kevin Kline (“A Fish Called Wanda”--already on videocassette). (Incidentally, you can buy “Tucker” but you’ll have to negotiate the price with your dealer--expect around $90--because Paramount Home Video is no longer suggesting a retail price on some of its rental-oriented releases.)

“Dead Ringers” (Media, $89.95, R) went over well with critics if not at the Oscars. The plot of this David Cronenberg (“The Fly”) shocker may have been a bit too weird for academy members: Jeremy Irons plays twin gynecologists whose intertwined lives are upset by an actress (Genevieve Bujold).

“Crossing Delancey” (Warner, $89.95, PG) is a sweet comedy about a Manhattan bookstore manager, her old-world grandmother, and the pickle king of Delancey Street. Amy Irving, Peter Riegert star; Joan Micklin Silver (“Chilly Scenes of Winter”) directed. “From its first romantic encounter to its last tremulous one, ‘Crossing Delancey’ is unqualified pleasure, full of perfectly detailed performances,” wrote Sheila Benson in the Times.

“Running on Empty” (Warner, $89.95, PG-13) starred Christine Lahti (named Best Actress of 1988 by the Los Angeles Film Critics) and River Phoenix (Oscar nominee) in a widely praised drama about ‘60s radicals hiding from the FBI.

Also new on video this week are three other ’88 movies, “Hanna’s War” (Media, $79.95, PG-13), a Menaham Golan-directed biofilm of the woman who’s been called “Israel’s Joan of Arc,” Hanna Senesh (Ellen Burstyn); “Dakota” (HBO, $89.99, PG), a drama about a troubled young drifter (Lou Diamond Phillips), and “They Live” (MCA, $89.95, R), a John Carpenter horrorpic about creatures who can only be distinguished from humans by wearing a special kind of sunglasses (so that’s what those cable ads are for!).

The scary stuff is less explicit in “Son of Frankenstein” (MCA, $29.95), a 1939 entry that stars Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff, and “Dr. Cyclops” (MCA, $29.95) from 1940, a vintage year for movies about mad doctors who like to shrink people.

OTHER VIDEOS

J2 Communications has new sports tapes both serious--”Ball Talk: Baseball’s Voices of Summer,” 50 minutes of reminiscences by announcers Mel Allen, Red Barber, Jack Brickhouse, Curt Gowdy, Jack Buck and Ernie Harwell--and goofy: “Dorf’s Golf Bible,” the third in Tim Conway’s satirical Dorf series (37 minutes). Both are priced at $29.95. Information: (213) 474-5252.

MPI is launching a series of heavy-metal-rock “video magazines” with “Hard ‘n’ Heavy” ($19.95), 70 minutes of music and interviews featuring Ozzy Osbourne, Anthrax and Iron Maiden. Information: (800) 323-0442.