VIDEO NEWS : This Week’s Movies

From last year and early this year come “Heathers” (New World, $89.95, R), a black-humor cult film that takes a light view of murder among high schoolers; “1969” (Media, $89.95, R), a fictional portrayal of that tumultuous year by director-writer Ernest Thompson; “Lip Service” (Prism, $79.95), a sharp-as-a-razor made-for-HBO satire which stars Griffin Dunne and Paul Dooley as opposite types on a morning TV show; and “Police Academy 6: City Under Siege” (Warner, $89.95, PG), more of the same foolishness to less effect (it wasn’t great guns at the box office).

From further in the past and at a good-old-days price ($14.95 each): “The Desperate Hours” (Paramount, 1955) gave Humphrey Bogart another chance (20 years after “The Petrified Forest”) to play a convict holding people hostage in William Wyler’s efficient if too-deliberate film version of the play. “Will Penny” (Paramount, 1968) cast Charlton Heston as an aging cowboy in a spare, mean Western notable for its eccentric villains.

Other New Videos

Two of this century’s greatest American comic talents are documented in “Buster Keaton: A Hard Act to Follow” (HBO, three 60-minute cassettes, $19.99 each) and “Will Rogers: Look Back in Laughter” (Media, $59.95, 55 minutes).

The first, seen on PBS, shows the silent-screen genius in three volumes: in his climb to stardom, at the height of his popularity and in his often-neglected later years. The second, a 55-minute documentary made by Malcolm Leo for HBO cable, pays tribute to the columnist-comedian-cowboy with rare footage and comments from Robin Williams and other admirers.

More comedy: In “Murphy’s Laws of Golf” (Fries, $24.95, 30 minutes) Tom Poston (from “Newhart”) shows what can go wrong on the course and hopes he can have half the video sales of fellow veteran TV comedian Tim Conway’s “Dorf” tapes. David Letterman and Bill Cosby are among the folks who show up to make “Elayne Boosler: Party of One” (Vestron, $59.98, 60 minutes) seem incorrectly titled. And if you enjoyed the three recent Milton Berle tapes from Kodak, maybe you’ll also like a TV special that “Mr. Television” hosted back in 1974, “Milton Berle’s Mad World of Comedy” (Rhino, $29.95, 70 minutes). The show is partly made up of vintage footage of the Marx Brothers, Bob Hope, etc. and partly guest turns ranging from then-fading stars (Flip Wilson, Don Adams) to then-rising ones (Albert Brooks).

Also, two comic TV series--one old and one recent--come to video with “Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C.” (Forum, two 50-minute volumes containing two episodes each, $14.98 apiece) and “The Best of Sid & Marty Krofft’s D.C. Follies” (Cannon, second and third volumes, 43 minutes and $24.98 each).

On a much more serious note, there is a new three-volume documentary about Nazi Germany, “The Third Reich” (HBO, $19.99 and 60 minutes each).