Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 10, 1993 TAG: 9304100037
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: B10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MIKE MAYO
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
FASCINATING VIDEO LOOKS AT HEFNER AND HIS EMPIRE
This week, the subject is non-fiction - the filmed biography of a controversial man, and two sources of information for the curious videophile.Even those who disagree with and disapprove of Hugh Hefner have to admit that he has been one of the most influential Americans in the second half of this century. "Hugh Hefner: Once Upon a Time" examines his career and personality. It's a quickly paced, eventful story.
Beginning in 1953 with the first issue of Playboy, the one featuring the famous calendar shot of Marilyn Monroe, Hefner turned a magazine into an empire. As he sees it, "the adolescent dreams that I turned into reality are the adolescent dreams of an entire society . . . very American dreams."
It's hard to argue with that observation, but there's got to be more to Hefner's success. After all, there were magazines with pictures of naked women before Playboy appeared, and there have been several thousand since. But none of them have achieved the national prominence that Hefner reached. According to the film, there are two reasons.
First, Hefner had the right idea at the right time. America was growing rapidly in the post-war years, and with prosperity came change. In pictures and later in text, Playboy was part of that massive societal change. For better or worse, it led the first charge in the sexual revolution.
Second, and more important, Hefner was driven to succeed. In the tradition of Horatio Alger, he dedicated his life to his work. To use today's business cliche, he "micromanaged" the magazine. Fueled by ambition and Dexedrine, he worked incredibly long hours, and became consumed by every detail of every issue, writing long detailed memos to his staff.
Then in 1959, he decided to live the fantasy life he had created. This is also when he began to assume a key, if not pivotal role in the fantasy lives of millions of American men and boys, yours truly included. Even fantasy lives have their rough spots, though, and Hefner's has been no exception. The film doesn't avoid the bad times that came later.
Producers Gary Grossman and Robert Heath, who also directed, are not particularly critical of their subject. They let him talk directly to the camera, supporting what he says with other images, and they interviewed longtime Playboy contributors Jules Feiffer and Alex Haley. At the same time, they gave such vocal critics as feminist Susan Brownmiller and the Rev. Jerry Falwell time to state less flattering opinions of Hefner and his work.
In the end, "Hugh Hefner: Once Upon a Time" is a fascinating, stranger-than-fiction story - the kind of unusual material that's perfect for the medium of home video.
Turning from cassettes to books, there's good news on two fronts for the video sleuth in search of hard-to-find titles.
The 1993 edition of "VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever" (Visible Ink Press. $17.95) is the single-best source of information on tapes and laserdisks that I've found to date.
In one big (1,444 pages) trade paperback it contains the basic information on some 22,000 videocassettes. For each entry, it lists cast, director, year of release, (if any), formats (Beta, VHS, laser, 8 mm.), awards won, distributor, price at publication date, microreview and a four-bones to "Woof" rating. It also has a list of the distributors' addresses and telephone numbers for the more serious fans interested in buying, or in rental by mail.
More importantly, the index of actors and directors is thoroughly cross-referenced. If, for example, you can half-remember an overlooked Jimmy Stewart/Delbert Mann western but can't recall the exact title, you can look through the entries for both men, and then go through the lists until you find "Man from Laramie." But that also points up the volume's one glaring flaw: its unique and maddening alphabetization.
The editors have chosen to disregard unimportant words, "articles and prepositions if not integral to the title," as they put it. That means the titles in that particular column are listed in the following order:
"Man in the Iron Mask"
"Man of La Mancha"
"Man from Laramie"
"Man of Legend"
"A Man Like Eva"
"A Man in Love"
For anyone familiar with the standard alphabetical system that has been used for generations in the English-speaking world, the book can be extremely frustrating. Even so, with a little hunting, you can find what you're looking for. "VideoHound" is still valuable, and as up-to-date as possible. I recommend it, but it could be better.
You won't have those organizational problems with "Movie Recall." It's the floppydisk version of a similar video dictionary from the people who publish the big, loose-leaf "Videolog" book you find in some videostores. This computer version doesn't contain as much information as the "VideoHound" book. It is easy to use, though, and you can print up lists of titles you might want to rent. Updated quarterly, it's more current than any conventional book could be. You can search through it by actors' names, but not directors'.
Together, these two sources cover just about everything in mainstream video and in the more esoteric backwaters.
\ New this week
Passenger 57: **
Stars Wesley Snipes, Bruce Payne. Directed by Kevin Hooks. Warner. 90 min. Rated R for graphic violence, strong language.
Here's another macho action fantasy about a stalwart hero matched against a group of ruthless pretty-boy terrorists. Common sense and logic have nothing to do with the "Die Hard" on an airplane plot. The big fight scenes are well staged, and the acting is 10 times better than the script.
\ The Mighty Ducks: **1/2
Stars Emilio Estevez. Directed by Stephen Herek. Buena Vista. 90 min. Rated PG for some salty language, strong humor.
This Disney picture could have been called "The Bad News Bears on Ice." It's a perfect example of the best and worst of formula filmmaking for kids, one that presses all the right emotional buttons in an entertaining way, but at the key moment - when it could go beyond the strict limits of the formula - it chickens out and follows the rules. Kids'll love it anyway.
\ Sarafina!:** Stars Whoopi Goldberg, Leleti Khumalo. Directed by
Darrell James Roodt. Buena Vista. 98 min. Rated PG-13 for graphic violence, strong language.
This is an ambitious attempt to tell an important story. It's passionate, challenging and though it flirts with propaganda, it's an honest look at the difficult politics of apartheid. It's also dramatically unbalanced - veering from musical numbers to terrifying violence - poorly directed and lacking a satisfying conclusion. Too bad.