THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 29, 1994 TAG: 9406290024
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: CRAIG SHAPIRO
DATELINE: 940629 LENGTH: Long
Quick refresher: Three weeks ago, I ran the Videomatic Desert Island 100, those tapes that would make me a happy hermit so I could survive being alone on a . . . well, you know. Readers were asked to phone in with their Top 5, too, so everyone could see what's hot with you guys.
{REST} Crammed does not describe the Videomatic Infoline mailbox.
We got so many calls that the mailbox overflowed. Twice. In one day. It filled faster than I could empty it. Finally, the frazzled folks at Infoline doubled the capacity. The tally: 155 calls, 371 titles.
Some of you agreed; others registered their own choices. One lady laughed when she said the VDI 100 could only have been compiled by a guy. Several readers reminded me of videos I wish I'd included: ``New Jack City,'' ``The Bear,'' ``Barry Lyndon,'' ``Shenandoah,'' ``The Music Man.''
All the calls - and callers, for that matter - ran the gamut, not much of a surprise considering the final count. Maybe that explains why ``The Empire Strikes Back,'' the readers' favorite, got only 19 votes. Or why ``The Quiet Man,'' ``High Noon'' and ``To Kill a Mockingbird'' got a vote each, the same as ``9 1/2 Weeks,'' ``The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas'' and ``Friday the 13th.''
There were a few trends, though. The older films did not fare as well as the recent ones. ``White Heat,'' ``Shane,'' ``From Here to Eternity'' and ``Rebel Without a Cause'' TOGETHER got one less vote than ``Dirty Dancing.''
And Disney did right well, with most of the classics represented. John of Chesapeake spread his votes among five Disney titles. Rebecca of Virginia Beach, the first caller, voted five times for ``Beauty and the Beast.''
Guess there's only one conclusion: We're going to need a lot of desert islands if we're going to accommodate everyone. Brilliant, huh?
But I have to confess that I'm rethinking my original plan about going it alone. Blame it on Mary from Virginia Beach. A couple of Agatha Christy mysteries topped her list; ``Playboy's How to Make Love to the Same Person Forever'' concluded it.
``If I'm going to be marooned by myself,'' she said, ``at least I can watch someone else have a good time.''
Mary, meet you at the dock.
TOP TAPES: (in this week's Billboard):
Sales: ``The Return of Jafar,'' ``Mrs. Doubtfire,'' ``Playboy: 1994 Playmate of the Year,'' ``U2: Zoo TV-Live from Sydney,'' ``Yanni: Live at the Acropolis''
Rentals: ``Mrs. Doubtfire,'' ``The Piano,'' ``A Perfect World,'' ``The Three Musketeers,'' ``Carlito's Way''
SUCH A DEAL: ``Sometimes a Great Notion,'' ``Winning,'' ``The Electric Horseman,'' ``The River,'' ``The Other Side of the Mountain'' (Parts 1 and 2), ``Yanks,'' ``The Execution of Private Slovick,'' ``Charley Varrick,'' ``The Border,'' ``The Hindenberg'' (each $14.98, MCA/Universal); ``The Glass Menagerie'' (with Joanne Woodward), ``Isadora,'' ``CB4,'' ``Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story'' (each $19.98, MCA/Universal)
``Murmur of the Heart,'' ``May Fools,'' ``The Music Teacher,'' ``Monsieur Hire'' (each $19.98, Orion Classics)
``The Vanishing'' (the French-Dutch original), ``The Icicle Thief,'' ``In the Realm of the Senses,'' ``Pathfinder,'' ``The Killer,'' ``36 Fillette,'' ``The Tree of Wooden Clogs,'' ``In the Realm of Passion,'' ``Bye Bye Brazil,'' ``Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands,'' ``Family Viewing,'' ``Speaking Parts,'' ``When Father Was Away on Business,'' ``Black Rain,'' ``A Taxing Woman,'' ``Red Kiss'' ($19.98, Fox Lorber)
MAIL CALL: Cathy Bunn of Portsmouth wants ``Panic in the Year Zero!,'' the 1962 post-apocalypse drama directed by and starring Ray Milland. Fright Video has it, but I couldn't reach them. Write P.O. Box 179, Billerica, Mass. 01821.
Next. Call the Infoline Videomatic Mailbox at 640-5555, category 2827 (2VCR).
\ THE COUCH REPORT\ A couple of 1993's heavyweights arrive today, along with a handful of documentaries worth a look.
``Philadelphia'' (1993, Columbia TriStar). Other films about the AIDS crisis have been more evenhanded, but for a mainstream entry taking on a decidedly polarizing topic, Jonathan Demme's drama succeeds. Oscar-winner Tom Hanks has the role of a lifetime as the young lawyer at the heart of the story. Denzel Washington, though, has the more difficult assignment as the attorney who must reassess his own prejudices. The commitment of cast and crew is genuine.
(CAST: Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington. RATED: PG-13 for language, subject)
``In the Name of the Father'' (1993, MCA/Universal). Jim Sheridan's Oscar contender has ``commitment'' stamped on it, too. Gerry Conlon, a Belfast teenager, spent 15 years in a British prison, wrongly jailed for bombing a pub in 1974. He's a flawed hero, and Daniel Day-Lewis' fiery and mesmerizing performance captures every nuance. The film doesn't go for the middle ground, either. No problem.
(CAST: Daniel Day-Lewis, Peter Postlethwaite, Emma Thompson. RATED: R for violence and language)
``The Official History of Baseball'' (Orion, $24.98). This double dip covering the game's first 100 years plays like an extended ``This Week in Baseball.'' Cool. The first tape, with its archival footage and interviews, is more colorful. Must be all that lost innocence. The second picks up in 1968 and ends with Joe Carter's World Series-clinching tater.
``For All Mankind'' (Columbia TriStar, $19.95). The Apollo 11 moon landing was our last great hurrah, a shared thrill captured in this 1992 National Geographic documentary. Culled from NASA footage taken on the nine moon missions, and using narration from the men who were there, it is insightful, enlightening and poetic.
``The Greatest Adventure'' (Fox Lorber, $14.98). Another re-release timed to the upcoming 25th anniversary of the moon landing. Produced in 1979, it's broader in scope, taking in the history of the space program, and a tad dated. But it's fun, especially for those who grew up with the race to the moon. Orson Welles is the stentorian narrator.
``Last Voyage of the Lusitania'' (Columbia TriStar, $19.95). National Geographic hired ocean explorer Robert Ballard to find out what went down May 7, 1915. His conclusion pokes a few holes in the long-held argument that the liner was lost when a secret cargo of wartime contraband exploded. (Also part of ``Ghosts of the Deep,'' a $79.95 box that includes ``The Lost Fleet of Guadalcanal,'' ``Secrets of the Titanic'' and ``Search for Battleship Bismarck.'')
Also: ``Schindler,'' the 1983 British documentary about the hero of ``Schindler's List'' (unrated); ``Naked,'' Mike Leigh's gritty look at human nature (R); Akira Kurosawa's ``Rhapsody in August'' (PG); ``The Trial,'' based on the Franz Kafka novel (unrated); ``La Vie de Boheme,'' from ``Leningrad Cowboys' '' Aki Kaurismaki (unrated); ``Deep Red,'' a sci-fi yarn with Michael Biehn (R), and Danielle Steel's ``Daddy'' (unrated).
Next Wednesday: ``Reality Bites,'' ``Body Snatchers,'' ``Searching for Bobby Fischer,'' ``Heaven and Earth,'' ``Crush,'' ``Leon the Pig Farmer,'' ``Blink,'' ``Shadowlands,'' ``Sister Act 2,'' ``Car 54, Where Are You?'' by CNB