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Asbury Park PressSunday, July 24, 1 988 Ell Iosvie Video Stereo 222 Reviews THE GEORGIA SATELLITES OftMUU ELTON JOHN REG STRIKES BACK FMturtnf DON WAMMk GO ON wrrw vwj Jm that town of plenty SMCK QOO NVCNTf 01-GOOOeE WAAL ON BAANOO HONA USAS 4MO MAO HATTfRt (PARI Sinatra's best, worst films chronicle his life I IMpfc! TV 4 I 1 faWU SALE: THRU 8 3 88 17 LjZiH')r Sinatra (left) and Laurence Harvey in 1962 thriller "The Manchurian Candidate," perhaps Sinatra's best film, now coming to video stores. PAT BENATAR WIDE AWAKE IN DREAMLAND including 1 Up Don 1 Witlh AwayOn Lov ATLANTIC CITY OCEAN ONE BRICKTOWN LAUREL SO SHOPPING CTR HACKENSACK RIVERSIDE SOUARE OCEAN SEAVIEW SOUARE MALL PARAMUS RT 17 OPPOSITE PARAMUSPK OPEN EVENINGS SPECIAL ORDERS Gl ADLY I I mil i ffHUb VAN HALEN OU812 ROCKA WAY ROCKAWAY TOWN SOUARE SHORT MIUS THE MALL AT SHORT HILI SOMERVILIE 1SS WEST MAIN STREET SO PLAINFIEIO HADLEY CENTER ORANCE ESSEX GREEN MAil TAKEN. MAJOR CREDIT CARDS HONORED DAY. I fl 5 -fy Knight-Ridder Newspapers e's been a puppet, a poet, a pauper, a pirate, a pawn and a king. Then again, he's been a psycho, a P.I., a private, a presidential assassin, a priest and a Dingus Magee.

Frank Sinatra, the man with more sobriquets than you can shake a stick at (get your stick ready, here they come: 01' Blue Eyes, the Chairman of the Board, Frankie Boy, Little Frankie, Big Frankic) also made more movies than you can shake a stick at more movies than most stars (with or without singing careers on the side) make in a lifetime. This week, one of Sinatra's finest film endeavors the dark, dangerous and kind of daffy 1962 thriller "The Manchu-rian Candidate" makes its way from a recent art circuit revival to the shelves of your local video emporium. Which pro vides as good excuse as any (as if one was needed!) to take a look at the 59 films in the Sinatra canon movies of Academy Award calibre Here to Eternity," "The Man with the Golden and movies of uncalibrated mediocrity (the Rat Pack bummer "Robin and the 7 Hoods," the horse opera Johnny and a veritable trove of stuff in between. Gangly, geeky and all of 24, the bow- tied, giraffe-earred Sinatra made his screen debut in 1941's "Las Vegas Nights," appearing as an unnamed vocal ist fronting the Tommy Dorsey Band. Sinatra crooned "I'll Never Smile Again." On the third day of shooting, the singer whose wife Nancy remained back east in Jersey City met the first of a succession of Hollywood starlets (her name was Alora Gooding) with whom he would dally between takes (and take between dailies).

The movie bug had bit. A couple of musicals later and Sina tra was making his starring debut, in the breezy hoof-and-holler "Higher and Higher. More song-and-dance pics fol lowed: "Step "Anchors Away," a nautical romp which teamed Frankie with Gene Kelly; "Till the Clouds Roll and the hokey It Happened In Brooklyn." In addition to its great dance routines (including a Rabbit" interac tive number between Kelly and Jerry the Mouse) and Sinatra's croon, "Anchors Away" is noteworthy for its behind-the-scenes fireworks. As chronicled in Kitty Kelley's unauthorized (and un-put-down-able) biography "His Way," Sinatra waxed nasty in front of a UPI reporter. The next day, his comments made the newspapers.

"Pictures stink and most of the people in them do, too," said Frank, who gassed on with characteristic tact, saying he had had it with movies and all the "jerks" in them. This was said, mind you, as he was winding up a contract with MGM and just beginning a 7-year stint with RKO. In 1948, mired in another kind of controversy (Sinatra was reported to be consorting with mobster Lucky Luciano), the star signed up for the role of Father Paul, a Catholic clergyman in a Ben Hecht-scripted melodrama called "The Miracle of the Bells." The picture marked his first performance in a (mostly) non-musical (he sings, the movie doesn't). It got terrible reviews, including James Agee's announcement that "I hereby declare myself the founding father of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to God." The following year produced the hit "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," reuniting Sinatra and Gene Kelly under the aegis of Hollywood maestro Busby Berkley. Then came the Stanley Donen-Gene Kelly co-directed classic, "On the Town," I GIVES YOU A GREAT DEAL 50 Bonus CHILDREN FUN WITH WORDS (1988) (New World) $14.99.

30 minutes Learning to spell can be tough, but this video makes it easier by picking our words that kids will want to spell like "ice cream" and "dinosaur" and demonstrating the words with wacky animation. JOKES, RIDDLES AND RHYMES (1988) (New World) $14.93. 30 minutes When the Little People's picnic is rained out, they decide to put on a show, complete with the funniest jokes, the trickiest riddles and the most clever rhymes. A BABY COMES TO MAPLE TOWN (1987) (Family Home Entertainment) $14.95. 49 minutes Two episodes from the children's TV series.

In the title episode, Mrs. Raccoon is expecting a baby and her daughter Roxie is the only one who's not happy about it. Tape also includes a second episode "When Children Must Be Grown-ups." RAMBO: CHILDREN FOR PEACE (1986) (Family Home Entertainment) $14.95. 49 minutes Two episodes from the animated TV series. In the title episode, Rambo rescues a group of children whose plane has crashed in a jungle.

Tape also includes a second episode "When S.A.V.A.G.E. Stole Santa." THE SCHOLASTIC LEARNING LIBRARY (1988) (Family Home Entertainment) $14.99 each. 29 minutes each The first four volumes in a series starring Clifford The Big Red Dog, who teaches young children about the world. The titles are Clifford's Fun With Rhymes, Clifford's Fun With Shapes, Clifford's Fun With Numbers and Clifford's Fun With Letters. THE YOUNG MAGICIAN (1987) (Family Home Entertainment) $39.95.

99 minutes Live-action, full-length feature starring Rusty Jedwabcq as a young boy who discovers that he has magic powers, and must learn control and discipline in order to uSe them safely. ADULT THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (1962) (MGMUA) $79.99. 127 minutes Laurence Harvey, Frank Sinatra, James Gregory, Janet Leigh, Angela Lansbury. Out of circulation for 25 years, this parable of political paranoia is the result of a creative mismatch between humorless director John Frankenheimer and inveterate gagster George Axelrod, who adapted the novel by that Bard of Bile, Richard Condon Hard to tell whether it's a black comedy directed as a political thriller or a political thriller directed as a black comedy, but whichever, it's a most original movie about Cold War frightmares. Lansbury plays the red-baiting Republican, Sinatra the detente Democrat who wages battle over the soul of Laurence Harvey, a Korean War hero who was brainwashed by the Communists and programmed to be a political assassin.

Their performances are unforgettable. SUSPECT (1987) (RCAColumbia) $89.99. 101 minutes Cher, Dennis Quaid. Members of the audience may be yelling "Objection!" more often than the opposing lawyers in this implausible and flimsily motivated courtroom drama that casts Cher as a public defender taking on corruption in medium-high places. But since it's Cher and since the juror who falls for her is Quaid, this is a case of screen presence and talent covering the failings of potholed plot and supplying a diverting entertainment.

Knight Ridder "D.O.A." (Touchstone) VHS-Beta. $89.99. Rated What began life as a first-rate, low-budget thriller starring Edmond O'Brien in 1949 was remade recently into a perfectly dreadful mishmash starring Dennis Quaid. The original had a novel premise the hero is fed a slow-acting fatal poison at the outset and spends the rest of the movie tracking down his murderer. It also had, thanks to Rudolph Mate's direction and Ernest Laszlo's photography, a classically mournful "film noir" quality.

O'Brien was at his best as the slightly seedy small-town businessman who goes to San Francisco for a good time and meets his doom. The folks at Touchstone Studios who snapped up the property decided for some reason to transport the story to a college campus where Quaid is cast unconvincingly as a literature professor who wrote some brilliant novels and then developed a severe case of writer's block. His entanglements with his ex-wife, a nubile student, a publish-or-perish colleague and a wealthy alumna are all equally improbable and ultimately boring. They should have let "D.O.A." R.I.P. Mike Silverman The Associated Press "NUTS" (Warner Home Video) VHS-Beta.

$89.99. Rated "Nuts" asks and answers the question of just who is crazy. Claudia Faith Draper, a smart and oh-so-high-priced hooker played by Barbra Streisand, is fighting desperately for the right to go on trial and avoid a mental institution for killing a customer. Her harrowing competency hearing is the focus of Martin Ritt's 1987 film. Streisand, who also is the producer, is by turns funny, frightening and touching.

Her character is rarely off-screen, forcefully arguing her sanity based on her rules, not the court's, not society's. "I know what you expect me to do," she says at one point. "But I'm not just a picture in your head." She is joined by a wonderful cast in the courtroom drama that shows off the talents of Maureen Stapleton and Karl Maiden as Claudia's mother and stepfather, Eli Wallach as a psychiatrist, James Whitmore as the judge, Robert Webber as the prosecutor and Richard Dreyfuss as her reluctant, court-appointed lawyer. But it turns, unfortunately, to edginess. It is too drawn out, as Claudia, with immeasurable help from Dreyfuss' Aaron Levinsky, resolves a life's worth of troubles before the worldly judge.

Still, "Nuts" has something to say, and it's worth hearing, i Mary McVeam The Associated Press cash, plus a $5.00 deferred cash coupon, redeemable the very next day 1 1 4 up his philosophy of life me a guy with feelings and I'll show you a He also offers to slice up a boy's throat. Lee Harvey Oswald reportedly watched "Suddenly" on TV a few days before shooting President Kennedy. "Guys and Dolls," also released that year, is an extravagant, long-winded musical that's worth watching (have a book or magazine handy for the dull patches), not so much for Sinatra's Nathan Detroit but for the spectacle of Marlon Brando, as gambler Sky Masterson, singing and dancing. The method actor warbles his way into Jean Simmons' heart (she's a Salvation Army gal, trying to win over the bloodhounds of Broadway) and walks off with the movie. Watching Sinatra and Brando together assumes an added dimension with the knowledge that the two despised each other.

Another 1955 entry, "The Man with The Golden Arm," directed by Otto Preminger, gained Sinatra his second Oscar nomination (this one for Best Actor), and rightly so. As a hopped-up junkie trying to go straight, Sinatra cuts just the right desperate, pathetic, doomed figure. The film, too, is a quintessential 50s flick: a wonky Elmer Bernstein jazz score, a wild opening credit sequence, a certified sex symbol in Kim Novak, and a screwy Eleanor Parker in the bizarre role of Sinatra's wheelchair-bound wife. He made war pics (the solid "Von Ryan's cowboy pics Dingus Magee Rat Pack pics Ocean Eleven" is the best; it's available from Warners on a "Night at the Movies" tape that includes a cartoon short and a 1960 newsreel), and a slew of detective pics (Sinatra was a gumshoe in five of his last eight films; he was also offered "Dirty Harry" and optioned "Harper," losing the former because of ill health and the latter because of Paul Newman.) And he tried his hand at directing: the taut World War II desert-island-drama, "None But the Brave." And political pics: "The Manchurian Candidate," an unsettling tale of brainwashing and betrayal set in the incendiary Cold War era of the early '60s, stands among the half-dozen classics of Sinatra's screen work. With Laurence Harvey and Angela Lansbury, and a peculiar mix of portentous drama and wild satire, the film details a Communist plot to assasinate the president and replace him with one of their own.

It is unsettling, too, to note that Sinatra's friend, John F. Kennedy, had to personally intervene to get this politically explosive picture made. A few days after Kennedy's assassination in 1963, "The Manchurian Candidate" was taken out of circulation. It was re-released for the first time earlier this year. VHS is the most popular format If you plan to swap tapes with friends or rent a lot of movies, you'll have the most success with VHS.

But be forewarned, while a Super VHS machine can play conventional VHS tapes, a conventional VCR cannot handle Super VHS tape. The eight-millimeter format may prove to be best for those who want a lightweight, portable deck that can be taken on trips. And Beta, although shrinking in popularity, remains a good buy for those who want the highest quality product for the money. Within similar formats, one VCR is very similar to another. A higher price will not necessarily provide a better picture.

What more money will buy is more features. For example, programmability: Various VCRs can be programmed to record differing numbers of programs in succession. Some can record four programs over two weeks, while others can record seven programs over three weeks, etc. How much recording capability is necessary depends on several things, including how often you are away from the VCR, and how much you plan to record. Today's crop of VCR manuals seem to be fairly easy to understand.

For additional help, the Electronics Industries Association, a trade group in Washington D.C., offers free brochures that explain various ways of hooking up VCRs (to receive one, send a self-addressed, business-sized envelope to EIA, Installation Products, P.O. Box 19100, Washington, D.C. 20036 and include 65 cents for postage). Cash coupon redeemable on your next Caesars bus trip through coupon expiration dale. Must be 21 or over, bonus offer applies only for pickup locations listed in this advertisement Package subject to change without notice.

''0 luH8 Caesars Atlantic City BORO BUS COMPANY (201) 741-0367 or (201) 741-0004 Morganville Oaklmrst Hi Lo Travel 591-9292 Townc Shopping Hazlct Center 551-5200 Vista Travel 739-2424 A 4 ATLANTIC CITY another sailors-on-leave sing-along. What followed, however, signaled the nadir of Sinatra's film career and the nadir of his showbiz career in general. Sinatra's knack for hobnobbing with reputed criminals, for bashing up photographers and reporters (the guy must've been Sean Penn's role model), for womanizing and for putting his foot in his mouth, led to a string of sorry pictures: "The Kissing Bandit," which Sinatra himself subsequently derided; "Double Dynamite," which co-starred Jane Russell (insert your titular joke here); and "Meet Danny Wilson," which is of note solely for its plot line: an overbearing crooner gains stardom with the aid of his gangster pals. Speaking of which, the suspicion lingers (though it's never been proved) that Sinatra's mob connections facilitated his landing the part of Angelo Maggio, the scrappy Italian-American GI befriended by Montgomery Gift in Fred Zinne-man's "From Here to Eternity." Pressure of another sort was definitely applied to Columbia Pictures head Harry Conn: Sinatia, having read the James Jones novel and its screen adaptation, desperately wanted this part and begged, pleaded and groveled (he offered to pay Colin) for a chance at it. Ava Gardner Mrs.

Frank Sinatra at the time approached the studio chiefs wife, trying to get her to influence her husband in the casting effort. Finally (and reluctantly), Cohn gave Sinatra a screen test. And then he gave him the role for a lowly $8,000 (half the budgeted salary for the part). Released in August 1953, the studio had an instant hit, and a great film to boot: set in Pearl Harbor in the days before the Japanese attack, it starred Burt Lancaster as a hardened sergeant, Gift as the new company commander and Sinatra as Maggio, a puny private who gets pummeled to death by Ernest Borgnine. "From Here to Eternity" won eight Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actor for Sinatra.

It was comeback time (Sinatra loathed the term he figured he never went away): in 1954 and 1955 Sinatra made six films, a string of hit singles at Heart," "Love and Marriage," "Learnin' the and a couple of chart-topping albums. Of the films, "Suddenly" is notable for its controversial theme and Sinatra's singularly creepy, convincing performance. The theme is presidential assassination (a subject repeated twice again in "The Manchurian Candidate" and 1967's "The Naked with Sinatra as a heartless gunman who takes a family and its house hostage as he attempts to kill the president. Sinatra, rail-thin and edgy as killer John Baron, offers Fast Forward Stephen advokat millimeter tape cannot be popped into a Beta machine. Sony's eight-millimeter VCR uses 'A-inch tape, rather than conventional Vi-inch tape, and therefore is much smaller than Beta or VHS.

Sony hopes its eight-millimeter models will sell to those who want to take their VCR to the beach, park, etc. Its Beta models (and later Super Beta with enhanced video), which often test out to be slightly superior to other formats, are designed for videophiles seeking the best picture and sound. Beta and Super Beta are often also used by those who shoot weddings and other events for profit. But the quality of VHS has been greatly enhanced. JVC, another major electronics company and a primary manufacturer of VHS models, has worked mightily at improving the quality of its decks.

Newer VHS VCRs include a feature called HQ (high quality). Now common on VHS machines, HQ slightly boosts the video signal. Last year, JVC unveiled Super VHS, which again concentrated on improving picture quality. And not to be outdone, Sony countered with ED Beta VCRs which, you guessed it, provide yet a sharper picture still. J3l EW Orlando Brad Garrett Selecting a new VCR easier using back-to-basics approach lips i sum pfc fill mil The Associated Press I there is a constant among vidcocas-sette recorders, it is that very little remains constant among vidcocassette recorders.

Machines that several years ago cost today retail for Special features, which a couple of years ago seemed way into the future, now are available in local electronics and appliance stores. There are VCRs that can be programmed by telephone; ones that are so small they can fit in a medium-sized pocketbook or briefcase, and ones that can simulate a concert hall-like effect, complete with a slightly delayed echo familiar to those who sit near the back. With all this high-tech in the home, it's easy to get confused. So today we get back to basics. Today we step back a moment and clarify a few things.

When VCRs were in their infancy a decade ago, the decision was easy. You took a lot of money and bought a Beta machine. Beta was all there was, and these early models cost $1,200 and more. Today, there are more than a half-dozen formats and scores of models. The most common is VHS (Video Home Systems), which now outsells Beta by more than 10 to one.

But video companies have added several other formats to Beta and VHS. Sony, still manufacturing high quality Beta machines, also makes small eight-millimeter decks. The two arc not compatible. That is, a movie on an eight- July 26-31 Showtimes: Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday 9:00 PM, Wednesday 4:00 PM and 9:00 PM, Saturday 8:00 PM and 11:30 PM, Sunday 8:00 PM. Tickets: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Sunday $25 Saturday $27.50 4:00 PM Matinee Show Special Wednesday, July 27 Broadway Buffet dinner and show ticket for only $30.

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