The Tampa Tribune from Tampa, Florida • 35

rill A THE TAMPA TRIBUNE Wednesday, July 2, 1986 Section Patty Ryan IS The Marketplace Disney's 'Detective' is warm, witty adventure enough for young attention spans, the program is wisely padded with a classic 1937 cartoon, "Clock Cleaners," in which Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy spend 10 minutes in a musical battle with the mechanism of a giant clock tower. See "DETECTIVE," Page 9D Is that like the corn Yeah, sure, seat belts you remember what they look like. They went through your floorboards years ago. But now comes Uncle Legislator, demanding to hear that not-so-familiar click. Cash registers click, too.

They're clicking louder than ever in auto parts stores. "It's unbelievable," says John Morrow, store manager at Ace Auto Parts on South Dale Mabry Highway, where one-person seat belt kits are $17.79 each. (You need a drill to install them.) "This month, we've had probably 30 times more calls than usual," he says. "Oh yeah, we've got people calling us," says Bill Palicka, service manager at Abraham Chevrolet, where drivers too plump for their Chevrolets get free extenders installed. Reeves Import Motorcars Inc.

has installed a few belts, too. Prices vary; one Reeves job was $250. Speaking of seat belts, get a pencil, Wonder Dog, and jot down this address: Serendipity Acres P.O. Box 12150, Parkville, Mo. 64152.

That's home to the Dog-E Safe-T Seat Belt, a four-strap safety device for dogs on the move. It comes in one size for small or medium dogs and another for medium-large or large dogs. To order, send $29.95 plus $3 shipping to the above address, or call (816) 587-0078, collect. You say to-MAH-to, they say HUN-day: Turn your gaze to the vehicle dangling naughtily from a crane at the Courtesy Hyundai dealership on North Dale Mabry Highway. Think about the unfortunate ant that By BOB ROSS Tribune Film Critic Aren't you sick of so-called animated features that turn out to be cheaply crafted, overlong toy commercials? This summer, there's a tasty Disney antidote to this cartoon poison, and it's not a re-release.

"The Great Mouse Detective," the 26th full-length animated Disney feature, is the first new one since last year's "The Black Cauldron" and the most enjoyable since "The Fox and the Hound" came out about five years ago. If you know a child who deserves a splendid introduction to the big screen, and if you prefer to share the experience without being terminally bored, this warm, witty adventure should do the trick. At Saturday's preview, most youngsters in the audience sat spellbound throughout the fast-moving 72-minute tale. Naturally, the only incurable chatterbox in the crowd sat directly behind your friendly local critic. Parents, some toddlers still must be reminded that theaters are not living rooms.

Because the movie is short THE GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE Critic's rating: -k-k-k (The Tribune rates films from zero to four stars.) Movie board rating: Stars: Voices of Vincent Price, Barrie Ingham and Val Bettin Directors: John Musker, Ron Clements, Dave Michener and Burny Mattinson Locations: Britton, Floriland, Main Street, Regency Square Plot summary: Holmesian mouse and his assistant help little Olivia rescue hor father from the villainous Ratigan. Running time: 72 minutes 1 lives in the path of that little machine. Now this is p' 1 important. When the Hyundai finally lands, will the ant have Professor Ratigan gloats over capture of Basil and Dr. Dawson.

prod been rolled by a "HOON-die" (the pronunciation that Latest version of 'Psycho' is slow, then silly franchise owner Jeff Wooley gave The Marketplace last fall, before the South Korean car's February arrival) or a "HUN-day" (as it's currently pronounced in TV commercials)? "HUN-day" is the winner, says Bob Rodgers, Hyundai's regional manager in llMtliililllll iJ Anthony Perkins, a fine actor who will always be best known as Norman Bates, reprises the role and remains fun to watch. His scared-rabbit facial tics, his wide-eyed mock innocence, his constant devotion to "Mother" the man is a major loon who fools the local sheriff time and again. But, alas, it takes more than an adorable geek to make a movie worth seeing. Perkins was lured into this project with his first directing assignment. Technically, the first-timer See "PSYCHO," Page 8D By BOB ROSS Tribune Film Critic A disturbed novice named Maureen flees her convent screaming, "there is no God." It's an intriguing opening, but, like most events in "Psycho III," it proves to be merely a decoy a smelly red herring designed to cover up the lack of a real plot.

Later, the same suicidal woman (played by Diana "Mommie Dearest" Scarwid), slits her wrists in filmdom's most famous bathtub. She survives the attempt and apologizes to her host. "I guess I did leave the bathroom a mess," she says. "I've seen it worse," replies a deadpan Norman Bates. It's the best laugh that "Psycho III" has to offer.

And that's a sad waste of satiric potential. For 25 years now, the word "psycho" and the name Norman Bates have been synonymous in the American psyche. Anyone with the slightest taste for trivia knows that the Bates Motel is where Norman greeted visitors with a sneaky smile and a slashing knife. More advanced students recall Norman's love of taxidermy and his one-sided chats with his long-deceased, well-preserved mother. Norman's nickname was well Anthony Perkins stars in "Psycho III." i Si PSYCHO III Critic's rating: (The Tribune rates films from zero to four stars.) Movie board rating: (violence, nudity, profanity) Stars: Anthony Perkins, Diana Scarwid, Jeff Fahey Director: Anthony Perkins Locations: Main Street, University Collection, Fun-Lan Drive-In Plot summary: Weird Norman Bates is back in business at the family motel.

Running time: 93 minutes Norman Bates was released in 1982. So was a modestly amusing sequel, "Psycho II." Now, only four years later, Norman's back on the big screen, nuttier than ever. Alas, his newest adventures are merely monuments to sloppy scriptwriting and film-company greed. earned when he played the title role in Alfred Hitchcock's chilling 1960 suspense thriller, "Psycho." Norman could have remained a popular character on the strength of that one memorable film. But the sequel bug keeps biting Hollywood's money-men.

After 22 years of peaceful incarceration, Atlanta. "Like he adds. "Sunday, Monday, HUN-day," agrees a now-better-versed Wooley, no more a Mr. HOON-die kinda guy. was my best stab at it," he says of the earlier pronunciation.) Now, skepticism oozes from the walls of One Marketplace Center like dirty brake fluid from a leaky wheel cylinder, so I had to ask: Were these guys trying to make their car sound a little like the already popular Honda? "No, in fact, anytime anyone's mentioned that, we say, 'Wait a Rodgers says.

Hyundai claims to want no association with the Honda name. Hyundai is doing well enough on its own, Wooley notes. After four months in the market, it has set a new record for first-year import sales. About that name, though Confused Hyundai buyers sometimes wander into Honda lots. "We ask them first of all if they want to go to South Korea for parts, and then we try to sell them a Honda," says Bill Long, general manager for Tampa Hondaland.

"But really, it's not a bad little car for the money," he says of the Hyundai. And how do those Honda dealers pronounce H-y-u-n-d-a-i? "SUN-day, HUN-day," says a confident Bill Henz at Lindell. (He once had a conversation with a Hyundai sales rep.) Quips Long, "I wish it was Su-ZU-ki." Turning out the light: Toss it in the cart along with the light beer, light salad dressing and light TV dinners. Next week, the Bay area gets its first swigs of Dewey Stevens, a new premium light wine cooler from Anheuser-Busch. Most wine coolers are more than 200 calories, says Joni Jae Jones, a spokeswoman for Pepin Distributing Co.

"Wine cooler consumers aren't aware of the high calorie content of most wine coolers on the market," she says. Dewey Stevens, with all natural fruit juices and no artificial sweetners, is about 135 calories per 12-ounce bottle. It's expected to create a new trend within the wine cooler industry, Jones says. Mailbox: Lick some stamps. Senior citizens can save money on Medicare supplement insurance policies by comparing premiums and benefits in "Medicare Supplement Insurance Shoppers' Guide," published by the Department of Insurance.

For a free copy, call the Insurance Consumer Hotline toll-free at (800) 342-2762, or write the Insurance Department at 1313 N. Tampa Suite 809, Tampa, Fla. 33602. Also free: "In Good Health With Energy" (a booklet, No. D12023) and "Don't Be Beat by the Heat" (a poster, No.

D12200), from the American Association of Retired Persons. Each is aimed at helping older people stay healthy in hot weather. Write AARP Fulfillment, 1909 Street N.W., Washington, D.C. 20049. And "Recipes for Fun," $8.50, is a 120-page book of activities to promote healthy development in young disabled children.

It's published by Let's Play to Grow, a program created by the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation. For your copy, send check or money order to Let's Play to Grow, Suite 500, 1350 New York Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C.

20005. The Marketplace is a weekly column of consumer news and product information. Send news contributions to Patty Ryan, The Tampa Tribune, P.O. Box 191, Tampa, Fla. 33601.

i Film hits where we laugh, hurt mif: A 7 Inside Elizabeth Perkins, Rob Lowe, Demi Moore and Jim Belushi star in "About Last Night." By BOB ROSS Tribune Film Critic Find a person who claims to love being single, and chances are you'll also find someone who is scared to death of staying that way. But when that same person finds a romantic partner, the fear of sin-glehood instantly turns into another phobia an aversion to losing one's "freedom." Such Is the leading paradox of contemporary single life. Such is the dark humor behind "About Last Night a romantic comedy full of punch lines that hit us where we laugh as well as where we hurt. David Mamet's admirers will not be surprised to know that the playwright has publicly disowned the film version of his bittersweet 1977 play, "Sexual Perversity In Chi- Producers felt compelled to trash the show's original title so the movie could be advertised more easily and so ticket vendors wouldn't have to face drooling, raincoated old men who never had heard of the play. More Insulting to the author, one presumes, is the altered script.

His original, realistic ending has been II-logically sweetened to cater to the mass audience's sugary expectations. But the heart of the movie the space between the new title and the revised finale preserves Mamet's sharpest observations, as well as his knack for finding poetry in the nastiest conversations. Tim Kazurlnsky and Denlse De-Clue, both with Chicago theatrical Asolo's 'Marriage' is a talky 3 The Asolo Conservatory is presenting "Taken in Marriage" at the Betty Oliver Theater in Sarasota. See what theater critic Porter Anderson has to say about it. The book is closing "7 Kurt Loft, Tribune art critic, writes about Salvador Dali, describing his life today as a great book closing ever so slowly.

tions in their relationship. They meet at a Softball game in Chicago's Grant Park. They spend that night together, fully expecting to go their separate ways afterward. Of course, they don't. If this were a routine romance.

"About Last Night would focus only on these two lovelorn singles. Luckily for the audience, two other key characters steal nearly every scene in which they appear. Any two modern heartthrobs could have played Danny and Debbie. But the roles of Danny's best buddy Bernie and Debbie's roommateconfidante Joan are backgrounds, co-wrote the screenplay, using much of Mamet's sparkling dialogue and turning the Windy City's skyline into an Imposing backdrop. "About Last Night follows two atypically great-looking young adults from their meeting In a popular hangout through an exhilarating affair and the not-so-rapturous consequences.

Rob Lowe and Demi Moore last seen together in "St. Elmo's Fire" portray Danny and Debbie, two white-collar workers who fall mercifully short of yuppie status. Danny sells restaurant supplies; Debbie works In an advertising agency. The scenes at their respective jobs provide believable glimpses of their lives and minor complica ABOUT LAST NIGHT Critic's rating: (The Tribune rates films from zero lo four stars.) Movie board rating: (profanity, nudity, sex) Stars: Rob Lowe. Demi Moore.

Jim Belushi, Elizabeth Perkins Director: Edward Zwick Locations: Varsity, Regency Square Plot summary: Young lovers want more from their relationship than casual sex. This idea disturbs them and alarms their friends. Running time: 1 10 minutes Snooty salesclerks 1 A reader complains to Ann Landers about the lack of common courtesy among salespeople. Landers says that stores with rude salespeople should be avoided, adding that for every grumpy clerk, there are three with smiling faces. See LAUGH, Page FLORIDA.