'Crocodile' May Shoot 'Top Gun' Out of Skies; Three Classics From '40s Among Upcoming Releases

By DENNIS HUNT

July 31, 1987 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

“Top Gun” looks as if it’s about to be blown away.

Since it debuted last March, “Top Gun” has been on top of the Billboard magazine Top 10. But in a few weeks “Crocodile Dundee,” which is out next week, looks certain to take over. Retailers and distributors have been snapping up “Crocodile” tapes by the thousands . They’re stocking up because, at a price of $29.95 retail, this movie looks to be the home-video title of the next few months. It’s sure to head the rental chart too.

Incidentally, Paramount has both “Top Gun” and “Crocodile” and has what looks to be the fall’s top seller as well--the movie theater hit, “Star Trek IV: the Voyage Home.”

The coming two weeks appear to promise a hot cassette market. Next week looks as if it will be one of the biggest of the year for major rental debuts. In addition to “Crocodile,” bowing next week are two other heavyweights--Media’s “Nightmare on Elm Street 3” and HBO’s “Three Amigos,” starring Chevy Chase, Steve Martin and Martin Short--two that look like sure candidates for the Top-Five rentals list.

The week after next also is loaded with rental debuts: “Working Girls,” “Brighton Beach Memoirs,” “The Bedroom Window,” “Critical Condition,” “King Kong Lives” and “Native Son.”

OLD MOVIES: “A Woman’s Face” (MGM/UA, 1941, $24.95) is a tawdry soap about an embittered woman (Joan Crawford) with a disfigured face. Mad at the world, she turns crooked. Done in flashbacks, the movie opens with the woman’s murder trial. She falls for an oily aristocrat (Conrad Veidt) who lures her into a murder scheme. A plastic surgeon (Melvyn Douglas) figures in the plot too. Will the shrew turn into a saint? Directed by George Cukor, “Woman’s Face” is like a trashy novel that you can’t stop reading. Crawford is first rate in a role that has Bette Davis written all over it.

“Rachael and the Stranger” (Nostalgia Merchant, 1948, $19.95) sounds like a heavy big-city melodrama but it’s really a light-hearted frontier comedy about an odd triangle. An newly widowed farmer (William Holden) buys a wife (Loretta Young) and treats her indifferently until a stranger--actually the farmer’s old buddy (Robert Mitchum)--makes a play for her too. An amiable movie that ambles into a rousing climax. A novice at light comedy then, Holden is only so-so. Mitchum, with his menacing charisma, dominates the second half.

“Presenting Lily Mars” (MGM / UA, 1943, $24.95) is the pits--unless you’re a Judy Garland fan, that is. Garland fanatics probably won’t mind the terrible script or the bewhiskered plot about the stage-struck small-town girl determined to conquer Broadway. For them, hearing her sing is worth wading through this awful movie.

NEW RELEASES: CBS-Fox’s lurid thriller “Black Widow,” manages to be absorbing even though the plot often isn’t plausible and the character’s motivations are sketchy. You never know why the chic temptress (Theresa Russell) keeps marrying and murdering rich husbands or why a dowdy federal agent (Debra Winger) becomes obsessed with capturing this killer widow. Director Bob Rafelson maintains a fairly high level of intrigue so you’ll probably be too transfixed to keep questioning the plot holes.

Winger is overshadowed by the ravishing Russell, who keeps you glued to the picture. Russell has a sinister presence, much like Lauren Bacall did in ‘40s melodramas. Like many critics, you may be put off by the far-fetched ending. The movie grossed a respectable $22 million and is expected to be a Top-10 rental. Dennis Hopper and Nicol Williamson make brief appearances as murder victims.

RCA/Columbia’s “Hunk,” based on the notion that wimps long to be hunks, is more fodder for teen fantasies. A wimp (Steve Levitt) barters his soul to the devil (James Coco) who transforms him into the perfect man--Hunk Golden (John Allan Nelson). But perfection, of course, turns out to be a drag. The hero has a devil of a time weaseling out of this bargain. The movie’s message, of course, is to be yourself. Because of the Faustian plot, this one is a little more challenging than most teen-oriented movies. Though there are isolated pockets of stinging humor, this is still basically a rather, low-energy, mildly funny movie.

Paramount’s “Modern Girls” covers a night of L. A. club-crawling with three young women (Daphne Zuniga, Cynthia Gibb and Virginia Madsen) who are lusting for love, adventure and money. It sounds racier than it really is. The first half crawls along and the second half isn’t much better. Only one scene--a near-rape on a pool table--generates any tension. The ladies’ other escapades aren’t especially interesting or humorous. The bland tag-along (Clayton Rohner) who rescues them from scrape after scrape isn’t a lively addition. Of the three female stars, only Zuniga has any zest.

Paramount’s “The Whoopee Boys” is a gross-out comedy featuring Paul Rodriguez and Michael O’Keefe as two shrewd, reckless hipsters who crash high society. Because Jake (O’Keefe) falls for an heiress who has to marry a rich gentleman, he takes a crash course in charm school--aided by uncouth buddy Barney (Rodriguez) of course. Their mingling with the higher-ups leads to lots of low-brow humor. Rodriguez, who’s mostly doing his standup routines, is occasionally hilarious. Teen-agers with a taste for bad-taste jokes will appreciate this one most.

Media’s “Alan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold,” the sequel to “King Solomon’s Mines,” should be called “Alan Quatermain and the Lost Ark.” It’s a cut-rate version of “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” Even the score is a “Raiders” rip-off. Quatermain (Richard Chamberlain) and his fiancee (Sharon Stone) search for his brother and a legendary African city that’s supposedly laden with treasures. The action is nonstop and the cast is in good spoof form, but the sets are truly tacky. This movie, which didn’t do well at the box-office or with critics, is good mindless fun.

CHARTS

(Compiled by Billboard magazine)