Home Entertainment : More of Kim Basinger Than Ever Before

Kim Basinger has spelled steam on the big screen for the better part of a decade--some of it just too hot for American movie audiences to handle.

Well, don’t despair. If you have a laser player, she can steam up your living room TV screen in unrated releases of two of her sexiest performances: “The Getaway” from MCA/Universal Home Video, $35, and “9 1/2 Weeks” from MGM/UA Home Video, $40.

In this year’s remake of the classic Sam Peckinpah sex-and-violence race for the border, Basinger and real-life hubby Alec Baldwin seduced critics with their on-screen sizzle. Almost enough to make folks forget the sexy pairing of Ali MacGraw and Steve McQueen, who fell in love during the making of the original 1972 film (which, unfortunately, is not yet available on laser).

The appeal of two beautiful lovers--married lovers, at that--baring, and seemingly doing, all for their art, is enough to test the voyeur in all but the purest of heart. In this nicely letterboxed edition, MCA is thoughtful enough to note just where the additional minute of erotic footage has been inserted (Chapter 33, Side 2).

Yes, that’s all there is: just one additional minute of “erotic footage never before seen in American theaters,” if the originally reported running times are accurate. But what a minute: Doc McCoy and his tousled, tough wife Carol finding 60 seconds of sexual pleasure at the Border Hotel between bloody attempts by terrible people (James Woods among them) to put out their fire.

Dolby surround sound captures every moan as well as the too-realistic gunfire and explosions.

With “9 1/2 Weeks” you get four fresh minutes of “extra footage considered too erotic to release in United States theaters.” In this 1986 tale of possessive, all-consuming love, Mickey Rourke is the sleazy provocateur . The screenplay--co-written by TV’s “The Red Shoe Diaries” Zalman King, Patricia Knop and Sarah Kernochan--almost collapses under the weight of its heavy breathing.

To some minds, what once seemed unbearably erotic may now seem more like weighty ennui. Kim and Mickey don’t make quite the same music as Kim and Alec. The Baldwins seem to be doing what comes naturally, whereas Basinger seems to resent every minute she spends with Rourke on screen. Director Adrian Lyne’s (“Fatal Attraction”) stylized sexuality seems oddly dated.

Basinger also can be seen trying to outwit the law and other nasty criminals in “The Real McCoy,” paired with Val Kilmer (MCA/Universal, $35). If nothing else, she’s nice to look at, even without the kinds of love scenes that made “9 1/2 Weeks” and “The Getaway” such notorious pleasures.

Laserbits

New Movies Just Out: “The Pelican Brief” (Warner, letterboxed, $40); “Orlando” (Columbia TriStar, letterboxed, $35); “Ghost in the Machine” (FoxVideo, $40).

Coming Soon: Best picture nominee “In the Name of the Father,” featuring best actor Oscar nominee Daniel Day-Lewis, is scheduled Wednesday from MCA/Universal, at $40; “Body Snatchers,” starring Meg Tilly, and “Heaven and Earth,” starring Tommy Lee Jones, are both due July 13 from Warner at $40. MCA/Universal plans two releases of Steven Spielberg’s Oscar-sweeping “Schindler’s List,” a letterboxed edition at $45 and a collector’s edition with supplementary material. Both are due for release on Sept. 21.