There are those who will wait to see a movie until it comes out on video. In Chicago, often there is no other choice. Thanks to the vagaries of film distribution, many quirky, low-budget or specialized titles receive scant theatrical release here.
It must be the film`s fault, right? Not always. Home video has unearthed some buried treasures that make for oddly rewarding viewing should your first choice be checked out.
”Pastime” (1990): Just in time for the new season, this late April video release is a back-to-the-fundamentals baseball movie. William Russ stars as 41-year-old Roy Dean Bream, who toils in Class D ball, and whose one shining moment-a three-week stint in the majors-has long since past.
He befriends a shy 17-year-old (Glenn Plummer) with ”smoke” in his arm and Comiskey Park in his future.
”A Paper Wedding” (1989): Recently screened at Facets Multimedia, this Canadian drama shares its plot with, but is dramatically superior to, ”Green Card.” Genevieve Bujold stars as a professor who agrees to marry an illegal alien to save him from political reprisals in his native Chile.
”American Blue Note” (1989): Set during the early 1960s, this modest charmer is a low-key alternative to ”The Commitments.” Peter MacNichol stars as the leader of a jazz combo, who plays weddings and New Jersey dives while waiting for the big break in New York`s 52nd Street jazz clubs.
”Sweet Love, Bitter” (1967): Also known as ”It Won`t Rub Off, Baby,”
this rarely seen film was reportedly the hot bootleg tape at last fall`s New York Jazz Festival. Dick Gregory stars as Richie ”Eagle” Coles, a self-destructive jazz saxophonist whose similarity to Charlie Parker is no coincidence.
Reached by phone, Gregory said the film ”holds up well” thanks to its anti-drug message. ”It shows how a brilliant career was destroyed and how Eagle was reduced to nothing.”
Gregory recalled that the director hassled him because he could not realistically play the drug scenes. ”I have never smoked a reefer in my life,” Gregory said. ”Back then, I drank whiskey and smoked cigarettes. I did everything America said was legal. To get the right look for the drug scenes, they had to put ice on my back and put my clothes on over the ice.”
”Frankenweenie” (1984): Never released, this legendary short film by
”Batman” director Tim Burton was made when he was an animator for Disney Studios. Shelley Duvall and Daniel Stern star in this precursor to ”Edward Scissorhands,” in which young Victor Frankenstein uses his scientific prowess to bring back to life his beloved dog.
”Two Evil Eyes” (1991): This is the summit meeting all horror film fans have long anticipated. Pittsburgh`s George Romero, creator of the ”Living Dead” trilogy, and Italy`s stylish master of shock Dario Argento contribute adaptations of two Edgar Allan Poe short stories: ”The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar” and ”The Black Cat.”
”Basket Case 3: The Progeny” (1991): Duane and his mutant telepathic Siamese twin brother Belial are together again. Actually, they`ve been separated again in Frank Henenlotter`s continuation of his hilarious and horrific series, which has attained cult status on videocassette.
In this one, Belial`s girlfriend Eve is pregnant. Granny Ruth (legendary jazz singer Annie Ross) and her family of freaks take a bus trip to rural Peach Tree Valley for the delivery. The local police are not amused.
It all ends with an appearance on the ”Renaldo” show (”Freaks and the women who love them!”), and a warning from Granny Ruth: ”From now on, this is our world!”
”Paper Mask” (1990): ”L.A. Law`s” Amanda Donohoe stars in this British thriller as a nurse who takes under her wing the hospital`s new doctor. She soon discovers that he is an imposter who has assumed the identity of the real doctor who was killed in an auto accident.
”Night Eyes 2”/”Naked Obsession”: Whatever happened to Andrew Stevens and William Katt? They have found their niche as leading men in the market-savvy realm of unrated video.
Unlike their R-rated counterparts, these titles come to videocassette with additional sex scenes as graphic as they are gratuitous. They make for great fast forwarding.
”Night Eyes 2” is a virtual reprise of Part 1, as security guard Stevens falls in lust with the woman he is supposed to be guarding (former Playmate Shannon Tweed, another unrated regular).
”Naked Obsession” stars Katt, who starred in the TV series ”The Greatest American Hero.” No less an authority than Joe Bob Briggs is quoted as saying this is ”the greatest topless bar flick ever made.” Who are we to argue?
