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Sweet Smell of Success [VHS]

Sweet Smell of Success [VHS]

Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Staring: Burt Lancaster , Tony Curtis , Susan Harrison , Martin Milner , Jeff Donnell
Director: Alexander Mackendrick
A classic of the late 1950s, this film looks at the string-pulling behind-the-scenes action between desperate press agent Sidney Falco (Tony Curtis) and the ultimate power broker in that long-ago show-biz Manhattan: gossip columnist J.J. Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster). Written by Ernest Lehman and Clifford Odets (who based the Hunsecker character on the similarly brutal and power-mad Walter Winchell), the film follows Falco's attempts to promote a client through Hunsecker's column--until he is forced to make a deal with the devil and help Hunsecker ruin a jazz musician who has the nerve to date Hunsecker's sister. Director Alexander MacKendrick and cinematographer James Wong Howe, shooting on location mostly at night, capture this New York demimonde in silky black and white, in which neon and shadows share a scarily symbiotic relationship--a near-match for the poisonous give-and-take between the edgy Curtis and the dismissive Lancaster. --Marshall Fine
List Price: $14.95 Our Price: $4.99
Strait Jacket (1962) [VHS]

Strait Jacket (1962) [VHS]

Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Staring: Joan Crawford , Diane Baker , Leif Erickson , Howard St. John , John Anthony Hayes
Director: William Castle
Poor Joan Crawford just can't get a break. She hacks her husband to pieces and is sent away to a mental hospital; then after she comes back and tries to adjust to a normal life, there's more ax-swinging and more noggins rolling. Her pretty sculptress daughter (Diane Baker) just wants Mom to return to society and a happy, well-adjusted life... or does she? The plot is a little trite and predictable, the direction a bit staid, but it's all Joan's show anyway. Obviously director William Castle told her to play up her character's insanity, and Crawford turns the knob on the acting meter up to 10, then breaks it off and throws it away. She spectacularly mugs her way through the whole film, abruptly changing from severe schoolmarm to trampy vamp and back again several times. The scene where Mom meets her daughter's fiancée for the first time is particularly memorable; Mom guzzles half an iced-tea glass full of bourbon, then crawls all over the boyfriend while the viewer squirms uncomfortably. Back in '64, lucky moviegoers were given little cardboard axes when this feature made its run in the theaters. Sadly, the cardboard axes are long gone, but this is still highly recommended for f...
List Price: $19.98 Our Price: $12.89
Body Snatcher [VHS]

Body Snatcher [VHS]

Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Staring: Boris Karloff , Bela Lugosi , Henry Daniell , Edith Atwater , Russell Wade
Director: Robert Wise

List Price: $19.98 Our Price: $29.99
It Happened at the World's Fair [VHS]

It Happened at the World's Fair [VHS]

Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Staring: Elvis Presley , Joan O'Brien , Gary Lockwood , Vicky Tiu , H.M. Wynant
The novelty backdrop of the 1962 Seattle World's Fair lends wonderful space-age scenery to this Elvis vehicle. The King co-stars with a pre-2001 Gary Lockwood as freelance pilots stranded in Seattle, where Elvis spends more time babysitting a little kid than panting after ostensible love interest Joan O'Brien. There's more plot than usual for a Presley picture, which in this case is not a good thing, and the songs are pallid, save "One Broken Heart for Sale." The real kick is the futuristic look of the World's Fair, as personified by Seattle's Space Needle and Monorail (both of which serve as backdrops for EP songs). Just three years out of the Army, Elvis's persona is thoroughly square and tame, ruffled only by the occasional comic double-take. And yes indeed, that is little Kurt Russell, future star of Elvis, kicking the King in the shins in a couple of scenes. --Robert Horton
List Price: $14.95 Our Price: $124.99
The Hardy Boys - Mystery of Witches Hollow [VHS]

The Hardy Boys - Mystery of Witches Hollow [VHS]

Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Staring: Shaun Cassidy , Parker Stevenson , Pamela Sue Martin , Ed Gilbert , William Schallert
Director: Don McDougall , Edward M. Abroms

List Price: $12.98 Our Price: $4.23
Strange Bedfellows [VHS]

Strange Bedfellows [VHS]

Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Staring: Rock Hudson , Gina Lollobrigida , Gig Young , Edward Judd , Howard St. John
Director: Melvin Frank

List Price: $14.98 Our Price: $14.98
Family Plot [VHS]

Family Plot [VHS]

Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Staring: Karen Black , Bruce Dern , Barbara Harris , William Devane , Ed Lauter
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock's final film is understated comic fun that mixes suspense with deft humor, thanks to a solid cast. The plot centers on the kidnapping of an heir and a diamond theft by a pair of bad guys led by Karen Black and William Devane. The cops seem befuddled, but that doesn't stop a questionable psychic (Barbara Harris) and her not overly bright boyfriend (Bruce Dern, in a rare good-guy role) from picking up the trail and actually solving the crime. Did she do it with actual psychic powers? That's part of the fun of Harris's enjoyably ditsy performance. --Marshall Fine
List Price: $14.98 Our Price: $1.98
The Hardy Boys - The Flickering Torch Mystery [VHS]

The Hardy Boys - The Flickering Torch Mystery [VHS]

Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Staring: Shaun Cassidy , Parker Stevenson , Pamela Sue Martin , Ed Gilbert , William Schallert
Director: Don McDougall , Edward M. Abroms

List Price: $12.98 Our Price: $11.89
Daddy's Gone A-Hunting [VHS]

Daddy's Gone A-Hunting [VHS]

Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Staring: Carol White , Paul Burke , Mala Powers , Scott Hylands , James Sikking
Director: Mark Robson
Old boyfriends never die. One woman's nightmare as her mentally disturbed 'ex' continues to pursue her. The situation is complicated by the fact that she had aborted their child when the two were dating.
List Price: $14.98 Our Price: $25.00
Our Time [VHS]

Our Time [VHS]

Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Staring: Pamela Sue Martin , Parker Stevenson , Betsy Slade , George O'Hanlon Jr. , Karen Balkin
Director: Peter Hyams

List Price: $19.98 Our Price: $69.99