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Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Staring: Zero Mostel , Phil Silvers , Buster Keaton , Michael Crawford , Jack Gilford
Director: Richard Lester
"Something familiar, something peculiar, something for everyone: a comedy tonight!" Those words from the opening song pretty much describe the menu in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, a frantic adaptation of the stage musical by Larry Gelbart and Burt Shevelove. The wild story, set in ancient Rome, follows a slave named Pseudolus (Zero Mostel, snorting and gibbering) as he tries to extricate himself from an increasingly farcical situation; Mostel and a bevy of inspired clowns, including Phil Silvers, Jack Gilford, and Buster Keaton, keep the slapstick and the patter perking. The cast also includes the young Michael Crawford as a love-struck innocent. This project landed in the lap of Richard Lester, then one of the hottest directors in the world after his success with the Beatles' films. Lester telescoped the material through his own joke-a-second sensibility, and also ripped out some of the songs from Stephen Sondheim's Broadway score. The result is a pixilated romp and very close to the vaudeville spirit suggested by the title--though anyone with a low tolerance for Zero Mostel's overbearing buffoonery may be in trouble. Oddly enough, amidst all the frenzy, ...

List Price: ~~$14.95~~	Our Price: $2.92

Caveman [VHS]

Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Staring: Ringo Starr , Dennis Quaid , Shelley Long , Jack Gilford , Cork Hubbert
Director: Carl Gottlieb
Yes, that's a former Beatle in caveman costume for this more-dumb-than-funny 1981 comedy about a prehistoric misfit (Ringo Starr) who recruits other misfits to start a new tribe. The jokes about flatulence and sex are banal, but the cast of then-unfamiliar faces is fun to watch from the perspective of history. The best thing going are some dinosaur special effects, though Ringo might argue meeting his future wife (Barbara Bach) was a good deal. --Tom Keogh

List Price: ~~$9.94~~	Our Price: $7.80

Save the Tiger [VHS]

Rated: R (Restricted)
Staring: Jack Lemmon , Jack Gilford , Laurie Heineman , Norman Burton , Patricia Smith
Director: John G. Avildsen
Jack Lemmon won an Oscar. for this dramatic performance, considered by many to be his finest. Lemmon plays Harry Stoner, a man caught in violent collision with his past and present life. He believes there is nothing significant in his life except survival, and that instinct pushes him beyond moral conduct. He'll juggle the books, supply women for clients... and even set fire to his own dress manufacturing factory. He is drawn to an America when life not only had values and heroes, it all seemed worth living and building. But Harry is frightened to break away from the emptiness of his seemingly successful life.

List Price: ~~$14.95~~	Our Price: $9.99

They Might Be Giants [VHS]

Rated: G (General Audience)
Staring: George C. Scott , Joanne Woodward , Jack Gilford , Lester Rawlins , Al Lewis (III)
Director: Anthony Harvey (II)
Former judge Justin Playfair (George C. Scott) lost his wife a few years back, and ever since he's thought he's Sherlock Holmes, determined to find his archnemesis Professor Moriarty, in this thoroughly charming tale of madness and romanticism. Playfair (er, Sherlock) is about to be committed by his brother, who wants his money, when by serendipity he's teamed up with psychiatrist Dr. Mildred Watson, no less (Joanne Woodward). She finds him fascinating, being a bit daffy herself, and together they get involved in various intrigues, mostly aimed at evading the medical authorities, but which allow the two to fall in love. Though the farcical tone of the film keeps it a lighthearted comedy, the heavy-handed slaps at authority, who are set up for such abuse, seem programmed to succeed. To what degree is lunacy, charming though it may be at times, an appropriate reaction to complex times? "To the utmost degree!" says this film, though the viewer may enjoy it and still disagree. During a comic battle in a supermarket (reminiscent of a silent comedy pie fight), one patient chases her keeper with an oversized hypodermic to the rallying cry of "I hope the loonies win!" That ...

List Price: ~~$59.98~~

Who's Minding the Mint [VHS]

Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Staring: Jim Hutton , Dorothy Provine , Milton Berle , Joey Bishop , Bob Denver
Director: Howard Morris

List Price: ~~$9.98~~	Our Price: $44.90

Enter Laughing [VHS]

Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Staring: José Ferrer , Shelley Winters , Elaine May , Jack Gilford , Janet Margolin
Director: Carl Reiner
A modest but pleasant comedy based on Carl Reiner's semi- autobiographical novel about how he got into show business. David, a nice young Jewish boy from the Bronx (played, oddly enough, by nice young Italian boy Reni Santoni), is a delivery boy for a machinist, but aspires to be an actor. Finally summoning up his courage to answer an audition notice, he gets cast because the leading lady (Elaine May) thinks he's the cutest of the candidates, despite the dour misgivings of her actor father (the gloriously histrionic José Ferrer). David's parents don't want him to do it; his boss doesn't want him to do it; his girlfriend, though initially supportive, becomes jealous of the leading lady. But David persists, leading to many amusing mishaps on opening night. Santoni has settled into a long career as a supporting character actor, but the supporting cast of Enter Laughing is pretty star-studded; in addition to May and Ferrer, there's Shelley Winters (as David's long-suffering mom), Michael J. Pollard, Don Rickles, Jack Gilford, and even a cameo by Carl's son, Rob, who went on to success as "Meathead" on TV's All in the Family and as director of movies such as This Is Sp...

List Price: ~~$19.98~~

Catch-22 [VHS]

Rated: R (Restricted)
Staring: Alan Arkin , Martin Balsam , Richard Benjamin , Art Garfunkel , Jack Gilford
Director: Mike Nichols
Joseph Heller's novel was one of the seminal literary events of the 1960s, but Mike Nichols's film ultimately proved too literal in its attempt to bring Heller's fragmented fiction to the screen. Still, Nichols, who made this on the heels of The Graduate, seemed the ideal candidate to tackle this Buck Henry adaptation. The story deals with bomber pilot Yossarian (Alan Arkin), who has flown enough missions to get out of World War II but can't because the number of missions needed for discharge keeps getting raised. The satire and absurdity of Heller's book get lost in Nichols's effort to give screen time to the members of his all-star cast, which includes Orson Welles, Jon Voight, Bob Newhart, Anthony Perkins, Richard Benjamin, and Martin Sheen, among others. --Marshall Fine

List Price: ~~$9.95~~	Our Price: $8.00

The Daydreamer [VHS]

Rated: Unrated
Staring: Tallulah Bankhead , Victor Borge , Patty Duke , Jack Gilford , Sessue Hayakawa
Director: Jules Bass
Not only does the incurably sleepy Hans "Chris" Andersen dream in full color, this future storyteller also dreams in "Animagic." From the award-winning team that delights youngsters annually with their 1964 classic Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass), The Daydreamer blends animated, roly-headed puppets with live-action talent including Jack Gilford (Cocoon) and Margaret Hamilton (The Wizard of Oz). A hunger for knowledge sends young Chris Andersen searching for the elusive Garden of Paradise. But the Sandman (a wavy shadow, voiced by Cyril Ritchard) casts Chris into a magical puppet world where he breaks a little mermaid's heart, humiliates an emperor, and causes big trouble for tiny Thumbelina. Screen favorites like Hayley Mills, Tallulah Bankhead, Burl Ives, and Boris Karloff lend their voices to the fantasy. Best suited for sentimental Rudolph fans and kids who adore lengthy song-and-dance classics like Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, this visual candy store runs 99 minutes. (Ages 6 and older) --Liane Thomas

List Price: ~~$19.99~~	Our Price: $19.99

Cocoon [VHS]

Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Staring: Don Ameche , Wilford Brimley , Hume Cronyn , Brian Dennehy , Jack Gilford
Director: Ron Howard
Don Ameche (1985 Academy Award®, Best Supporting Actor), Hume Cronyn, Jack Gilford, Maureen Stapleton, Jessica Tandy, Gwen Verdon, Wilford Brimley and Steve Guttenberg star in this charming fantasy adventure.

List Price: ~~$6.98~~	Our Price: $1.35

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