New on Video &

New On Video & DVD Gunsmoke Season 1 In the frontier town of Dodge City, justice goes by the name of Matt Dillon (James Arness). This debut season of the pioneering TV Western finds Dillon in his earliest adven- tures alongside the kindly Doc Adams (Milburn Stone) and shapely saloon owner Kitty Russell (Amanda Blake). Guest stars include Claude Akins, Keye Luke, Sebastian Cabot and -- in a brief introduction of the series' first episode -- Western icon John Wayne. Disc 1 includes the following episodes: "Mattt Gets It," "Hot Spell," "Word of Honor," "Home Surgery," "Obie Tater" and "Night Visitor." Additional Actors: Howard Culver , Malcolm Atterbury, Paul Richards, Robert Anderson, John Wayne, James Westerfield, John Dehner, Claude Akins, Dick Paxton, Robert Middleton, Thom Carney, Wright King, Gloria Talbott, Joe De Santis, Royal Dano, Jon Shepodd, Jeanne Bates, Lou Vernon, Amzie Strickland, Robert Foulk . Disc 2 includes the following episodes: "Smoking Out the Nolans," "Kites Reward," "The Hunter," "The Queue," "General Parcley Smith" and "Magnus." Additional Actors: Glenn Strange, John Larch, Ainslie Pryor, Jeanne Bates, Edward Platt, James Griffith, Chris Alcaide, Adam Kennedy , Lou Vernon, Peter Whitney, Sebastian Cabot, Keye Luke, Robert Gist, Raymond Bailey, James O'Rear, Robert Easton, Than Wyenn . Disc 3 includes the following episodes: "Reed Survives," "Professor Lute Bone," "No Handcuffs," "Reward for Matt," "Robin Hood" and "Yorky." Additional Actors: Lola Albright, John Carradine, James Drury, Strother Martin, Jester Hairston, Don Garner, John Abbott, Gloria Castillo, Sally Corner, Mort Mills, Vic Perrin, Cyril Delevanti, Charles Gray, Marjorie Owens, Paul Newlan, Helen Wallace, Nora Marlowe, Barry Atwater, James McCallion, William Hopper, S. John Launer, Mary Gregory, Howard Petrie. Disc 4 includes the following episodes: "20-20," "Reunion 78," "Helping Hand," "Tap Day for Kitty," "Indian Scout," "The Pest Hole" and "Big Broad." Additional Actors: Pitt Herbert, Wilton Graff, Maurice Manson, Marion Brash, Joseph Perry, Ken Curtis, Brett Halsey, Russell Thorson, Michael Granger, John Dehner, George Selk, Mary Adams Hayes, John Patrick, DeForest Kelley, Pat Hogan, Eduard Franz, Patrick O'Moore, Norbert Schiller, Lisa Golm, Dee J. Thompson, Terry Becker. Disc 5 includes the following episodes: "Hack Prine," "Cooter," "The Killer," "Doc's Revenge," "The Preacher," "How to Die for Nothing" and "Dutch George." Additional Actors: Leo Gordon, Hal Baylor, George D. Wallace, Wally Cassell, Robert Vaughn, Brett King, Strother Martin, Dabbs Greer, Charles Bronson, David Chapman, Chris Alcaide, Harry Bartell, Ainslie Pryor, Royal Dano, Chuck Connors, James Hyland, Paul Dubov, Maurice Manson, Lawrence Dobkin, Robert Middleton, Tom Pittman. Disc 6 includes the following episodes: "Prairie Happy," "Chester's Mail Order Bride," "The Guitar," "Cara," "Mr. and Mrs. Amber," "Unknown Grave" and "Alarm at Pleasant Valley." Additional Actors: Anne Barton, Dabbs Greer, Roy Engel, Jack Holland, Robert Ellenstein, Tyler McVey, William Hamel, Mary Carver, Russell Thorson, Aaron Spelling, Bill Hall, Jacques Aubuchon, Howard Culver , Bing Russell, Ainslie Pryor, Helen Kleeb, Ron Hagerthy, William Hopper, Than Wyenn, Helen Wallace, Dan Blocker. Paramount The Hills Have Eyes 2 After a group of hapless National Guard troops fails a training exercise, their commanding officer (Flex Alexander, Snakes On A Plane) orders them to deliver supplies to some sci- entists in Yuma Flats, New Mexico. The mutants from the first film (the unfortunate victims who live on nuclear testing ground) have returned to terrorize a group of Department of Defense researchers. The unlucky soldiers happen upon the remains of their camp (and its denizens), and the horrors begin. The inbred family of cannibals stalks the soldiers and picks them off, one by one, in gruesome fash- ion. Fox Dynamite Warrior After witnessing the brutal murder of his parents, young Jone (Dan Chupong) vows to avenge their deaths and make the killers pay, a mission that lands him in the dangerous world of cattle rustling. Spurred on by his grief and a desperate need for revenge, Jone sets out to catch the culprits and return the stolen cattle to their rightful owners in this supernatural thriller set in 1920s Thailand. Magnolia Yo-Yo Girl Cop Aya Matsuura stars as K, a teenage delinquent from New York who's recruited by Japan's National Police Agency to thwart a terrorist plot by a group of anarchist private school stu- dents. When a credible threat traced back to the school appears on an underground Web site, K has 72 hours to save the day. Directed by Kenta Fukasaku, this action thriller also stars Rika Ishikawa, Shunsuke Kubozuka and Erika Miyoshi. Magnolia The Best of The Tonight Show Stand-up Comedians Punchline. Zingers. Jokes. Insults. This hilarious new 2-disc configuration has them all! Featuring 20 of the funniest comics to ever appear on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, this collection includes the stand-up debut of many of America's most popular comics. Getting a laugh from a national audience is one thing, but standing on that famous Tonight Show stage and performing for the King of Late Night is a memory that would be hard to forget! Press play and get ready to laugh along with Johnny! Disc 1 includes Jerry Seinfeld, Rodney Dangerfield, George Carlin, Garry Shandling, Roseanne, and 5 other comics. Disc 2 includes Drew Carey, Louie Anderson, Steven Wright, Rita Rudner, Gallagher, and 5 other comics. R/2 The Best of The Tonight Show King of Late Night Four shows on 2 DVDs includes Johnny's Animal Hijinks Vol.1, Tonight Show Memories (30 years of the funniest highlights and biggest stars), Return To Studio One: Show Date 3/6/69 (the classic episode ies regarded as one of the funniest shows in TV history) and The Final Show - America Says Farewell. Disc 1 Johnny's Animal Hijinks, Vol. 1 This 30-minute program showcases Johnny's various interactions with the animal kingdom. Visits from zoologists Jim Fowler and Joan Embry usually meant Tonight Show gold, with the appearances following a pattern that has since been copied (with less success) by Leno and Letterman. The critter, having been let loose on Johnny's desk, would typically latch onto the unflappable talk-show host's clothing or person. Johnny's expression would belie surprise and then genial fear, and he would cap things with a perfect deadpan look. The routine served him well, as evidenced in Animal Hijinks. The menagerie includes a tarantula, Siberian tiger, bear, sea lion, sloth, baby wolves and an aardvark relieving itself in a sandbox. Good stuff. Tonight Show Memories This 30-minute best-of show is a brisk overview of Johnny's Tonight Show years, beginning with his debut in October of 1962. Many of the most legendary bits are included, from Ed Ames' moil-approved tomahawk throw to Carnac the Magnificent and an array of flubbed skits that managed to be all the funnier because they tanked. It's also a kick to glimpse a very young George Carlin and Roseanne Barr. Even so, the clips fail to regis- ter much beyond the level of infomercial. Disc 2 Return to Studio One This celebrated March 6, 1969, episode (38:37) was preserved on film because it was broadcast to armed forces overseas. It's a doozy of a show, featuring Judy Carne (the "Sock it to me" girl from TV's Laugh-In), Bob Hope, Dean Martin, George Gobel, Robert Wagner, Carol Wayne and a rollicking "drum-off" between Buddy Rich and Louis Belson. This is easily the best thing on The Best of the Tonight Show: The King of Late Night, a time capsule of the freewheelin' Sixties and an example of Johnny Carson at his best. The episode captures that era's particular brand of naughtiness, with the scantily clad Carne practically getting mauled by Martin and Gobel. There's a definite ring-a-ding-ding vibe here. Dino, a cigarette dangling between his fingers, is either drunk or a damn fine actor. And Gobel, whom this reviewer primarily knew as a regular on The Hollywood Squares, is actually hilarious. Referring to his dimin- ished celebrity beside that of Dean Martin and Bob Hope, Lonesome George muses: "Do you ever get the feeling that the world is a tuxedo and you're a pair of brown shoes?" The Final Show: America Says Farewell It's a milestone episode, but Johnny's swan song on May 22, 1992, isn't essential view- ing. The show includes best-of clips, a behind-the-scenes vignette, a montage of guests and a genuine- ly choked-up Carson saying goodbye to his audience. The result is a moving piece of boob-tube history, but it has nothing to do with what made Johnny Carson the true king of late night. R/2 The Stranger Orson Welles directed and starred in The Stranger, a tense black-and-white thriller that Welles made for maverick producer Sam Spiegel. Welles portrays Charles Rankin, a respected aca- demic at a prominent Connecticut college. He seems to have the perfect life: a beautiful new wife, Mary (Loretta Young); and a charming home in a small town that holds him in high esteem. Enter Mr. Wilson (Edward G. Robinson), a detective on the hunt for Nazi war criminal Franz Kindler. The appearance of Mr. Wilson threatens to reveal that underneath this idyllic veneer is a secret that could tear everything apart. Although many of Welles's most interesting scenes wound up on the cutting- room floor when Spiegel reedited the film, The Stranger is still multilayered, complex, and fascinat- ing. The scenes between Welles and Robinson are intellectually gripping, leading up to the stylized, shocking conclusion. As with so many of Welles's films, he was unhappy with the final result, but the viewer won't be.

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