ShareThis(IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT: 40TH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTOR'S EDITION. 1967. NOT RATED. UNITED ARTISTS. $19.98)To understand the importance of this melodrama, you have to know that it was made only two years after the infamous "Bloody Sunday" incident in Selma, Ala., in which police brutally attacked civil rights marchers.The confrontation here between Sidney Poitier's proud Philadelphia detective and the racist Southern sheriff played by Rod Steiger will seem less hokey when this context is remembered. Despite their many differences, the two characters manage to work together well enough to solve the murder case that brought Poitier's Detective Virgil Tibbs to Mississippi. The detective maintains his dignity in the face of numerous provocations, and even wins a grudging respect from Steiger's character.Poitier went on to portray Tibbs in two other lesser pictures. In the fine supporting cast are Warren Oates and Lee Grant. The film won five Oscars, including best picture and best actor (for Steiger).Extras are commentary by director Norman Jewison, Grant, Steiger and cinematographer Haskell Wexler, and several featurettes, including one on Quincy Jones, who scored the movie. "In the Heat of the Night" also inspired a TV series (1988-94) of the same name, starring Carroll O'Connor and Howard E. Rollins Jr. --WALTER ADDIEGO(PERSONAL BEST. 1982. RATED R. WARNER BROS. HOME ENTERTAINMENT. $19.98)More than 25 years after the release of this groundbreaking movie about two track athletes competing in the 1980 Olympic trials, the woman-on-woman love scenes seem far less controversial. What stands out even more is "Chinatown" writer Robert Towne's directing style, with an emphasis on long, slow-motion shots of competition and off-the-field scenes that seem almost ad libbed. Non-actors, including world-class track competitor Patrice Donnelly and Sports Illustrated writer Kenny Moore, are solid, even though their first big acting roles came in a film where everyone spends lots of time naked.Mariel Hemingway is slightly less convincing in the lead role, but still fun to watch. Towne's direction can be frustrating -- at one point Donnelly and Hemingway run up a sand dune for what seems like five minutes -- but the result is 50 percent more realistic than the average sports film.As for the DVD itself, the print is a bit grainy and the extras are sparse. And while the showcase commentary from Towne, Moore and co-star Scott Glenn is interesting, they can't overcome the lack of estrogen in the room. This is one of the most famous and pioneering pieces of lesbian cinema. Couldn't someone recruit at least one female voice to put the events into perspective? -- PETER HARTLAUB(GOLDEN BOY. 1939. NOT RATED. COLUMBIA PICTURES. $19.94)Rouben Mamoulian was a great cinematic innovator in the early 1930s, when he made a string of masterpieces. By the time he made this film, in 1939, his years of innovation were over, but his later films retain a certain polish that sets them apart.In our day, the unbeatable story of "Golden Boy" might have been the subject for a James Toback movie, with its struggle between light and dark forces within the soul of the protagonist. William Holden, in his feature debut, plays Joe Bonaparte, the son of Italian immigrants who has a gift for boxing -- and an even greater gift for playing the violin. He has the potential to be a virtuoso, but he knows that if he goes into the ring he might become rich -- and there's no harm in that, so long as he doesn't ... ruin his hands!Based on the Clifford Odets play, the film co-stars Adolphe Menjou as Bonaparte's unscrupulous manager and Barbara Stanwyck as the manager's hard-as-nails girlfriend. There are some corny elements, all having to do with Bonaparte's home life. Lee J. Cobb plays Joe's father as such a hysterical Italian parody that you look around for the organ grinder's monkey. And yet, even behind that hysterical performance, there's a core of genuine emotion. Eminently watchable -- in fact, it's hard to stop watching. It's not a great movie, but it is great fun. -- MICK LASALLE(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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