HOME ENTERTAINMENT : Martin’s Films Showcase His Versatility

Dean Martin, who died Monday at age 78, had a long and diverse film career. Martin and his comedy partner Jerry Lewis took Hollywood by storm in the early 1950s, starring in several successful farces. After the duo broke up in 1956, Martin surprised everyone with his versatility in westerns, action films, comedies and musicals. A majority of his movies are available on video.

Martin and Lewis made their film debuts as juice-bar operators in “My Friend Irma” (Paramount), a lightweight 1949 comedy based on a popular radio show about a dumb blond (Marie Wilson). The duo also starred in the unmemorable 1950 sequel, “My Friend Irma Goes West,” which is not available on video.

Martin introduced the Oscar-nominated tune “That’s Amore” in the above-par 1953 comedy “The Caddy.” Martin plays a smooth-as-silk golfer; Lewis is his goofy caddy.

Experts didn’t give Martin much of a chance at film stardom without Lewis, but Martin proved his dramatic ability with his second post-Lewis film: the gritty 1958 World War II drama “The Young Lions” (FoxVideo). Martin and Montgomery Clift play U.S. soldiers and a blond-haired Marlon Brando is a confused Nazi.

Martin is equally fine as Frank Sinatra’s boozy gambler buddy in the 1958 melodrama “Some Came Running” (MGM). Shirley MacLaine also stars in director Vincente Minnelli’s popular adaptation of James Jones’ novel.

In 1959, Martin co-starred with John Wayne in “Rio Bravo” (Warner), Howard Hawks’ cult classic western about a sheriff who takes a brutal killer into custody only to discover a group of gunmen have been hired to spring the murderer from jail. Martin more than holds his own with Wayne as the Duke’s drunken former deputy.

Martin returned to his musical-comedy roots with 1960’s zippy “Bells Are Ringing” (MGM/UA). Judy Holliday reprises her Broadway role as a lonely answering service operator; Martin is the charming client she has fallen in love with over the phone. Directed by Vincente Minnelli.

That same year, Martin teamed up with Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford for the best Rat Pack flick, “Ocean’s Eleven” (Warner), a fun caper set in Las Vegas.

Six years after “Rio Bravo,” Martin and John Wayne rode the range together in the box-office hit western “The Sons of Katie Elder” (Paramount). Martin, Wayne, Michael Anderson Jr. and Earl Holliman play four brothers who reunite after their mother’s death.

Martin plays a married womanizing airplane pilot who discovers he really loves his pregnant flight attendant mistress (Jacqueline Bisset) in 1970’s “Airport” (MCA/Universal), a delectably juicy old-fashioned disaster film based on Arthur Hailey’s best-seller. Burt Lancaster, Helen Hayes (who received an Oscar as a charming stowaway), Maureen Stapleton, Van Heflin, Jean Seberg and George Kennedy co-star. George Seaton wrote and directed. Nominated for numerous Oscars, including best film.

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Killer Bs: The cult movie series “The Beastmaster” has definitely run out of steam with the low-budget snooze “Beastmaster III: The Eye of Braxus” (MCA/Universal). Marc Singer’s back as Dar, the mega-muscular wanderer and warrior who can command beasts to help him fight against evil. However, he’s a bit long in the tooth to be scampering about in a loin cloth.

It’s no fun watching “Amanda and the Alien” (Republic), a witless comedy about a California airhead (Nicole Eggert) and the human flesh-devouring alien on the lam she befriends and beds.

Oscar winner Olympia Dukakis and former Oscar nominee Diane Ladd are the sole reason to watch “Mother” (Triboro), a predictable thriller about an overprotective mom (Ladd).

More Nixon: Turner Home Entertaining has just released “Richard M. Nixon Remembered” ($15), a documentary on the late, controversial president featuring a compilation of CNN’s live footage and interviews.

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Foreign Affair: Carl Dreyer’s “Day of Wrath” (Hen’s Tooth Video, $30) is a stark, compelling 1943 drama based on an actual witchcraft trial from 1623. Lisbeth Movin plays a young woman married to an elderly pastor who has an affair with his handsome son. When her husband suddenly dies, she’s betrayed by her lover as being a witch. In Danish with sometimes difficult to read English subtitles.

New This Week: Elizabeth Berkeley and Gina Gershon star in Paul Verhoeven and Joe Eszterhas’ critically lambasted “Showgirls” (MGM/UA). MGM’s offering the film in its original NC-17 version as well a new R-rated one.

Also new: “Safe” (Columbia/TriStar); “The Glass Shield” (Miramax); “The Incredibly True Adventure of 2 Girls in Love” (New Line); and “Best of the Best 3” (Dimension).