Fast Forward

NAKED TRUTH BFS Video, best known for importing high-end Brit TV fare like The Six Wives of Henry VIII, was to trade in its crumpets for beefcake on Aug. 14 with The Real Full Monty, a documentary about five blokes who, inspired by the hit comedy, quit their blue-collar jobs in favor of quitting their trousers on stage. ”My only concern,” BFS CEO Denis Donnelly told EW on July 16, ”is a reluctance [among retailers] about male full-frontal nudity.” That was four days before Twentieth Century Fox, parent of The Full Monty’s distributor, Fox Searchlight, filed a complaint in U.S. district court against BFS asking that The Real Full Monty never see a store shelf. ”People should not be able to deceive consumers,” says Fox attorney Dale Cendali. Having got the attention of BFS, Fox is now negotiating changes in the title and packaging, which boasted ”The Way It Really Was” and ”The True Story.” The copycat strippers have sometimes performed in the U.K. as the Fraud Monty; Cendali says she thinks that would be ”more appropriate.” — Troy Patterson

CHILDREN’S HOUR A slew of high-profile kids’ tapes hit shelves this month and next — including Disney’s made-for-video Pocahontas sequel, straight-to-tape Teletubbies cassettes, a Scooby-Doo video feature, and Disney’s first venture with leading Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki, Kiki’s Delivery Service, the English-language version of which features the voices of Kirsten Dunst and Phil Hartman. ”Video consumption picks up dramatically after summer vacation,” Disney senior VP of marketing Bob Chapek notes, a truth increasingly driven by back-to-school buying at groceries and mega-marts. Besides, says Columbia TriStar exec VP Paul Culberg, ”if you wait until Thanksgiving, you’re fighting with Armageddon.” — TP

JFK ON VHS Straight-to-video tapes often horrify critics, but it’s rare when one sparks condemnation. MPI’s Image of an Assassination: A New Look at the Zapruder Film was provoking ire even as it broke onto the VideoScan sales chart at No. 40. A Boston Globe editorial called the film of John F. Kennedy’s assassination ”so powerfully clear in the national consciousness that any attempt to ‘digitally enhance’ it is ludicrous.” Arizona Republic columnist E.J. Montini said it more succinctly: ”If you buy one, you are a pig.” Second-week sales figures are expected to rise.