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Most VCRs of the 70's and 80's had very slow rewind times (there was a reason beta and VHS rewinding machines were a thing).
There should be some manner of safety clutch in any video tape rewinding mech to make it so that if the tape jams or the end of the tape is not sensed that the tape does not stretch or snap.
Is the idler surface good and soft/sticky or is it hard and glazed? If the latter it should probably be changed or go to an auto parts store and grab a can of CRC belt dressing (also get a can of Goof Off from a hardware store), wipe the rubber with goof off to disolve the outer hard glazed rubber layer, then after dry follow up with the belt dressing, once that has had a few minutes the idler should be sticky again. I use that process regularly for glazed phono idlers and sometimes for VTRs.
It is possible the tapes do need to be lubed...I've taken to adding a bit of white lithium grease to some cassettes where the spools shriek in motion and good mechs struggle to spin them, and some 8-tracks where the spool or idler wheel shrieks or binds...Plastic on plastic friction surfaces are not as long-lived as metal on metal.
I suppose a last-ditch effort might be to lightly scuff the plastic surfaces the idler contacts perpendicular or on angle to rotational direction with fine sandpaper to give it a surface the idler can better grip.
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