The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • 325

THE RIGHT HAND MAN IR. selected theaters). Splendid, period-perfect Victorian romance, set in Australia in 1862. Rupert Everett is remarkable es a doomed aristocrat, and so is Jennifer Claire as his proud, dominating mother. Catherine McClements and Hugo Weaving are also impressive as Everett's friends, who contrive to give his life meaning.

With Arthur Dignam as McClements' brilliant physician father. (Thomas) THE MOVIE CHART Films going into production: BLOODY POM-POMS (Bloody Pom-Pom Shooting in Oregon. Vicious killer vs. cute, giggly cheerleaders et the big cheer-off Executive producer Jeff Prettyman. Producerdirector John Quinn Screenwriters David Lee Fein and Ron O'Keefe.

Stars Betsy Russell. Leif Garrett, Lucinda Dickey, Lorie Griffin and Teh Weigel. Spring release. RED SCORPION (Scorpion). Shooting in Africa.

Dolph Lundgren is Nikolai, a highly skilled and patriotic (or is he?) Russian agent sent in to infiltrate a terrorist organization. Executive producers Jack Abramoff and Dan Sklar. Producer Bob Abramoff. Director Joseph Zito. Screenwriter Arne Olsen.

Distributor Warner Bros. SAND WARS (Silver Star). Shooting in Manila. Hulking Lou Ferrigno stars in this post-apocalyptic actioner as a bodyguard who survives jungle warfare to save the girl he loves. Produc erscreenwriter Kimmy Lim.

Director John Jale. Also stars Shari Shattuck. Early '88 release. THE WHITE GIRL (Tony Brown Prod Shooting in N. Carolina.

Anti-drug love story concerning a black girl from a prominent family who turns to cocaine to sooth life's ills. Friends and a love interest bring her out of this unpleasant situation. Executive producer Sheryl Cannady. Producer Jim Cannady. Directorscreenwriter Tony Brown.

Stars Troy Beyer, Taimak, Teresa Evon Farley, 0. L. Duke, Petronia Paley and Dianne Shaw. Early 'SB release. Compiled by David Pecchia ROBOCOP (R, citywide).

This comic book-style sci-fi actioner about a automated cop in a futuristic Detroit where private industry has taken over the police has been assembled with ferocious, gleeful expertise. It's crammed with humor, cynicism and jolts of energy. The script nastily parodies everything from vacuous TV commentators to dope dealers to cut-throat corporate warfare; it satirizes a society an exaggeration of our own where every tendency toward dehumanization and centralization has gone hellishly out of control; and it suggests that fiobocop Murphy's private struggle between humanity and his programming is a noble one. Dutch Director Paul Verhoeven aided by top-notch Hollywood pros does a sensational job here; this may be the best action movie of the year. (Wilmington) THE ROSARY MURDERS (R, selected theaters).

Thoroughly engrossing mystery that illuminates the complex work) of the modern-day Catholic Church while building suspense. Donald Sutherland, in one of the most substantial, reflective roles of his career, plays a Detroit priest to whom a serial killer confesses. Directed by Fred Walton and written by Walton and Elmore Leonard from William Kienzle's novel. With Charles Durning, Belinda Bauer, Josef Sommer, James Muruugh. (Thomas) description omits the impeccable comic timing of Richard Dreyfuss and the high-gloss beauty with which cinematographer John Seale has invested this movie.

(Benson) TAMPOPO (Times-rated: Mature: Fine Arts). Japanese films have commented before on the intrinsic connection between food and sex, but not with the erotic gusto of director Juzo Itami's "Tampopo" and rarely with the comic lustiness of this broad-scale satire. What's delightfully unsettling about the film is its lubricious mix of the sensual and the satiric no sooner do we settle ourselves for one when the other comes along to knock the props out from under our expectations. (Benson) TOUGH GUYS DON'T DANCE IR, selected theaters). Norman Mailer's 1984 novel from which he scripted and directed this charmingly cracked nightmare comedy of murders was a self-conscious existential thriller, full of glamorous evil and ruminations on machismo.

The movie is self-conscious modern film noir suffused with panic, nightfall melancholy, chew-ed-up honor and nameless fears sneaking in the sunlight; it dances through death's darkness and ends in a cackling blaze of witches' laughter. (Wilmington) THE WHISTLE BLOWER (PG, selected theaters). A taut, understated British spy thriller that develops striking parallels with Costa-Gavras' "Missing." A notably bitter expression of Britain's decline of power and of the helplessness of the individual when confronted with an implacable, monolithic government agency. Marvelous performances by Michael Came, Nigel Havers, John Gielgud, Barry Foster and others. Directed by Simon Langton (of "Smiley's end adapted by Julian Bond from the John Hale novel.

(Thomas) WISH YOU WERE HERE (R, selected theaters). Though It is full of fine things, this film may always be thought of as the movie that first gave us Emily Lloyd; the 16-year-old's performance of a bored young girl who does her best to make many waves is one of those extraordinary fusions of actress and character that defy you to pry them apart. It might also be remembered es writer-director David Leland's first directing achievement; Leland's vision is precise, ecute end vividly alive. It might also be a humbling lesson to certain American film makers: that the road to cinematic heaven is not paved with Xerox copies or towering budgets, but with wit, -tjravery and originality. (Benson) Compiled by Sue Martin.

Send listings to Movie Listings, Calendar, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles 90053. communicate or connect a Japanese-American janitor, an aspiring rock guitarist of pumpkin-like passivity and a tourist from Tokyo who weds him for a green card. It's the cinematic equivalent of a bass guitar's dirty fuzztone rubbing aurally against the strummed zithery plonks of a Japanese koto, If you ignore its low-budget austerity and occasionally awkward performances, it has its own special rewards the laughter bubbling out from a near-limbo: curious silences, quirky dead spots, deadpan speeches with their own incongruous wait of atonal, blocked-off absurdity. (Wilmington THE LOST BOYS (R, citywide). There's always room for some good, fancy trash and this movie about a gang of punk vampires terrorizing the new kids in town seems capable of providing some.

It begins smashingly, with ominous decor and sizzling music. Then the characters open their mouths. Something that might be dialogue comes out. Something that might be blood gushes in. Before long, we're trapped in what seems like an Addams Family version of a TV teen drug problem drama (blood is quicker than liquor), which degenerates into another gore-drenched all-American scuzzbags revenge blowout.

When the toilets start exploding at the climax, you know you've had enough. (Wilmington) MAID TO ORDER IPG, citywide). Amy Jones' sparkling, sharply satirical Cinderalla-in-reverse comedy starring Ally Sheedy as a spoiled Beverly Hills princess transformed into a penniless maid by her glamorous fairy godmother (Beverly D'Angelo). Merry Clayton all but steals the film as a cook, once a famous singer. With Michael Ontkean, Valerie Perrine, Dick Shawn, Tom Skerritt, Begone Plaza (Thomas) A MAN IN LOVE selected theaters).

Diane Kurys has always been an expert at catching intimate emotions; she gets more than a few in this backstage love story about an American star and Parisian bit actress romancing while making a film on writer Cesare Pavese's life and suicide. A number of the actors deserve praise: Greta Scacchi and Peter Coyote (a little too cold) as the lovers, Jamie Lee Curtis as the abandoned wife and especially Peter Riegert as a glib go-fer with sneaky-swift reflexes beneath a casual facade. But the film never hits the upper level of self-reflexive movies like "8W or "Day for it's a passionate, intelligent, honorable try that misses. (Wilmington) MATEWAN (PG-13, selected theaters). John Sayles' historical drama about the 1920s Mingo County mine wars in West Virginia is low budget but wide scale.

Sayles, working partially in the left-wing realist tradition of the '30s, partially in an anti-genre mode of his own.tries for a folk epic quality and a community-as-hero focus. Amazingly, he succeeds much of the time aided by a crack production crew, a selfless cast, and the masterly cinematography of Haskell Wexler You have to make allowances here Sayles is prone to doses of agitprop and folk wisdom, and his villains and flawed characters are often more pungent than his exemplarsbut the best parts of "Matewan" are deeply felt, brave work. (Wilmington) THE MONSTER SQUAD (PG-13, citywide). Delightful horror comedy aimed at youngsters, about a group of small-town boys who take on Count Dracula and other beloved baddies in a struggle for an amulet that controls the balance between good and evil in the universe. Andre Gower is the boys' leader, Duncan Regehr is Dracula.

ROXANNE (PG, citywide). It's hard to recall a current movie in which every element is in such balance as it is here, in a modem retelling of the Cyrano story that becomes warm, nimble, utterly contemporary modern romance. There's a tenderness to writerstar Steve Martin's performece as Bales that's magnetic, and Darryl Hannah's Roxanne, an astronomer, is smart and sublimely beautiful all at once. What's interesting is to discover that the essence of the original play's love triangle beautiful women finding out just who she loves, and why is as as strong in sunshine es in shadow. (Benson) STAKEOUT (R, citywide).

The Mondrian-esque high-concept outline of the plot a detective falls in love with the woman he hasunder surveillance elso indicates the by-the-numbers regularity of the screenwriting (by Jim Kouf) and direction (John Badham) of this toast to superficial film making. What a pity that such a With Leonardo Cimino, Stephen Macht and Stan Shaw. (Thomas) MY LIFE AS A DOG (Times-rated: Mature; Music Hall). Somehow, director Lasse Hallstrom has caught all the perils and delights of treading that knife edge between pain and delight that is childhood blending to adolescence. A sterling film whose style sits between the light moments of his Hallstrom's fellow Swede, Ingmar Bergman and the darker moments of Francois Truffaut'schildhood films.

(Benson) NO WAY OUT (R, citywide). Abetted by director Roger Donaldson's main strengths bedrock believabili-ty, solid, self-effacing technique and the bristling tension of his sexual relationships this crackingly fine thriller plumbs the depths of deception in the federal government. The action is whizzingly fast but the performances are lovingly fleshed out. The greatest prize is Kevin Costner as the youngish Navy officer around whom the baroque plot unwinds; he's fiercely good, intelligent and appreciatively sensual. (Benson) NORTH SHORE IPG, citywide).

A sort of hang-10 "Karate Kid" with lots of surface detail, about a "puddle surfer" from Arizona and his adventures at Oahu's legendary North Shore. The story is teen-oriented, silly and thick with cliche but what makes this movie better than you'd expect is the affection and enthusiasm the film makers seem to have for their subject and the stray bits of local color they work in. (Wilmington) ON THE LINE (Times-rated Mature; Cineplex and Los Feliz). Meandering love story between en incredibly naive border patrol trainee (Jeff Delger) and a beautiful Mexican prostitute (Victoria Abril). Disappointing English-language venture for noted Spanish director Jose Luis Borau.

With Scott Wilson, David Carradine, Sam Jaffe. (Thomas) ORIANE (Times-rated Mature; Cineplex). Exquisite, languorous journey into the past, seductive in its beauty and aura of mystery in which a woman who inherits a crumbling Venezuelan hacienda comes to understand what she couldn't comprehend as an adolescent. A mood piece directed by Fins Torres in her feature debut. With Doris Welles, Daniela Silverio.

Maya Oloe. (Thomas) THE OUTING (R, citywide). An unwitting high school student becomes the keeper of an antique lamp with some disturbing properties. Stars Deborah Winters, James Huston and Danny D. Daniels.

Directed by Tom Daley. THE PICK-UP ARTIST (PG-13, citywide). James Toback's charming but overly slight romantic comedy stars Robert Downey in the title role and Molly Ringwald as the girl who stops him in his tracks and who is also in big trouble. With Dennis Hopper, Danny Aiello, Mildred Dunnock, Harvey Keitel. (Thomas) A PRAYER FOR THE DYING (R.

citywide). As a conscience-stricken IRA hit man on the run, Mickey Rourke looks a bit bedraggled. And the movie seems bleary-eyed too: weirdly unfocused, drained of passion. The plot, in this Mike Hedges adaptation of the Jack Higgins novel, suggests a weak mix of Greene's "This Gun for Hire" and Hitchcock's "I Confess" and its theologically dubious premise is embellished with two-fisted priests (Bob Hoskins, looking trapped), sensitive blind girls, grim carnivals, sad bordellos and other symbols of decline. Nothing much works, but Alen Bates, as an epicene gang boss, brings it briefly alive with a high-style torture scene.

(Wilmington) THE PRINCIPAL (citywide). Jim Belushi stars as a youngish principal given the system's nastiest school for his first administrative assignment. Also stars Louis Gossan Jr. and Rae Dawn Chong. Directed by ChristopherCain.

INIVERSAL BTLKMOa TOUR AW MCA COWAWY-QPtN DAILY INFO CALL (TO) M6-9600 "AN ACROSS-THE-BOARD WINNER! an exuberant crowd-pleaser of Kevin Thomas. LOS ANGELES TIMES "HYSTERICALLY FUNNY! disrespectful!" and disres LOS ANGELES and LOS ANGELES Christopher Tricarico. HERALD-EXAMINER "THE SWEET SLEEPER OF A HOT SEASON? Sheila Benson, LOS ANGELES TIMES "ABSOLUTELY SENSATIONAL!" Jeffrey Lyons, INNSNEAK PREVIEWS VtSTKOH PKMB msumm nissxurm with ewwiXAN rims wtto nmmifi um eamxs wmnw Dimr dahcng mm swmi iwwasist xmoum cynthurhodb XS WKHIU. OHHOLO tm SMCN UUWEH ttmt M7KH mSS JIMMY KHNCf ica iia nrjuit iokcto mntenmint mt tmtienninn UWTitTMIWUCAIIDMIUol I. UrU.

I. MLh.IU.nl WO1 HCOHOUW um. JuawnmmM PICTURES' NOW SHOWING CHEECH MARIN "BORN IN EAST LA" DANIEL STERN RAUL RODRIGUEZ JAN MICHAEL VINCENT KAMALA LOPEZ TONY PLANA Music by LEE HOLDRIDGE Director of Photooreohv ALEX PHILLIPS. A ProdueM iw PETER MAPftRPftnR.srnTT PASADENA SM UA Marketplace Mann 8 8187795-1386 805583-0711 IONS REACH MARINA UA Movies 5944525 EL TOKO Edwards EIToro 714581-9500 R' Written and Directed by CHEECH MARIN A UNIVERSAL Release STANTON PUENTE HILLS Mann 6 8189644422 Center 7148914567 WESTWOOD Mann Westwood 208-7664 ScrNnt'txwDOO 2 30 5 00 1I0O0PM Sam 1 Da, III 1 10 40 HOLLYWOOD Mann Fox 463-2184 Do, sis Sol Sun 12 3 00 SI5.7JOl 8W36W032 Valley 714364-0120 ft MONTCLAIR PLAZA HUNTINGTON SEACH GCC Monlclolr Edwards Charter Cinema Centre 714841-0770 714626-3534 COftMIRCI Kitt I CommtKt ThMitn rn-vm CUCAUONOA latitat jfttho Cutvnon TORRANCI UA Del Amo 542-7383 UNIVERSAL CITY Clnepie Odeon Universal City Cinemas 6185084588 TBS. VALENCIA Mann 10 805255-3966 WEST COVMA SoCol Eastland 818339-7333 WOODLAND MILS UA Warner Center 816999-2130 IAKERSMLD AMC StockrJale 805324-6778 KIUANK AMC Burbonk 618953-9800 COSTA MESA Edwards Cinema Center 714979-4141 COSTA MESA Edwards South Coast Plaza 714546-2711 DOWNTOWN L.

Loemmie'i Grande 6174268 ARCADIA iDai'Si Q'vtW ARC AD) A GCC Situ (I'll HM AIUIA PARAMOUNT 'K'iC I KOHC'flt IW-4111 tAUOINA UA Mitl KI llHl'M'tHI HCOftrVIRA hcrhcifinuDfiyl.Hl M'MM PUINTI HfLLl AMC PutnliiQ "(KM SAN BERNARDINO TtMECUL GCC Rancho Cinema Mann Rancho 714370-2085 California 714876-5760 SANTA MONICA Mann Wllshlre TEMPU CITY 451-4377 Edwordt Temple 818286-3179 SHERMAN OAKS OCC Sherman Oaks THOUSAND OAKS Cinema UA Movies 818986-9660 TFT5T 805497-6708 laoi'di ooiiiii CfW it 1 1 H) Mil IRVINE Edwards University 714854-8611 ORANOI amc Orange Mall Clnemo 7146374340 IAKIWOOO 'Of I UitftOM LOt A NOIL II PtxM iCiffliMH DtiM-lnlTOUrr MARINA ML KIT UACnm HIWO HONTIRIV PARK tOwi'ai Montl'tf iiiiiirfl-'Cii ORANOI AMC Ofingjt Mm ORANOI Ki' 1 Qftflfll ROLLING MILL! AMC Roiling Hint VANNUVI DrivHft III7MW VINTURA hcitic 1 101 ttatt'Hi (HHM4SIH WIIT COVMA toCii i Whom llHUM-HH WftTMMITIR teiiei Hi.Wtr II Ofirt-lft iMOIIl'MH WIITMWITIR UA Mill Cintmi (m ill-one DMA PARK 7MH2-4H3 UNIVIMALCIT Ctrnwi QOKfi gnivtruiCitY Cmtmu (llW0MI Mi-IUHi 'nwi uvt tow mon.inu inri'' 4.i.1.iOI AZUSA Edwards Foothill Center 818969-9632 UHASRA ORANOI AMC Foshlon Square UA city Clnemo. 6914633 714634-3911 MUOTMOTONRAM LA WNADA LAftMNTI hciKiVMWinf i lHliHMZll RIOONOO ACH OCC South Ml Ml RtVIMlOC UA MAN I'HlMMMI AMC k'MM ID (MllUMM CMATtWORTH PlCiftC I WifiiHIM OfitiAtHIWIU SANTA RARIARA VENTURA VICTOR VIUI CHICK THUIM Fiesta Century Movies 7 Micioeni oi cau 8059634781 805644-7735 6192454233 fM SHOWTIMU ALHAMINA iarC(Alhn1(lTifl llllllllUlV liiMI1 LANCASTER Movies West 805943-2828 PALM DESERT Town Center 619340-6611 ARROYO ORANDI Festival 805481-7553 CAMARIUO Camorlllo 805987-1844 PALOS VERDES Peninsula Clnemo 544-3456 SAN LUIS OSISPO Mission Cinema 805541-2141 RALM DtllRT inii w-m PANORAMA Cm Amiucim lllll 111-1441 VINTURA Ctntutv llOilfc-MMt CARION Soumur I Qntt-in WMtl CULVIROTV 111111 OOLITA fur ORANOI C'ff CHlr IMIiUMHI I HO WISH ACCIPTID CHJ Xl HQ THIS INOAQEMINT' LOS ANGELES TIMESCALENDAR SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1987PAGE 37.