Daily News from New York, New York • 75

'fees 8' JJW. By BRUCE SMITH 'Can't Stop' can't make it it CANT STOP THE MUSIC. Valerie Perrine, Bruce Jenner. Directed by Nancy Walker. At the ZiesfeM.

Running time: hour, 58 minutes. Rated PG. Don't be fooled by the raucous cheering that accompanies the unfolding of Allan Carr's musical extravaganza, "Can't Stop the Music." The enthusiastic crowd reactions have been wisely pre-recorded and are merely a part of the movie's ear-splitting soundtrack. The canned cheers are reserved as they should be for the movie's gaudy production numbers which feature Village People, the popular singing group that specializes in a lusty put-on of the so-called macho man. The production numbers, thanks to the force and energy of this six-member male chorus, are indeed spectacular, especially the hard-driving "Y.M.C.A." which amounts to a beefcake parade of male health fiends who demonstrate their muscle power in gym exercises and dive with all the graceful aplomb of Esther Williams into a swimming pool.

But when the singing stops, "Can't Stop the Music" drops dead in its tracks while comedienne Nancy Walker plays director and foolishly tries to get on with a plot that was already worn out when Mickey Rooney and udy Garland used it in the '30s. The heroine of this show-business success story is a retired model who, as played with cheerful determination by Valerie Perrine, invites some of her Greenwich Village pals to sing for their supper in order to help the career of her housemate, an aspiring composer of disco music (Steve Guttenberg). Later, a visiting socialite (Barbara Rush) takes one look at the cowboy outfit, the Indian headdress, the policeman's uniform and the leather gear worn by Perrine's pals and asks if they come from "the village." And, as in all such movies, the newly christened Village People go on to galvanize to music world, while Perrine finds herself a real guy, a lame-brained hunk of male pulchritude played by Bruce (Continued on page 21) THE BLUES BROTHERS. Da Aykrovd. John BehjjM.

At RKO Cinerama 2. RKO Bilh S. 1. Gemini 1, Read' Mtk St. East and S7th St.

Playhouse. Ruonin time: 1 hours. It minutes. Ratine: R. Let's face it, this movie was designed to be a giant cash register.

It started off as a brief sketch by John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd on "Saturday Night Live." The sight of a couple of white guys decked out in black suits and sunglasses singing soul music was pretty funny. The gag was pushed further with a hot-selling LP called "Briefcase Full of Blues," which featured Belushi and Aykroyd's third-rate imitations of people like Wilson Pickett and Sam Dave. Relax, they said, we're not serious. That must have been before the marketing boys took them to lunch. Now we have a $27 million movie on our hands.

It should have been called "The Blues Brothers Take it to the Bank." Jake Blues (Belushi), just paroled from the Illinois State Prison in Joliet, is met outside the gate by his brother Elwood (Aykroyd). Together they drive off in a black-and-white Dodge sedan that Elwood has picked up "for next to nothing" at a police auction. The car is important Not only is it the real star of the movie, it has all the good lines. At Elwood insistence, they pay a visit to their old parochial school, where they learn from its unkindly principal. Sister Mary Stigmata (Kathleen Freeman), and janitor (Cab Calloway) that the school will be forced to close if a $5,000 tax bill isn't paid to the Cook County assessor.

(A parochial school paying taxes?) Faster than you can say Pat O'Brien, Jake and Elwood promise to raise the money. Cut to: The inside of a black gospel church, where the Rev. Cleophus James (James Brown) is leading the congregation in some foot-stompin', finger-wavin', toe-tappin' singing and dancing that would make Amos 'n' (Continued on page 18) i --At- tsj- Bruc Jenner and a Village Person (top) and the Blues Brothers: all hit Hollywood r'tiy'" 1 20TH CENTURY-FOX PRESENTS A TED MANN-RON SILVERMAN PRODUCTION A STUART ROSENBERG FILM ROBERT REDFORD "BRUBAKER" YAPHETKOTTO JANE ALEXANDER MURRAY HAMILTON DAVID KEITH TIM McINTIRE asHuey Executive Producer TED MANN Produced by RON SILVERMAN Directed by STUART ROSENBERG Screenplay by W. D. RICHTER Story by W.

D. RICHTER and ARTHUR ROSS Music by LALO SCHIFRIN Available in Paperback COLOR BY DcLUXE RESTRICTED SZl irom naiuniiiw noou i960 TWENTIETH CENTURY-FOX STARTS TODAY AT THESE SELECTED THEATRES 3 A CM 5 THE ATRf CINEMA 3 5TM ST AT PLAZA HOTEL LOEWS PARADISE TRIPLEX 367-12U AMBOY rk Hcinemas 72T-M00 MORRIS TOWN tf LEPMf CSCMTNMSCCCTIoJ CINEMA 46 TRIPLEX TRIPLEX MORRISTOWN Slft-1414 TOTOWA CO LOEWS GEORGETOWN TWIN 73-3000 RKOKENMORE 24-5700 LOEWS METROPOLITAN QUAD (75-4024 CTHDFN GUK.0 EMBASSY I a 6th st n7-M0t 10. 12-15. 2 30. 4 4S.

7 IS. 40. 12 HID 2:20 AM. 4 40 AM CINEM5THTRE MANHATTAN 1 59TH ST OF 3RO AVE 935-6420 1. 3 30.

6. 30. 11 LOEWS S3RD ST QUAD AT BROAOWAV 177-311) 2 4 30. 7 3D LESSFR BEACH CINEMA TWIN PEEKS ILL 737-6262 ELMSFORD 01. ELMSFORO 592 212 LOEWS NEWROCHELLE TWIN NEWROCHELLE MOSS MOVIELANtf VONKERS 714007 RKO BABYLON BABYLON 6S9-0700 UA BAYSHORE D.I.

TWIN BAYSHORE 665-1111 A CINEMA 5 THEATRE FOX EAST SETAUKET 473-2400 PATCHOGUE INDOOR MTCHOOUE 361-7200 LESSER SOUTHHAMPTON TWIN SOUTHHAMPTON 23-1300 MANHASSET TRIPLEX MANHASSET 27-77 UA MOVIES AT SUNRISE MALL MASSAPECHJA 795-2244 REOSTONE SUNRISE SIX PL EX QNEMAS VALLEY STREAM 2S-5700 A CINEMA 5 THEATRE TWIN NORTH MCKSVtLLE 413-2400 UA WESTBURY D.I. TRIPLEX JERICHO 334-3400 752-55 12 2 35.515.. 10 45 A CINE MAS THE ATRE MANHATTAN 2 59TH ST E. OF 3RD AVE 935-M20 12. 2 30.

5. 7.30. 9 45 A CINEMA 5 THEATRE GRAMERCV 23RO ST BCTW PARK A LEX GRS-W60 1.3 20 5 40 10 IS FOREST HILLS FOREST HILLS 29 764 RKO PARAMUS PARAAPJS 47-790 CIRCLE TWIN BRICKTOWN 25-141 HACKENSACK D.I. LITTLE FERRY 440-9400 WASHINGTON TWIN 256-5424 HUDSON PLAZA TWIN JERSEY CITY 411-1100 LIVINGSTON D.I. LIVINGSTON M2-1761 MALL QUAD FREEHOLD 462-0600 UA QUARTET FLUSHING 3S9-C777 OCEANA TRIPLEX 743-4331.

ACKERMAN LANE NEW CORP 3S1-2110 MID VALLEY TWIN MAYfAIR TWIN PLAZA TWIN MIOOLETOWN 142-1212 ONEMA45 SPRING VALLEY 262-1445 TOWN NEW CITY 614-5100 MALL TWIN MONTICELLO 74-2600 HUDSON PLAZA TWIN POUGHKEEPSIE 4S4-20M NEWBUHCK li', THEATRE OPEN ALL NIGHT I 561-9SO0 FOB SPECIAL LATE SHOWS FRIDAY AUC SATURDAY I vt -v,.