Daily News from New York, New York • 54

Saturday, January 17, 1987 10 DAILY NEWS 1 -Iv v.sSjjWsSs'Kss' ilSsewsswsj WHO NEEDS A PROMOTION? Steve Guttenberg (I.) takes a meeting with Isabella Huppert his boss' wife THE BEDROOM ummm By KATHLEEN CARROLL Daily News Movie Critic the attacker frees his victim. The next day the lovers learn that another woman has been raped and murdered in the same vicinity. Terry, sensing there's a connection between the two incidents and also realizing the need to protect the identity of his lover, decides to report the late-night sccaiilf ae if ha star witness, and an aggressive defense lawyer, played vigorously T)y Wallace Shawn, attacks his story. Trap-' ped in his own lie Terry feels compelled to pursue the murder suspect himself, but by now, he's viewed with suspicion by the police. As directed by Curtis Hanson, this sophisticated thriller, based on Anne Hol- a relief; he's also not very exciting, though something about his subdued performance suggests there's more to this affable yuppie than a cliche.

This is one case in which the leading ladies definitely spice things up. Isabelle Huppert is both delectably coy and coldly calculating as Sylvia, who naturally wears just the right chic black suit for her courtroom appearance. Elizabeth McGovern is splendid in a tense seduction scene, trying to bait the murder suspect at a beer joint full of lusty brutes. The denouement, a murder at the ballet, is a deja vu of Hitchcock camera tricks. But unlike the great master of suspense, Hanson lets the movie run away from him, something Hitchcock would never do.

THE BEDROOM WINDOW. Steve Out-tenben, Elizabeth McGovern, Isatwll Huppert. Directed br Curtis Hanson. At OA Twin, East, Gemini Twin. Running time: I hour, 32 minute.

Rated R. ''1 ERRY, A PROMIS- i i i mg yuns Balti- I 1 more architect, is liHTiKa certainly living dangerously. As "The Bedroom Window," an unusually intriguing suspense movie, begins, he's entertaining the boss' wife in the bedroom of his bachelor pad. During the night, Sylvia, a petite blond with a charming French accent, hears sounds of a scuffle. From the window she watches in horror as a pale-faced young man attempts to strangle a pretty brunet.

She lets out a scream, and not Sylvia, had Elizabeth witnessed the McGovern crime. But doing the honorable thing has unexpected consequences, like having to identify the attacker in a police lineup. The situation gets worse when Terry is called as the prosecution's den's novel, "The Witnesses," and an obvious homage to Hitchcock's "Rear Window," has enough tantalizing plot twists to make it fun for a while. -Steve Guttenberg is not his usual twit-like self, which is This 'Condition' Is In Sad Condition CRITICAL CONDITION. Richard Prvor, Rachel Tlcofin.

Directed by Michael Apted. At area theaters. Runnine time: I hour, 40 minutes. Rated R. ism ICHARD PRYOR IS definitely not in peak comic form these days and less he can convince hospital officials he's insane.

The hospital administrator (Joe Mantegna) isn't impressed with his act, but in the confusion of a convenient blackout, Pryor finds himself playing doctor. He even manages to fool the hospital's attractive acting administrator (Rachel Ticotin deserves better) into believing he's an authentic medicine man. During the frenetic course of the evening, he demonstrates he's a take-charge guy by delivering a baby, handing out Lifesavers, soothing the patients and scrubbing up for a delicate operation. When the movie's only funny character, a surgeon 'CRITICAL CONDITION': Richard Pryor (I.) Lucius Houghton "Critical Condition," a low-grade comedy about a disaster-prone state hospital, is not likely to give his career the booster shot it desperately needs. The painfully gaunt Pryor, you see, seems to have lost that manic energy that kept his fans on the edge of their seats waiting for him to spring some outrageous character on them.

In this case, he's playing a hard-luck, but strictly harm- clearly fake Dr. Slattery (namely Pryor) reminds him: "We got the greatest job in dall "Tex" Cobb) are constantly on the move, but the jokes are so feeble they just waste a lot of energy. "Critical Condition" is one of those cases in which the producers the world we can park anywhere." Unfortunately, the movie (Bob Dishy) who lives in mortal terror of malpractice is stucK in he cast should, have spent time con- auuuiu.uavc slcxxv- uxiic less, eon man wha's current- suits, complains about his1. 5 members) (including' 'Hubert If juttiTgwitha' script doc ueuior. irf acina -jail sehtence un rroll.