by Rick Brough .. - "" H 'r ' i " f I ) ,. KM 1 'V. " ?" f .' fl v-;:;- ' - i U LJ John Travolta (center in black) awaits with other dancers instructions from the choreographer as they prepare to audition for a new Broadway show in Paramount Pictures' "Staying Alive." A Classic Recommended Good double-feature double-feature material Time-killer For masochists j v on'y J V2 Staying Alive Sylvester Stallone proves himself to be a masterful director of High Camp, as he takes the sequel to "Saturday "Satur-day Night Fever" and makes it look like another "Rocky" film. Instead of a 12-round boxing match, he gives us a three-act musical. Tony Manero (John Travolta) Tra-volta) has moved from the Brooklyn Disco to a job as a Broadway dancer, but he's still romantically thick headed. He falls' for an English lead dancer (Finola Hughes) while ignoring his faithful, long-suffering girlfriend girl-friend in the chorus (Cynthia Rhodes). He's crushed to find that Hughes considers him only one of a string of boyfriends. Romantic fickleness makes her a bitch. But Manero, who acts the same way, is only waywardly cute, (says tiie hypocritical storyline). Thus are the advantages of being John Travolta. But the star exercises ex-ercises enough grinning, hip-swinging charisma to make Tony's jerk behavior tolerable. And yes, he does strut down the street to the tune of "Staying Alive." But, comes the climax: Tony comes to his senses A and drops the English girl, tut lands the lead dancing role opposite her in the Risky Business To '80s answer to "The Graduate?" Well, it's not the equal of the Dustin Hoffman classic, but this too is a fine comedy about coming of age and breaking away. And it's intelligent enough to show that rebellion leaves an aftertaste of insecurity, fright and rueful ignorance about what the future brings. Joel (Tom Cruise) is a well-behaved upper-class kid whose parents take a trip, leaving him alone in the family mansion with a golden opportunity to cut loose. (He starts by driving the old man's car a good start, his buddy tells him.) Then matters get out of .hand. A young Jiookep (Rebecca de Mornay) comes A- il I I ' J performances that capture the humor, irony and vulnerability vul-nerability of their situation, and the script by director Paul Brickman rarely descends de-scends to "Animal House" antics, (except for the gag where Joel drops his father's car in the lagoon). Brickman's approach engages en-gages us because he shows the truth behind scenes that are off the wall. (The scene with Joel playing a rock star in his underwear is a small classic.) And the year's best line may come from his buddy who says (in the middle of a car chase): "I don't believe this. I've got a trig midterm tomorrow and I'm being chased by Guido the killer pimp." V2 Hercules j It's been about 15 yearstJ, since the last Hercules ! nnn who look like converted can openers.) "Hercules" is an Italian f production. This means that ; everyone, even Ferrigno, is badly dubbed. The three ! female characters (the sor-; ceress, Hercules' love, and; the goddess Circe) wear; clothing that looks as if it's . hanging on them by accident. acci-dent. There is also a bow to seriousness by vaguely duplicating du-plicating incidents from' Greek legend. To clean the -Augean stables, Hercules diverts a river that floods j the barn. And when a grizzly kills his father, Hercules petulantly hurls the animal ' into the heavens, where it becomes Ursa Major. (Act-; ually, the beast, soaring into orbit, looks more like a casualty from a Tom. and-,1 and-,1 Jerry cartoon.iiao r. .; I Finally, there is a lot of screen time showing the gods in their heavens. To do' this, the actors stand in grade-school costumes in front of black velvet curtains and probably wish theyi could hide behind them,' along with everyone respon-' sible for "Hercules." rr : : 1 Iiiuvic waa uiauc. iiu uut; really missed them. So why does Lou Ferrigno have to come along with his version? Ferrigno plays Hercules as an enthusiastic, brawny Boy Scout. Never mind that he runs like a stubby little piston. His muscles are equal to the task as he battles the evil sorceress Arina (Sybil Danning) ; whole football squads dressed up as Greek warriors; war-riors; assorted evil spells; and recurring giant monsters. mon-sters. (Since the special effects budget can't afford a believable monster, the script pits him against a series of metal creatures movie's musical, set in Hell. Can he overcome his personal per-sonal feelings to dance with her and prove he's as good a dancer as she is? The girl isn't Tony's partner she becomes his Apollo Creed. The movie is glorious nonsense, and keeps you dazzled so you won't think of embarassing questions like: Why does Tony's "intensity and anger" supposedly get him the lead role in the musical, when no stage audience could possibly see any of it? Travolta's dancing is buried in smoke, hellish neon lights and writhing leotarded extras. n . iu me nuuse anu pruviues Joel with a breathtaking initiation night. But she also steals a large glass egg, which is the family's prized heirloommonstrosity. Eventually the hooker, seeking seek-ing to get away from her pimp, turns Joel's home into a house of ill repute. And, Joel, using the hookers to service his horny school buddies, finds he has stumbled on the most ingenious ingen-ious application of principles he learned in his Junior Achievement club. (Lower-class (Lower-class exploitation is only a back-handed form of middle-class middle-class get-up-and-go.) Both young stars give