HOLLYWOOD

What a breath of fresh air it was to read Lewis Beale’s “Mayhem in the Land of Wyeth” (Aug. 11) on the coming movie about Pennsylvania’s Johnston gang (robbery, rape, murder).

What insight “At Close Range” screenwriter Nick Kazan (how proud his father Elia must be!) shows when he says of the gang leader, “If he’s evil, he’s evil in an extremely complicated way,” and later, “To the teen-agers, the guy is funny, energetic and charming. He’s driving back roads in a Corvette with $4,000 (both stolen) in his pocket. This guy is cool.”

Hollywood’s ability to gauge, perhaps influence, the public pulse is truly exciting. This year we’ve already had a comedy about a hit-man and a hit-woman.

We can only look forward not only to the Johnston saga, but hopefully, also to a musical, perhaps, about incest and/or child molestation.

And, from a usually reliable source, we understand that young Kazan is working on a comedy about Hitler and Attila to star, who knows, if we’re lucky, Sean Penn and Madonna.

GENE FRIEDMAN

Granada Hills