BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS

   Film (1980). New World. Executive prod Roger CORMAN. Dir Jimmy T. Murakami, starring Richard Thomas, Robert Vaughn, John Saxon, George Peppard, Sybil Danning, Morgan Woodward, Steve Davis. Screenplay John SAYLES, based on a story by Sayles, Anne Dyer. 103 mins. Colour.

   New World, never slow to capitalize on a trend, hoped - with partial success - to woo the STAR WARS market with this space-opera replay of The Magnificent Seven (1960). It follows the pattern of its Western original right down to Robert Vaughn's reprise of his role as a world-weary gunslinger. Sayles's script is entertaining, as are Danning as the huge-breasted Valkyrie, Woodward as the reptilian mercenary, and the heat-eating twin "Kelvin", but the emphasis is on space battles which, while better than expected, leave the story treatment perfunctory. Murakami's heavy direction muffles the lightness of the script. The special effects were recycled in the Corman-produced Space Raiders (1983), of which they are the raison d'etre.

   PN