'TUTTI-FRUTTI,' OH RICHIE BIOPIC ROCKS ON STRENGTH OF LEON'S WORK.

Byline: DAVID KRONKE TV CRITIC

``Little Richard'' has everything a good - or bad - rock 'n' roll biopic should have. Got your notepads ready? Let's begin.

Unhappy childhood? Check. Richard Penniman's father (Carl Lumbly) doesn't understand him and, thinking him not macho enough, forces him into a boxing ring, where he is promptly KO'd.

Dumb/lucky break? Check. Richard (Leon) slips out the back of the diner where he works, sees a piano, starts banging on it and is promptly given a job in a vaudeville act.

Tragic bump in the road on the way to the top? Check. While he's knocking `em dead in a nightclub, his father is murdered.

Bone-chilling encounter with racism (if a performer is black, he/she endures it stoically; if white, he/she valiantly protests)? Check. The cop investigating the murder declares that it ``just ain't that much of a crime.''

Spontaneous decision that changes everything? Check. After a disastrous studio session, Richard impulsively bangs out ``Tutti-Frutti'' on a piano; it quickly becomes the song he records to spectacular success.

Life-is-sweet montage of the record rocketing up the charts? Check. And, because white radio stations won't play his version, Pat Boone's jets up right beside his - one of the best scenes in the film intercuts between Richard and Boone recording the same song in their distinctive (using the term advisedly in Boone's case) styles.

Complaint that the record company ripped him off? Check. That doesn't prevent him, of course, from being able to buy his mother a pink mansion in Hollywood.

Director Robert Townsend has deliriously sent up this kind of material before - in the enjoyable Lifetime movie ``Jackie's Back'' (starring Jenifer Lewis, who plays Richard's mother here) - and offered an even more earnest take on it with the theatrical release ``The Five Heartbeats.'' What makes this worth viewing is the fairly electric performance of Leon (``The Temptations,'' ``Waiting to Exhale''), who captures Little Richard's flamboyant wit and early on-stage abandon.

The film is actually pretty faithful to Penniman's story (it does omit, however, that some of Richard's early rock performances - in blues bars - weren't particularly well-received; little did they know). It even flirts pretty heavily with portraying Penniman's homosexuality, though that or the word ``gay'' is never actually used - ``sissy'' is the closest they get here. Richard's lifelong struggle between his sacred beliefs and allegedly profane (and more profitable) music isn't convincingly depicted - Jerry Lee Lewis was beset by the same conflicting passions, and ``Great Balls of Fire'' made a mess out of conveying that battle as well. Nonetheless, whenever Leon lets loose, ``Little Richard'' is something to behold.

'Wishing Tree' makes magic

In ``The Wishing Tree,'' a high-octane lawyer named Clara (Alfre Woodard) returns to her hometown of Savannah, Ga., to attend her mother's funeral, and confronts her past. Her mother was a famed storyteller, and one tale in particular, which gives this film its name, concerned a tree in the Savannah woods that miraculously carried a young slave girl to her freedom some 150 years earlier.

The son of Clara's childhood friend ventures with a pal into the woods in search of the tree, certain it will help end the need to eat broccoli forever. Instead, they confront a mysterious, mute man who lives in the woods and has magic rattling around in his bones (Blair Underwood, dashing even under an unkempt Afro wig). Clara becomes privy to their secret rendezvous and keeps it quiet, which seems to become a tragic mistake.

Written by Grant Scharbo and directed by Ivan Passer, ``The Wishing Tree'' is the kind of unassuming, humanistic and offbeat story that John Sayles might tell (Woodard, in fact, starred in Sayles' film ``Passion Fish,'' which shares a fondness for the storytelling tradition). Even if it becomes a smidgen too melodramatic in its third act, and if Passer relies a little too heavily on child performances that aren't quite up to snuff, it's still a laudable family film that is quietly affecting in its own fashion.

- D.K.

Don't bring me 'Flowers'

From Matthew Modine's mawkish performance on down, everything about the remake of Daniel Keyes' beloved novel, ``Flowers for Algernon,'' is shamelessly manipulative piffle.

Made in the '60s as ``Charly'' (Cliff Robertson won an Oscar for his performance in the title role), it's the story of a retarded man surrounded by oafish palookas who tease him mercilessly - any big, dumb mistake is named after him - a Charly Gordon.

Charly's given the chance for brilliance through a radically experimental operation, which is successful - but only until a tragic discovery is made. Whereas Robertson, in the first film, had a chance to enjoy his time as a genius, Charly here turns bitter the second he crests the learning curve.

The only improvement this film has on its predecessor is that it eschews its dated, ultra-groovy split-screens. Otherwise, it's all too maudlin by half. This movie is a Charly Gordon.

- D.K.

THE FACTS

--The show: ``Little Richard.''

--What: Biopic about the flamboyant rock legend.

--Who: Leon, Jenifer Lewis, Tamala Jones, William James Jones, Carl Lumbly.

--Where: NBC (Channel 4).

--When: 9 tonight.

--Our rating: three stars

--The show: ``The Wishing Tree.''

--What: Telefilm about magic and storytelling in Savannah, Ga.

--Who: Alfre Woodard, Blair Underwood.

--Where: Showtime.

--When: 8 tonight.

--Our rating: three stars

--The show: ``Flowers for Algernon.''

--What: Adaptation of the Daniel Keyes novel about a retarded man turned brilliant by an experimental operation.

--Who: Matthew Modine, Kelli Williams, Ron Rifkin.

--Where: CBS (Channel 2).

--When: 9 tonight.

--Our rating: one and 1/2 stars

CAPTION(S):

4 photos

Photo: (1) Leon (yes, it's just Leon) plays the title role in NBC's biopic about legendary rocker Little Richard.

(2) Blair Underwood is a seemingly magical mute man and Alfre Woodard is a hard-charging lawyer in ``The Wishing Tree.''

(3) Matthew Modine is Charly Gordon in ``Flowers for Algernon.''