`FLED' DIRECTOR HOOKS ON A FEELING.

Byline: Joshua Mooney Entertainment News Wire

In 1968, when he was 9 years old, Kevin Hooks appeared on the television series ``NYPD,'' which starred his father, Robert Hooks. It was a tiny role - he delivered a note to a man who roughed him up - but one he's never forgotten. ``That guy was Al Pacino,'' Hooks says now.

Four years later, Hooks played Cicely Tyson's son in ``Sounder,'' the groundbreaking drama of black sharecroppers in the deep South. ``That year I went to the Oscars when `Sounder' was nominated for Best Picture along with `The Godfather,' '' he recalls. ``So I saw Al Pacino again, and he said, `You've come a long way.' And I said, `Yeah, so have you.' ''

Actually, that was just the beginning for Hooks, whose career as an actor and director has spanned almost 30 years. After completing his stint as a regular on the popular TV series ``The White Shadow,'' Hooks moved behind the camera, directing episodes of ``St. Elsewhere,'' ``China Beach,'' ``Equal Justice'' and others. His second feature film, the action adventure ``Passenger 57,'' starring Wesley Snipes, was a hit in 1994. Now he's back with No. 3, the action-comedy ``Fled,'' starring Steven Baldwin and Laurence Fishburne as two convicts on the run from just about everyone.

Summers traditionally are the best time for such fast-paced, escapist fare. But this summer's record-breaking hits such as ``Mission: Impossible,'' ``Twister'' and ``Independence Day'' have upped the ante. The big films are so big, says Hooks, ``that there may be a tendency for people to overlook the smaller films without as many effects and without big, big stars.''

``Fled'' does have the intense Oscar-nominated presence of Fishburne (``What's Love Got to Do With It'') teaming up with Baldwin in an action-packed story complete with stunts, car chases and witty banter. Still, says Hooks, ``I don't know if that adds up to having Arnold Schwarzenegger or Tom Cruise in a $100 million action film. We'll have to see.''

Not that Hooks is anything less than pleased with ``Fled.'' ``Our film delivers,'' he promises, ``even if the explosions aren't as big as some. What we offer that the others don't have, I think, is a chemistry between the two lead actors that's reminiscent of `48 HRS.' and `Lethal Weapon' - or `The Defiant Ones.' That's always fun to see.''

``Fled,'' like those earlier hits, draws much of its comic energy from the conflict between its black and white leading men. But Hooks says the important thing here is the chemistry between two good actors, not their race. ``When `The Defiant Ones' came out, race relations were really misunderstood in this country,'' he says. ``We were in the crux of the civil rights movement, and the relationship between the film's stars, Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier, was much more dramatic and important than in this film. `Fled' is really about two guys who have nothing in common on the surface. They bond, and by the end they're friends.''

Unlike many of today's African-American filmmakers, whose work deals explicitly with the issues of race and black culture, Hooks' film and TV work often covers broader ground. ``Fled,'' like ``Passenger 57,'' is an action story meant to entertain in the tradition of mainstream Hollywood. That, Hooks says, is precisely the point: ``While we do have a plethora of films being directed by African-Americans now, they tend to be very urban films, and that's somewhat disappointing. I would hope that African-American directors would continue to broaden the scope of the stories that we tell.

``I think it's important for filmmakers to be filmmakers,'' he continues. ``I hesitate to categorize myself as an African-American filmmaker. In one respect, I'm obviously proud that I am. On the other hand, I think some people look at that and limit you to just that: Well, he's an African-American filmmaker who specializes in the African-American experience. No one person in this world is exclusive to only one cultural experience, whether they admit it or not. We're exposed to many cultures and experiences. I draw on those as a filmmaker.''

Broadening the range of movies that black filmmakers produce, Hooks believes, is the best way to expand opportunities for all African-Americans in Hollywood, which has never been a land of opportunity for minorities. While a handful of big stars, including Fishburne, Snipes and Denzel Washington, compete on a more or less level playing field, they are, Hooks says, a ``minority of the minority. They've broken through the barrier of race. But while we've done more in the last 10 years than we have in all the previous years, there are still a tremendous number of African-Americans who do not get the opportunities in Hollywood that they work hard for. My father and I often talk about the fact that that hasn't really changed since he first started in this business.''

Robert Hooks plays a detective in ``Fled'' - the second feature film he's appeared in for his son, who calls his father ``a consummate pro.'' Kevin Hooks also directed his own son, Michael, in a brief but memorable scene in the film. ``I think that's the first time you've had three generations of African-Amercians working on a film together,'' says Kevin. ``And now I think my son is going to jump on the acting bandwagon.''

``Fled'' might not have made it to the big screen if it weren't for the 20-year-old relationship between Hooks and Fishburne, which began when they competed for the same role in Francis Ford Coppola's Vietnam epic ``Apocalypse Now.''

``We were the final two actors in consideration for the role, which he ended up getting,'' Hooks recalls. Fishburne played a teen-age soldier from Harlem trying to survive the carnage of the war. ``The film changed our lives tremendously. For him it was a breakthrough role that made people say, `Wow, who is this?' For me it was the kind of disappointment that brought home the reality of Hollywood. I said to myself, `There are many other things you can do besides just act.' Without that experience, I probably wouldn't be a director today.''

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

Photo: (1) In the action-comedy ``Fled,'' Steven Baldwin , left, and Laurence Fishburne are two convicts on the run from just about everyone.

(2) `I hesitate to categorize myself as an African-American filmmaker. In one respect, I'm obviously proud that I am. On the other hand, I think some people look at that and limit you to just that.'

Kevin Hooks