`SAVING PRIVATE RYAN' TOPS L.A. FILM CRITICS' LIST.

Byline: Bob Strauss Daily News Film Writer

``Saving Private Ryan'' won its first major skirmish of the 1998 movie awards season Saturday, capturing best picture, director and cinematography nods from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.

Steven Spielberg's graphically violent D-Day epic was the only film to win three LAFCA awards. Other multiple winners were the television satire ``Pleasantville'' and the prep school comedy ``Rushmore,'' both of which won two.

Best actor honors went to Ian McKellen for his portrayal of ``Frankenstein'' director James Whale in ``Gods and Monsters,'' which adds to the momentum begun last week when he received the same prize from the film scholars' organization the National Board of Review.

There was a tie for LAFCA's best actress between former Brat Pack princess Ally Sheedy, who played a self-destructive photographer in ``High Art,'' and Fernanda Montenegro, the 67-year-old star of the Brazilian production ``Central Station'' (Montenegro also won the National Board Award).

There was another tie in LAFCA's supporting actor category. Billy Bob Thornton was cited for his work as a slow-witted small-town guy in ``A Simple Plan,'' and Bill Murray was named for his two roles as an unconventional tycoon in ``Rushmore'' and a sleazy lawyer in ``Wild Things.''

Best supporting actress went to Joan Allen for her portrayal of the black-and-white sitcom mom who blossoms into color in ``Pleasantville.'' ``Pleasantville'' also won for Jeanine Oppewall's production design, while ``Rushmore'' director and co-writer Wes Anderson earned the organization's New Generation Award for emerging talent.

Along with cinematographer Janusz Kaminski for ``Saving Private Ryan,'' other behind-the-scenes award winners were Warren Beatty and Jeremy Pisker for the ``Bulworth'' screenplay and Elliot Goldenthal for music score for ``The Butcher Boy.''

Two animation awards were approved, for Disney and Pixar's feature ``A Bug's Life'' and the Dutch short film ``T.R.A.N.S.I.T.'' The foreign language film winner was Denmark's ``The Celebration,'' and the documentary prize went to the prison expose ``The Farm: Angola USA.'' The experimental/independent award-winner was ``Shulie.''

LAFCA's Career Achievement awards, which were voted at an earlier meeting, go this year to ``Casablanca'' screenwriter Julius Epstein and blacklisted writer-directer Abraham Polonsky (``Body and Soul,'' ``Force of Evil''). Special citations were also approved in honor of the Hollywood-based American Cinemateque's director Barbara Zicka Smith and the team behind the restoration of Orson Welles' classic ``Touch of Evil.''

LAFCA is made up of critics who have reviewed films for Southern California-based publications and radio stations. Forty-one members attended the voting meeting in Northridge on Saturday. The awards will be presented at the Bel Age Hotel in West Hollywood on January 20.

The nation's two other major critics groups, the New York Film Critics Circle and the National Society of Film Critics, vote for their awards on Wednesday and January 3, respectively. The Golden Globe Awards, which are generally considered the most accurate predictor of how the motion picture Academy will vote, announce their nominations Thursday.

Notable for their absence in LAFCA's winner and runner-up lists are such heavily touted Oscar hopefuls as the Italian Holocaust comedy ``Life Is Beautiful,'' Robin Williams' upcoming medical heart-warmer ``Patch Adams,'' the John Travolta courtroom drama ``A Civil Action'' and that other World War II film, Terrence Malick's hotly anticipated ``The Thin Red Line.''

LAFCA runners-up include ``The Butcher Boy'' for best picture, Nick Nolte for best actor for ``Affliction,'' Kathy Bates for supporting actress for ``Primary Colors'' and John Boorman for director for ``The General.'' ``The General'' was also runner-up for Cinematography. Other runners-up were ``Gods and Monsters'' for music, ``The Truman Show'' for production design and ``Shakespeare In Love'' for screenplay.

``Central Station'' was the foreign language runner-up. ``Public Housing'' came in second for documentary.

L.A. FILM CRITICS` AWARDS

BEST PICTURE

``Saving Private Ryan''

BEST ACTOR

Ian McKellen

``Gods and Monsters''

BEST ACTRESS (tie)

Ally Sheedy

``High Art''

Fernanda Montenegro

``Central Station''

BEST DIRECTOR

Steven Spielberg

``Saving Private Ryan''

CAPTION(S):

Photo, Box

PHOTO (Color) no caption (Scene from ``Saving Private Ryan'')

BOX: L.A. FILM CRITICS` AWARDS (see text)