FILM/SNEAK PEEK : CRITICS HONOR SCREENWRITING DUO.

Byline: - Bob McCarthy

The Los Angeles Film Critics Association plans to honor this year's Career Achievement Award winners Jules Epstein and Abraham Polonsky with a two-night screening tonight and Saturday at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's Bing Theatre.

Epstein and his brother, Philip, wrote the script for ``Casablanca'' (1942), an all-time American favorite and an enduring example of film art and entertainment. It will screen at 7:30 p.m., followed by ``Force of Evil'' (1948), which Polonsky scripted and directed in 1948, three years before he was blacklisted in Hollywood during the Communist witch hunts by the House Un-American Activities Committee. For the next 17 years, he continued to write under an alias.

On Saturday, Polonsky's 1969 allegorical western ``Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here'' screens at 7:30 p.m. A moderated discussion with the writer-director is scheduled afterward. Epstein's last film, ``Reuben, Reuben'' (1982), with an irascible Scottish poet as its central character, will conclude the tribute.

Tickets cost $7 general admission, $5 for museum and AFI members and students with valid ID. Call [phone] or Ticketmaster for ticket information.

Up the coast

Two-time Academy Award winner Sally Field is being honored Saturday night at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival at the historic Arlington Theatre.

Field will discuss her film career, both as a performer and producer-director, and film clips will be shown during the two-hour event. Her film credits include ``Norma Rae'' and ``Places in the Heart,'' for which she won Oscars, and ``Forrest Gump,'' ``Mrs. Doubtfire'' and ``Steel Magnolias.''

The festival runs through March 14 and features salutes to Carl Reiner (March 12) and Elliot Gould (March 13). A series of workshops; talks from industry professionals; and screenings of shorts, features and documentaries are scattered at various Santa Barbara theaters and venues.

Director Franco Dragone's ``Alegria'' is the closing-night feature and will follow the awards presentation. ``Alegria'' was inspired by the celebrated Cirque du Soleil and marks the film debut of mime and clown Rene Bazinet, who plays the role of a sweet but disillusioned mime. The film takes its title from a Spanish word for joy, elation and jubilation.

For festival tickets, call the Arlington Ticket Agency at [phone].