HORSIN' AROUND; BILLY CRUDUP MAKES THE MOST OUT OF WWII COWBOY ROLE.

Byline: Fred Shuster Daily News Staff Writer

Billy Crudup, who co-stars with Woody Harrelson in the stirring new cowboy movie ``The Hi-Lo Country,'' realized he was in over his head the first time he was asked to put his horse in a good, fast gallop.

``I made the mistake of believing I had ridden properly before,'' the actor recalled. ``So, I had a refresher course about two months before we began shooting. When I got on the horse and was told to run him around a little, I knew I'd need to really work on it to gain some freedom and comfort.''

Crudup, most recently seen in Robert Towne's ``Without Limits'' as legendary long-distance runner Steve Prefontaine, plays quiet, moody Pete Calder in British director Stephen Frears' ``The Hi-Lo Country,'' which gives an account of cowboy life in bleak Hi-Lo, N.M., immediately before and after World War II.

``That wild West lifestyle was very simple but extremely brutal and difficult,'' Crudup, 30, said. ``My character has a clear vision of what he needs to lead a content life, and not much can obstruct that. I myself long for that level of simplicity.''

In the authentic-looking film - based on Max Evans' classic 1961 novel of the same title - Calder is a close friend of Big Boy Matson (Harrelson), a hell-raising, hard-living ranch hand who shares Calder's love for the same woman, Mona (Patricia Arquette).

``We all had a similar sense of humor on the set, so it was a pretty easy time between us,'' the New York-based Crudup said. ``These are actors I admire quite a bit. So getting to watch them and see their process, I sort of felt like a kid in a candy store. My role was primary, but I really grew to appreciate the story because the novel illustrated the elements of friendship involved. Pete learns about life and the world through Big Boy and Mona.''

Although the love triangle is one clear aspect of the plot, the friendship between Calder and Big Boy and the feelings of the ranchers who stayed behind when war broke out - and got rich off skyrocketing beef prices - are far more interesting plot points of the screenplay by Walon Green (co-screenwriter of Sam Peckinpah's ``The Wild Bunch'').

Crudup, who most recently appeared at Manhattan's CSC Theatre opposite Oscar-winning actress Frances McDormand in an adaptation of Sophocles' ``Oedipus,'' was the first actor signed for ``The Hi-Lo Country'' after the filmmakers saw him perform on the New York stage.

``Billy is a very serious, skilled actor who goes into the depths of his character,'' said Frears, who also directed 1990's ``The Grifters,'' which was nominated for several Oscars. ``He works things through very thoroughly. His portrayal of Pete is very touching and heartfelt.''

For his part, Crudup said Frears' British background allows the director to bring a different sensibility to the western genre.

``He doesn't have the baggage and patriotism and doesn't attempt to preserve this western image Americans have created for themselves,'' Crudup explained. ``That allows him to look at the story in a unique way. He's also terrific in telling stories of interpersonal relationships and gets to the nuances of friendships and affairs and love which made it easy for us to create three-dimensional characters, because that's what he was interested in.''

For his role as Prefontaine earlier this year, Crudup worked with a trainer and studied videotapes of the famed '70s long-distance runner.

``I wanted to capture him as accurately as possible,'' the actor said. ``It was a very different sort of preparation than I'd ever done before. It wasn't so much about my imagination as trying to mimic someone who's actually living.''

Towne, writer-director of ``Without Limits,'' said Crudup brought a rare charisma and physicality to the story of the late Prefontaine.

``It's very difficult to suggest the kind of magnetic presence the character had in life,'' Towne said. ``It's very hard for any actor, let alone a relatively unknown one. But you can't take your eyes off Billy. He has the same kind of compelling thing Steve had, along with an incredibly disciplined talent that allowed him to physically realize the part and transform himself into a world-class runner.''

Crudup brings the same kind of intensity to Calder in ``The Hi-Lo Country.'' The actor says the most puzzling aspect of his character in the film is while the youthful cowboy has a steady relationship with the beautiful Josepha (Penelope Cruz), he cannot lose his desire for Big Boy's squeeze, Mona.

``Here he has this beautiful woman who loves him, yet for inexplicable reasons he tosses that away, and I find people do that in their lives all the time,'' the New York-bred Crudup said. ``We have cases of that happening in very high political ranks right now. It begs the question, why? Yet it happens to all of us over and over again.''

Gramercy Pictures' ``The Hi-Lo Country'' is playing at the Cineplex Beverly Center in West Hollywood.

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PHOTO Billy Crudup