SWEET, WISTFUL `JOHNS' DOESN'T QUITE DO THE TRICK.

Byline: Amy Dawes Daily News Film Critic

Ever wonder about those teen-age boys you see loitering along the Hollywood stretch of Santa Monica Boulevard, plying their trade from the time the sun comes up?

Filmmaker Scott Silver did, and he spent months pounding the sidewalks with the youths, offering them $20 to tell him their stories rather than share other intimacies.

Instead of making a documentary, Silver made a sweet, wistful feature film, ``johns,'' something that tries to capture the fragile emotional tenor of survival in an incredibly dangerous and unstable environment.

The narrator of his story is a skinny, gangly teen-ager called Donner (Lukas Haas), a gentle soul from an upper-middle-class family whose doctor father banished him after Donner confessed he was gay. Ill-suited for the streets, Donner attempts to survive by forging a friendship with someone tougher and more experienced.

It's actually more of a love affair, since Donner appears to have a crush on the crew-cut John (David Arquette), a battle-scarred young street survivor who strings along a girlfriend (Alanna Ubach) and tells himself that he's not gay, he's merely hustling to survive.

John brushes off most of Donner's attempts to forge a bond, but a touching friendship develops nonetheless, something that on a much slighter order reminds us of the relationship between Joe Buck and Ratzo Rizzo in ``Midnight Cowboy'' or the characters played by River Pheonix and Keanu Reeves in ``My Own Private Idaho.''

The low-budget ``johns'' is neither as ambitious or as well-developed as either of those movies; it stays mostly on the surface of behavior, with its characters' pasts barely hinted at, though we can't help but wonder what turned John to this life.

As a filmmaker, Silver is infatuated with the flat, white, sun-blasted visual qualities of the boulevard, which cinematographer Tom Richmond (``Little Odessa'') effectively captures, partly by overexposing the film.

Silver also loves - and communicates - the almost tidal rhythm of the foot traffic that ebbs and flows up and down the same few blocks as the familiar flotsam and jetsam of the streets washes up and back, staying afloat through another trying day.

There's a wisp of a plot here involving John's attempts to make his birthday dream come true by buying himself a single night of luxury in an opulent hotel. For that, he needs $300, which is the same amount he owes to a street drug pusher (Terrence Dashon Howard) who is threatening him with bodily harm.

John and Donner try to earn the money to take care of both accounts, which brings them into contact with various abusive tricks (actors Elliott Gould, Arliss Howard and John C. McGinley do cameos).

Silver keeps the emotional tone somewhat buffered from the degradation; he seems more interested in the sad poetry of it all than in hammering home the social costs.

Haas, who's recently appeared in the mainstream movies ``Independence Day'' and Woody Allen's ``Everyone Says I Love You,'' gives a brave, open performance as the sweet-spirited Lucas, though the part is slightly written and there isn't a great deal for him to work with. Arquette (``Scream''), who bears a resemblance to the young Dennis Hopper, is also highly watchable.

``Johns'' was featured in the 1996 Sundance Film Festival a year ago and has since won awards at the San Sebastian and Valencia film festivals.

It has a swaggering, bluesy score by 74-year-old L.A. blues legend Charles Brown.

THE FACTS

The film: ``johns'' (R; language, sex, violence).

The stars: Lukas Haas, David Arquette.

Behind the scenes: Written and directed by Scott Silver. Produced by Beau Flynn and Stefan Simchowitz. Released by First Look Pictures.

Running time: One hour, 36 minutes.

Playing: Select theaters.

Our rating: Two Stars.

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Photo

Photo: John (David Arquette), left, and Donner (Lukas Haas) are hustlers working the Hollywood stretch of Santa Monica Boulevard in ``johns.''