WHAT'S HAPPENING : FILM.

Love, sweat and tears: There are lots of films about filmmaking. But there's never been another like Francois Truffaut's droll and hearfelt valentine to the invigorating, maddening process, ``Day for Night.''

Now back in a newly struck, 25th anniversary print at the Royal Theatre in West Los Angeles, it's a great movie about making a not very good movie, but loving the process anyway. The late Truffaut, one of France's finest auteurs and arguably the nation's premiere film buff, plays the director who has to put out one absurd fire after another on his emotion-charged Nice location. Only his affection for the art form - it certainly isn't his talent - gets him through.

From the suicidally romantic leading man (Jean-Pierre Leaud) to the breakdown-prone lead actress (Jacqueline Bisset) to a perpetually plastered grand dame (Valentina Cortese), the dysfunctional souls that find temporary home on the production set are limned with great good humor and unfailing compassion. ``Day for Night'' is one of Truffaut's most heartfelt masterpieces - and that's an awful lot of heart.

- Bob Strauss

television

Playing with justice: James Garner, Kathleen Turner, Gina Gershon, Edward Kerr and Mary Louise Parker star in ``Legalese'' (8 p.m. Sunday, TNT), a new TV movie that tweaks both the legal profession and the media, particularly television's quest for getting the story at all costs. Garner plays high-profile, big bucks L.A. attorney Norman Keane. Gershon plays Angela Beale, an actress and pitchwoman for the American Apple Board, who may or may not have killed her brother-in-law. Kerr plays a young attorney Keane calls on to handle the Beale case, and Parker plays Garner's assistant and love interest for Kerr. Turner is a driven tabloid TV anchor and reporter who will stop at nothing to get the story. Beale comes to Keane for legal assistance. He doesn't really want to handle the case, so he makes a deal with Kerr - if he will take the Beale case Keane will direct the defense, but from behind the scenes. And that direction includes playing the media to gain sympathy for Beale and hopefully avoid a trial. As Keane tells Beale, ``trials are won on television.''

- Orange County Register

music

In their own league: On their Grammy-nominated album, Havana's Afro-Cuban All Stars paid tribute to their heroes, the legendary salsa singers of Cuba's golden age.

It's a musical tradition in which leader Juan de Marcos Gonzalez is steeped, even though the fashionable bands of the day in '70s Cuba included Yes, Jethro Tull and King Crimson.

Since then, Marcos has played with his group, Sierra, Maestra while planning an orchestra that brought together the remaining stars of the '40s and '50s with musicians from other generations.

That big band is the 15-piece Afro-Cuban All Stars, which appears tonight at the Conga Room in Los Angeles and Saturday at the Hollywood Bowl for the fifth annual Salsa & Latin Jazz Festival with Eddie Palmieri and Albita.

The All Stars' critically acclaimed 1997 album, ``A Toda Cuba Le Gusta'' (``Everyone in Cuba Loves It''), was cut in Havana with four generations of local musicians.

Marcos' group includes 79-year-old pianist Ruben Gonzalez, who wowed the crowd at Carnegie Hall this summer when the equally respected Buena Vista Social Club played its only U.S. date.

The Conga Room is at 5364 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. Show time is 11:30 p.m. and tickets are $27.50 or $62.50. Information: [phone].

The Hollywood Bowl is at 2301 N. Highland Ave., Hollywood. Show time is 8 p.m. and tickets are $23 to $128. Information: [phone].

- Fred Shuster

stage

Good while it lasts: It would be overkill to point out why Arthur Miller's ``The Crucible'' is once again a play for our times. But what the heck, we'll point out it anyway. Better yet, see for yourself by visiting the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum, where Miller's McCarthyite parable has been brought back for three performances through Oct. 4. While Miller's allegorical writing still makes us ponder our puritanical heritage, it's the performances here that have drawn sellout crowds and enthusiastic reviews all summer. New shows have been aded at 8 tonight, and 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. The outdoor theater is at 1419 N. Topanga Canyon Blvd., six miles south of the Ventura Freeway (101). For information, call [phone].

- Reed Johnson

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

Photo: (1) Francois Truffaut, left, plays the director who loves his work despite the frustration in his masterpiece ``Day for Night,'' showing at the Royal Theatre in West Los Angeles.

(2) The 15-piece Afro-Cuban All Stars appears tonight at the Conga Room in Los Angeles and Saturday at the Hollywood Bowl for the fifth annual Salsa & Latin Jazz Festival.

(3) Arthur Miller's ``The Crucible'' is back for three performances starting tonight through Sunday at the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum.