SUMMER MOVIES : PREVIEWS: PASS ME THE POPCORN

The list of 62 titles below represents the major releases of the summer movie cavalcade, set to roar into the theaters in just weeks. The emphasis, as is the habit during the summer months, is escapism geared toward the younger crowd: James Bond dodges bullets and passes again, there’s a host of films (“The Goonies” and “The Emerald Forest” among them) about mysterious children’s adventures, a few fright films, a “Road Warrior” sequel and a heavy sampling of Spielbergesque science fiction.

For the adult audience, John Huston directs “Prizzi’s Honor” with Jack Nichloson, and there are also two major Westerns this summer, a rare sight at any time of the year: “Pale Rider,” Clint Eastwood’s return to the saddle, and “Silverado,” directed by Lawrence Kasdan.

Opening dates for the films are subject to change.

EARLY SUMMER

“A View to a Kill” James Bond (Roger Moore) returns to the screen for the 14th time to uncover the earth-shattering plans of a mysterious industrialist (Christopher Walken). With Tanya Roberts, Grace Jones and Patrick MacNee. Directed by John Glen. (MGM/UA) Opens Friday.

“Brewster’s Millions” Monty Brewster (Richard Pryor) stands to inherit a huge estate if he can dispose of $30 million in 30 days. His pal Spike (John Candy) offers to help spend it. Walter Hill directs. (Universal) Opens Wednesday.

“Bullshot” Based on the play “Bullshot Crummond” about the adventures of an amateur spy and private eye. Stars Ron House and Diz White. (Island Alive) Opens early July.

“Cocoon” Science fantasy about a band of attractive aliens and their encounters with a group of senior citizens who suddenly begin to feel and act half their age. With Steve Guttenberg, Jessica Tandy, Wilford Brimley, Maureen Stapleton, Hume Cronyn, Gwen Verdon, Jack Gilford, Brian Dennehy, Tahnee Welch (daughter of Raquel), Tyrone Power Jr. and Don Ameche. Directed by Ron Howard. (20th Century Fox) Opens June 21.

“Dangerous Moves” Academy Award-winner for best foreign-language film, this pits the reigning Soviet chess champion against a young Soviet emigre. Stars Michelle Piccli, Liv Ullman and Leslie Caron. (Spectrafilm) Opens Friday.

“D.A.R.Y.L.” An action-adventure story about an adopted young boy (Barret Oliver) who comes face to face with his real parents. With Marybeth Hurt, Michael McKean and Colleen Camp. (Paramount) Opens in June.

“Fletch” Chevy Chase is an investigative reporter who gets involved in a mystery concerning drug traffic on the beach. Directed by Michael Ritchie. (Universal) Opens May 31.

“The Goonies” Steven Spielberg’s production involves a group of “reject” kids whose underground exploration brings them into contact with a drooling monster, a pirate ship, treasure and a gang of criminals. Directed by Richard Donner. (Warner Bros.) Opens June 7.

“Inheritors” Chronicles the rise of neo-Nazism in modern Germany. (Island Alive) Opens mid to late June.

“Le Petit Con” Gerard Lauzier directs story of a self-absorbed French adolescent coming to terms with his place in the world. (Samuel Goldwyn Co.) Opens June 7.

“Life Force” Sci-fi thriller about aliens who absorb humans and turn them into creatures. Tobe Hooper directs. Steven Railsback, Peter Firth star. (Tri-Star) Opens June 28.

“The Lift “ Dutch suspense film about an elevator gone haywire with devestating results. (Island Alive) Opens late June.

“MacArthur’s Children” Portrait of the changes in post-World War II Japan as seen through the eyes of a Japanese child. Directed by Masahiro Shinoda. (Orion Classic) Opens Friday.

“1918” Matthew Broderick and Hallie Foote star in the story of the last year of World War I, and the great influenza epidemic, and their effects on a small Texas town. Ken Harrison directs. (Cinecom) Opens May 31.

“Pale Rider” Clint Eastwood stars in and directs this story set during the California Gold Rush. Eastwood wanders into a dispute between independent miners and an unfriendly corporation. (Warner Bros.) Opens June 28.

“Perfect” John Travolta plays a reporter for Rolling Stone whose work takes him into the world of fitness (where he meets aerobics instructor Jamie Lee Curtis), drug dealing and North Africa. Directed by James Bridges. (Columbia) Opens June 7.

“Prizzi’s Honor” John Huston directs this “bizarre comedy” about a Mafia hit man (Jack Nicholson) who marries a woman (Kathleen Turner) who turns out to be his female counterpart in crime. With Anjelica Huston (John’s daughter). Based on Richard Condon’s novel. (Fox) Opens June 14.

“Pumping Iron II: The Women” A behind-the-scenes look at a woman’s body building competition in Las Vegas, in which a definition of “femininity” becomes crucial. Directed by George Butler (“Pumping Iron”). (Cinecom International) Opens Friday.

“Rambo: First Blood II” Sylvester Stallone leads a mission to prisoner-of-war camps in Southeast Asia in this bullet-riddled sequel. (Tri-Star) Opens Wednesday.

“Return to Oz” This “non-musical, non-sequel” finds Dorothy (Fairuza Balk) revisiting the enchanted land of Oz to rescue the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion from the King who has destroyed the Emerald City. Written and directed by Walter Murch. (Disney) Opens June 21.

“Secret Admirer” A series of anonymous teen-age love letters sets off a chain of misadventures in the lives of a high school junior, his two potential girlfriends and their parents. With C. Thomas Howell. (Orion) Opens June 14.

“St. Elmo’s Fire” Seven recent college graduates learn about love, friendship and responsibility in this grown-up “Breakfast Club.” With Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy, Demi Moore, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy and Mare Winningham. Written and directed by Joel Schumacher. (Columbia) Opens June 28.

“Sylvia” Based on life of Sylvia Ashton Warner, an innovative teacher who revolutionized the educational systemn of tradition-bound New Zealand. Michael Firth directs. (MGM/UA Classics) Opens in late June.

OPENING MID SUMMER

“American Flyer” Two brothers, separated after the loss of their father, rekindle their relationship on a three-day cross-country bicycle race. Stars David Grant, Kevin Costner, Rae Dawn Chong, John Amos and Janice Rule. John Badham directs. (Warner Bros.) Opens mid-August.

“Back to the Future” A teen-ager travels back in time to 1955--the year his parents met as teen-agers--in a nuclear-powered car. His arrival--especially when his mother-to-be develops a crush on him--complicates fate. Produced by Steven Spielberg, directed by Robert Zemeckis. With Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson and Crispin Glover. (Universal) Opens July 19.

“Bad Medicine” The comic misadventures of a son from a family of doctors (Steve Guttenberg) who winds up in a South American medical school of sorts when he can’t get in anywhere else. With Julie Hagerty. Directed by Harvey Miller. (Fox) Opens Aug. 9.

“The Black Cauldron” Based on Lloyd Alexander’s books, this epic (and costly: $25 million, 10 years in the making) Disney animated production chronicles the struggle to gain possession of a mysterious force capable of producing an army of deathless warriors. (Disney) Opens July 26.

“The Bride” Sting portrays Baron Henry von Frankenstein, the brilliant scientist who creates a beautiful female bride (Jennifer Beals) for his well-known creature. But the baron decides to keep the girl for himself. Directed by Franc Roddam. (Columbia) Opens Aug. 16.

“Came a Hot Friday” Two 1949 con men meet their match in a tiny New Zealand town in this comedy. (Orion) Opens in July.

“Coca-Cola Kid” Eric Roberts stars in a comedy about a young go-getting Coca-Cola salesman who discovers an enclave in Australia bereft of the beverage. Directed by Dusan Makavejev. (Cinecom) Opens in August.

“Detective” Jean-Luc Godard directs Nathalie Baye and Johnny Hallyday in a thriller about the preparations surrounding a prize fight. (Spectrafilm) Opens in August.

“The Emerald Forest” An engineer (Powers Boothe) finds his kidnaped son in the jungles of the Amazon among a tribe untouched by civilization. Based on a true story. Directed by John Boorman. (Embassy Pictures) Opens July 30.

“Emperor Henry IV” Based on the play by Luigi Pirandello, starring Marcello Mastroianni and Claudia Cardinale. Marco Bellochio directs this story of fantasy vs. reality. (Orion Classics) Opens late July.

“Explorers” Joe Dante (“Gremlins”) directs a “Mark Twainian” adventure about three 13-year-old boys who create their own spacecraft from spare parts found in a junkyard, take flight and encounter the inevitable aliens. (Paramount) Opens July 12.

“Fair Is Fair” A girl next door (Helen Slater) becomes a modern-day hero after she and her brother (Christian Slater, her real brother) are wrongly accused of a crime and become fugitives. (Tri-Star) Opens July 12.

“Fright Night” A 16-year-old boy, unable to persuade others that his debonair neighbor is really a murderous vampire, turns to the host of a TV horror show for help. With Chris Sarandon, Roddy McDowall. (Columbia) Opens Aug. 2.

“The Heavenly Kid” Eighteen years after being killed in a car accident (he’s the one who goes off the cliff in “Rebel Without a Cause”), a teen-age hot-rodder is sent back to Earth to help a shy teen-ager become the most popular kid in school. With Lewis Smith, Jason Gedrick and Richard Mulligan. (Orion) Opens July 14.

“Inside Adam Swit” A 17-year-old dreamer (Raphael S’barge) doesn’t fit in with his peers or his family, but proves his values and his heroism by breaking up a stolen-car ring. He then falls in love with his fantasy girl (Page Hannah, Daryl’s sister). Directed by Roger Simon. (Tri-Star) Opens mid August.

“Insignificance” Nicolas Roeg directs Theresa Russell, Tony Curtis, Gary Busey and Michael Emil in a film about the coming together one night of a great scientist, a movie star, a legendary baseball player and a senator. (Island Alive) Opens in August.

“Invasion USA” Chuck Norris is called on to stop the first military invasion of the United States in more than 200 years. (Cannon) Opens Aug. 23.

“Key Exchange” Love story about a yuppie couple and their best friend. Stars Brooke Adams, Daniel Stern, Ben Masters. (Fox Classics) Opens in late August.

“Kiss of the Spiderwoman” Based on the novel by Manuel Puig about two cellmates and the stories one of them weaves. Hector Babenco directs William Hurt, Raul Julia and Sonia Braga. (Island Alive) Opens in late August.

“Lovesongs” Stars Catherine Deneuve and Christopher Lambert in a contemporary love story set in the world of rock. (Spectrafilm) Opens in mid August.

“Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome” Mel Gibson is back in the post-apocalyptic future and finds a pack of kids living in a crack in the Earth. George Miller, who made the first two in the series--”Mad Max” and “The Road Warrior”--co-writes and co-directs. Tina Turner co-stars. (Warner Bros.) Opens July 12.

“The Man With One Red Shoe” Romantic comedy about mistaken identity. Tom Hanks (“Splash”) is a hapless musician who is bugged, shadowed and burglarized while remaining unaware that anything is wrong. Stan Dragoti directs. (Fox) Opens in July.

“My Science Project” A fantasy-adventure about a teen-ager whose desperate search for something to turn in as his science project results in an extaordinary discovery--a remnant from a UFO that propels his school into another dimension. With John Stockwell. (Disney) Opens in early August.

“National Lampoon’s European Vacation” The Griswolds (Chevy Chase, Beverly D’Angelo, Anthony Michael Hall, Dana Hill) are back on the road to misadventure when they win a vacation to Europe. Amy Heckerling directs. (Warner Bros.) Opens July 26.

“Pee-wee’s Big Adventure” Comic Pee-wee Herman begins a search to recover his most prized possession--his magical bike. (Warner Bros.) Opens in August.

“Real Genius” Martha Coolidge (“Valley Girl”) directs this comedy about two teen-age genius roommates who join forces to survive a tough high-tech college and their selfish professor. (Tri-Star) Opens in mid-August.

“Red Sonja” Sonja is the female version of Conan. Stars Arnold Schwarzenegger (not playing Conan) and Brigitte Nielsen in the title role. Sonja seeks to save her prehistoric world from an evil queen (Sandahl Bergman, another “Conan” alumna). Directed by Richard Fleischer. (MGM/UA) Opens July 23.

“Sesame Street Presents Follow That Bird” Big Bird, Oscar, Bert, Ernie and the Cookie Monster in their first motion picture. Big Bird is plucked from the peaceful life on Sesame Street to a birdhouse in suburbia, whereupon his friends try to find him. Cameos by John Candy, Dave Thomas, Joe Flaherty, Sandra Bernhard and Waylon Jennings. (Warner Bros.) Opens early August.

“Silverado” Lawrence Kasdan co-wrote, produced and directed this Western in which four cowboys clash with a cattle baron. With Kevin Kline, Scott Glenn, Linda Hunt, Jeff Goldblum, Danny Glover and Rosanna Arquette. (Columbia) Opens July 19.

“Summer Rental” A harried air-traffic controller (John Candy) takes his family for what proves to be a far-from-tranquil vacation: a series of misadventures at a rented beach house. With Richard Crenna, Rip Torn. Directed by Carl Reiner. (Paramount) Opens in August.

“The Stuff” The ice cream industry is in for a sudden thaw when “The Stuff,” an ice cream alternative, becomes the food craze of the year. But “The Stuff” turns out to be an all-consuming parasite. Michael Moriarty, Andrea Marcovicci, Paul Sorvino, Garrett Morris star. (New World) Opens July 5.

“Teen Wolf” Comedy about a young high school boy who finds out he’s a werewolf. Michael J. Fox (“Family Ties”) stars. (Atlantic Releasing Corp.) Opens Aug. 9.

“Volunteers” Nicholas Meyer turns to comedy as he directs this story of a disenchanted college youth (Tom Hanks) who recklessly joins the Peace Corps and ships out for Thailand. John Candy is an over-zealous volunteer kidnaped and brainwashed by a group of Communists. (Tri-Star) Opens Aug. 2.

“Weird Science” A teen-age “Frankenstein,” with a pair of awakening computer wizards creating their own very luscious monster (Kelly Le Brock). Directed by John Hughes. Anthony Michael Hall and Ilan Mitchell-Smith. (Universal) Opens Aug. 2.

“Year of the Dragon” In Michael Cimino’s first film since the disastrous “Heaven’s Gate,” Mickey Rourke is a respected police captain who finds himself at war with his department, his wife and his best friend as he attempts to destroy a powerful New York Chinatown crime syndicate. (MGM/UA) Opens Aug. 16.

RELEASE DATE TO BE ANNOUNCED

“Grace Quigley” Katharine Hepburn stars in this black comedy about a wily woman who sets up shop with a hit man (Nick Nolte) to help usher the elderly out of their misery and into the hereafter. (Cannon)

“Dancing With a Stranger” The story of Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in Britain in 1955 for shooting her lover. Stars Miranda Richardson, Rupert Everett and Ian Holm.

“Love on the Ground” Art imitates life when two actresses (Geraldine Chaplin, Jane Birkin) become involved in a play that turns out to be an autobiographical account of a love triangle. Directed by Jacques Rivette. (Spectrafilm)

“Wetherby” Playwright David Hare directs Vanessa Redgrave and her daughter, Joely Richardson. (MGM/UA Classics)