Televison Reviews : Billy Joel Gets Mad ‘n’ Gets <i> Baaad</i> in the U.S.S.R.

Fans of cultural match-offs will find conflict in “A Matter of Trust: Billy Joel in the U.S.S.R.” (tonight at 9:30 on ABC Channels 7, 3, 10, 42), though it’s not quite “Rocky IV.”

In one of the earliest scenes in this surprisingly entertaining 90-minute documentary, Joel beats the Soviet machinery not by clobbering their fighters but by literally going over the heads of the upper crust planted in the front rows at his Moscow concerts to appeal directly to the rock-hungry populace in the rear.

At his opening show, Joel--who’s not unlike the sweet Stallone of the first “Rocky” film with his urban accent, street-tough attitude and ultimate benignancy--is met by what seems to be marked audience disinterest. Soon, our hero notices that the front section is packed with Party plants and hears the real screaming fans beyond the footlights. He invites everyone up front, and in storybook fashion the kids proceed to drive themselves into a wild frenzy.

Fast-talking, gum-snapping piano man Joel emerges as a man with an indefatigable, almost suffocating pride, but pride that’s at least based on a considerable musical talent. His run-ins with Soviet autograph-seekers are fun--more so when he meets a Russian rock-hater who calls Soviet musicians “the shame of the country” than when he and wife Christie Brinkley cavort with their baby daughter.

His famous “temper tantrum” on stage also comes into better focus. Joel’s mid-song trashing of some of his equipment, it seems, was a signal of anger with the documentary’s lighting crew, which was training bright lights on the audience at length against his instructions.

Not all of Joel’s insights are profound. We hear predictable thoughts about music being an “international language” (yawn) and that the Soviets “have sadness like we have sadness, joy like we have joy” (zzzzz).

And as much as Joel talks about communicating past language and cultural barriers, he never does discuss just what he intends to communicate--unless you count trite asides such as “The point of rock ‘n’ roll is craziness and everybody having a good time . . . (It) makes ‘em feel free.” It does, obviously, but the why of that will have to wait for another documentary.