A Star Is Born : Celebrity: Tank Nelson’s common-sense movie critiques have turned the San Pedro longshoreman into a darling of the late-night talk-show circuit. Despite the fame, he still had his favorite seat for the Oscars . . . at home.

Rawlan (Tank) Nelson’s favorite movies used to be required viewing only for those who heard him bantering over breakfast at Canetti’s Seafood Grotto or saw his blackboard listing of favorite films hanging outside the front window of his San Pedro home.

His influence just didn’t extend too far from the port, where the burly movie buff has hauled luggage and other cargo as a member of the International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union for 41 years.

But in the month and a half since local newspapers first printed accounts of the 59-year-old grandfather’s reviewing prowess, Nelson’s common-sense critiques and ebullient love of the screen have gone from shore to shore.

In recent weeks, as hype for Monday’s Academy Awards was building, he has been seen on the “Today Show,” “Entertainment Tonight” and the “Dennis Miller Show.” His deep laugh has been heard on National Public Radio, as well as local stations in St. Louis and Washington.

“The next time you find yourself on a cruise ship out in the Port of Los Angeles, look for Tank Nelson,” Hollywood reporter Jim Brown said on “Today Show.” “As a longshoreman, he’ll take care of your luggage. As a movie critic, he’ll speak passionately of his favorite film.”

Dennis Miller, who sent a limousine to pick up Nelson in San Pedro, called Tank “a regular guy just like us” who offers a “proletariat’s perspective” of the movies.

And Nelson, who estimates that he has seen between 6,000 and 8,000 films, continues to roll.

Upcoming appearances include “Late Night With David Letterman,” a Home Box Office special and Bill Cosby’s “You Bet Your Life” show. To top it all off, “Entertainment Tonight” was so impressed with his clear-cut, common-man analyses that it may make him one of the show’s regular movie critics.

Of all the offers he has received, Nelson has turned down only one--an appearance on KIIS-FM with disc jockey Rick Dees. Nelson said he was turned off by a rap song about mass murderer Jeffrey Dahmer that he heard on the morning show.

All the exposure means Nelson is becoming as well-known as some of the stars on the screen. He is recognized by complete strangers, receives congratulatory phone calls and letters and now posts his upcoming television appearances on his blackboard for his fans.

“You are a better critic than Siskel and Ebert,” one letter said. “Ever consider changing jobs?”

The hoopla does have a downside, however. Nelson has been so busy with his appearances, he says, that he has not been able to keep up his regular theater-going routine.

He took a night off Monday for the Oscars, however, an evening that he says allows him to relive all the films.

The tuxedo-clad bigwigs of Hollywood may have spent the night schmoozing over champagne and hors d’oeuvres, but not Nelson. He stayed home in his small, second-story apartment on the movie industry’s biggest night of the year. He wore corduroys and a polo shirt and had take-out pizza and beer. During critical moments, his eyes were glued to the set.

When Anthony Hopkins took the stage to receive the best-actor award for playing Hannibal the Cannibal Lecter in “Silence of the Lambs,” at least one viewer got the chills. Just seeing Hopkins on the television screen brought back the film’s terror to Nelson.

“He was Hannibal Lecter,” Nelson said. “He scared you to death. When you walked out of the movie your blood was cold . . . and that takes some doing.”

As the nominee for best supporting actor was about to be announced, Nelson began chanting: “Come on, Jack. Come on, Jack.” He roared with laughter when Jack Palance took the stage.

“You couldn’t play the role any better than Palance played it,” he said. “He’s up against four good actors but Palance goes back years (to his 1953 appearance in ‘Shane.’) He’s a patriarch.”

Nelson has shied away from violent films on his blackboard reviews but he made a special case for “Silence of the Lambs,” posting it on his movie board at 22nd Street and Pacific Avenue but adding the warning, “THIS IS A VIOLENT FILM.”

Members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gave “Silence of the Lambs” five major awards, including the first best-picture Oscar ever for a terror film.

Nelson correctly picked Jonathan Demme as the best director too, but he stumbled when it came to best supporting actress. His choice was Diane Ladd of “Rambling Rose.” Inside the envelope, however, was Mercedes Ruehl of “Fisher King.”

“You rascals!” he said to any academy members that might be listening. “But she was awfully good. Mercedes was my second choice.”