MOVIE REVIEW : Portrait of a World-Class Gate-Crasher in ‘Painting the Town’ : Andrew Behar’s intriguing film depicts a painter-cabbie who charms his way into the world of those who would exclude ‘the rest of us.’

What makes Andrew Behar’s “Painting the Town” (Saturdays and Sundays at 11 a.m. only at the Sunset 5, with a special holiday screening Monday, Jan. 18, at 11 a.m.) so intriguing is that its portrait of a world-class party crasher makes us ponder how blurred the line between craziness and eccentricity can be. On the whole, its subject Richard Osterweil has sufficient self-awareness--plus a terrific sense of camp humor--to persuade us that he ultimately has not lost touch with reality in his pursuit of his obsession with celebrity, which at one point drove him to steal Katharine Hepburn’s garbage.

The very making of the film had to have been good for him, a conscious relinquishing of anonymity that could well put an end to his party-crashing. But then by film’s finish Osterweil is able to tell us proudly that none other than Brooke Astor, doyenne of Manhattan society, has had him to dinner under his own name.

What Osterweil has done, in short, is to persuade us to accept his view of himself and his life. A painter by aspiration and a taxicab driver by necessity, he has a part-time job as a coat-checker at a chic restaurant (which allowed him to try on the coats of Lauren Bacall and Bruce Springsteen). Osterweil, who is 39, realized upon arriving in New York some 15 years ago that he was an utter nonentity and became determined “to put over something on those who separate themselves from the rest of us.” With Scarlett O’Hara as his model for courage and determination he decided to go for it--to wangle his way into as many glittery events as he possibly could, and he is hilarious as he reveals the ingenuity and quick-wittedness he has employed over the years to get into the most exclusive affairs. With a receding hairline, dark hair and a command of foreign accents, Osterweil is blessed with a singularly nondescript appearance, which with the proper clothes and manners, has been a guarantee of success far more often than not.

His best trick was to have a friend, while on a house tour, get the number off the phone in a suite in which the late Princess Grace stayed on her visits to New York. Once when she was in town he called her, posing as a classmate of her son, Prince Albert, at Amherst, and he says they had a long, pleasant conversation. Osterweil is the man who presented a grateful Leona Helmsley with a rose during her trial and, at Imelda Marcos’ trial, he found himself talking shoes with the former first lady of the Philippines. “It can’t get better than that,” says Osterweil, laughing at the absurdity of it all. Osterweil’s antics invariably seem harmless and never cruel.

Clearly a crucial turning point in Osterweil’s life was an acquaintance he struck up with the aristocratic beauty Judith Peabody, whom he would see at the ballet even more than at parties. Peabody impressed him with her hands-on charity work, including her efforts to help people with AIDS. Peabody became a person to him, not just a gilt-edged name, and he began to paint her. Osterweil is no amateur artist but, inspired by Proust, a gifted, whimsical chronicler of high society at its most elegant. He doesn’t say so--but then he never uses the word “vicarious” in regard to his behavior either--but it would seem that Peabody has helped give him a sense of identity.

Patrick Dennis’ Auntie Mame said famously that “Life is a banquet, and most of the poor SOBs are starving to death.” By the time “Painting the Town” (Times-rated Family) is over, the amazingly self-reliant Richard Osterweil has convinced you that he has succeeded in making his own life a banquet. “How much better can my life be than it is now?,” he asks--rhetorically.

‘Painting the Town’

A Zeitgeist Films release. Director Andrew Behar. Producer Sara Sackner. Cinematographer Hamid Shams. Editors Sackner, Behar. Production design Sackner. Sound Edward Campbell, Peter Fish, Chazz Menendez. Running time: 1 hour, 20 minutes.

Times-rated Family (suitable for all ages).