Jeff Bridges may be no Golden Gate, but Lord knows how many of us would liketo drive across him. Currently being directed by Barbra Streisand in theromantic comedy “The Mirror Has Two Faces”–this is what she delayed the filming of “The Normal Heart” once again for– and getting ready for the release of what word has out as a mega-hit, Ridley Scott’s “White Squall,” the blond, wryly wholesome star took off some time to promote his new western, “Wild Bill.”

Directed by Walter (“Geronimo”; “48 Hrs.”) Hill, who was honored with the Golden Boot Award for his contributions to the Western genre on film, this flick, with its very heterosexual Calamity Jane (Ellen Barkin), has some critics bragging where they’d like to shove that boot. Others are raving. The New York Times insists this oater is “unapologetically larger than life!” Gannett Suburban Newspapers adds: “The best western to come along in years.” And Washington Post swears: “Jeff Bridges gives one of the most expressive performances of his career.” Well, so much for critics.

How did Bridges prepare for the role that both his father, Lloyd, and Gary Cooper had played before him: “Well, there was so much legend about Wild Bill that really getting down to the truth would probably be impossible as far as telling the truer story because there was so much myth. But what I was concerned about was the look of the guy. One of the things that I used a lot were the photographs taken of Wild Bill. And there were quite a lot. I think the guy rather enjoyed having his picture taken. He was a rather flashy dresser and some wonderful photographs exist. One of the things that I was kind of amazed at was the physical resemblance of us. There’s one particular photograph that really moved me. A tight close-up of him and you can see the sadness and the courage and the pride in his eyes.”

And a tight close-up of page 86 in the first edition of Vito Russo’s “The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies” and you can see Bridges in drag opposite Clint Eastwood. He actually received an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting actor for his part in Michael Cimino’s “Thunderbolt and Lightfoot.”

Russo writes that the film employs “a notable amount of hostility, some of it unbelievably vicious, as a defense against the suspicion of homosexuality among their male characters. . . . At the beginning, Eastwood’s baby blue eyes hit Bridges like a thunderbolt, and Bridges promptly lightfoots it into drag for the remainder of the film. Bridges is made to say to Eastwood such things as, ‘We’ve got to stop meeting like this, you know. After all, where there’s smoke, there’s fire.’ ” He later dies in Eastwood’s arms, “thereby preserving the purity of their unconsummated affair.”

Yet 150 pages later, Russo compliments Bridges for his role as Norma Rae’s spouse, stating that though he is “unimpeachably heterosexual,” his role represents “breakthrough ideas for men in general.”

So what about Bridges pulling a Tom Hanks? Playing a gay? Playing a man with AIDS or anything controversial?

“I’m up for being stretched,” Bridges replies to the question–or maybe not. “I like as diverse kinds of projects as I can get. One of the things I’m developing is a children’s book called ‘The Giver.’ It won the Newberry Prize a couple of years ago. I’m interested in making some movies my girls can see. Most of my movies are out of their range.”

However, when asked if he had any messages for World AIDS Day, after a brief silence, he didn’t seem to run away from the question: “Well, probably most of us know somebody in our lives that has been touched by AIDS or has AIDS. We were . . . .both my wife and I were in the hospital. My wife was having her baby right alongside Elizabeth Glaser, who died recently from AIDS. She died because she had a blood transfusion, and that could have easily been my wife. If my wife needed blood that would have been her. So I guess on that day, we can think there but for the grace of God. . . and do as much as we can for the people who have AIDS.”

But back to “Wild Bill.” The United Artists press release notes: “On the lawless frontier where legends were made on the draw of a gun, Wild Bill Hickok’s reputation precedes him. Wherever he goes, men want to be him, women want to love him, and some, trying to make their name, want a piece of him.”

Maybe just a tiny piece isn’t so bad.

END