Despite some obvious Woody Allen influences here and there, "Unstrung Heroes" is a marvelous feature-film debut for Diane Keaton as a director. The actress (who will next be seen in "Father of the Bride 2" this Christmas) shows a sure hand as she successfully juggles heart-tugging drama and zany comedy in this adaptation of Franz Lidz's autobiographical book (adapted by Richard La Gravanese, who also scripted "A Little Princess" and "The Bridges of Madison County").

The film is rated PG for a few profanities, a couple of vulgar remarks and some violence.

— MAURY CHAYKIN is hardly a household name, though you have probably seen him before. He was the suicidal major confronted by Kevin Costner in the early moments of "Dances With Wolves" and has appeared in a number of box-office hits, including "Twins," "My Cousin Vinny," "Sommersby," "Mrs. Soffel" (with Diane Keaton) and "WarGames," to name just a few of his 50 movie roles.

But there seems little doubt that during 1995 he will receive the most attention of his career so far.

In addition to playing zany Uncle Arthur in "Unstrung Heroes" (directed by Keaton), he has a small role in the Denzel Washington vehicle "Devil in a Blue Dress" (opening next Friday, Sept. 29), and in the big-budget pirate epic "Cutthroat Island" (scheduled for release on Dec. 8), he plays the chief villain (opposite Geena Davis and Matthew Modine).

After finishing "Cutthroat Island" in the spring, he got the role in "Devil in a Blue Dress," and then came `Unstrung Heroes,' " Chaykin said during a telephone interview. "But they pretty much came one after the other."

As a corrupt mayoral candidate for Los Angeles in the late 1940s, Chaykin worked for just a week on "Devil in a Blue Dress." Then he segued into "Unstrung Heroes," where he labored for three months. (Although this was a vacation compared to "Cutthroat Island," on which he spent six months.)

"My concentration and commitment, my focus was much more on `Unstrung Heroes,' " he explained. "This was the kind of script that actors wait for and which rarely comes along. As soon as I read it, I knew I had to be in this movie.

"I had worked with Diane in `Mrs. Soffel' and we had an acquaintance, but we didn't get to know each other until we worked on this. It was a real pleasure getting to know her. She's a really intelligent, talented woman who's just beginning to show her talent in other aspects."

Chaykin read for the part on the first day of auditions, and it was apparent that Keaton and the film's producers were quite happy with his interpretation of the character. But the studio (Walt Disney's Hollywood Pictures division) wanted a "name" actor in the role — for obvious reasons.