Shanghai Surprise

Pssst! Hey pal, come here for a minute. Yeah, you with the bulging wallet and the naive look in your eye. I've got a proposition for you. How would you like to invest in Sean Penn's next movie? Hey, what's so funny? I said Sean Penn, not Shaun Cassidy. I'm talking the new Marlon Brando, the new James Dean, the purest actor since Robert De Niro. You can look it up in American Film magazine or Vanity Fair. Brooding intensity doesn't grow on trees.

Voters for the Razzies, an annual spoof of the Academy Awards, have a message for Britney Spears and Madonna: Don't quit your day jobs as pop divas. Spears' teen buddy flick "Crossroads" had a leading eight Razzie nominations and Madonna's island-romance bomb "Swept Away" received seven, including worst picture and worst actress for both movies.

When George Harrison came to the rescue of Monty Python's beleaguered "Life of Brian" in 1978, the former Beatle commenced a second career as a film producer. In the delightful 51-minute 1989 documentary "The Movie Life of George" (on KCET Channel 28 tonight at 11:15, previously seen on cable's Discovery channel), Harrison insists that his company, Handmade Films, for him is "something sort of on the side. I don't take it all that seriously."

* *--* TENNIS RANKINGS AND COMMENTS MEN 1 LLEYTON HEWITT C'mon! Something to celebrate in the Clijsters/He witt household 2 ANDRE AGASSI Should get assist of the year for taking out Hewitt at U.S. Open 3 JUAN CARLOS FERRERO Shanghai surprise in pushing Hewitt to limit in five sets 4 CARLOS MOYA Did the right thing in playing full-out against Albert Costa at Masters 5 MARAT SAFIN Started year as an enigma. Why should the end be any different?

Manhattan Beach officials gave the city's cable television service some static when the company increased rates in March without giving 30 days' notice, as required in its contract. So to make up for the short notice, the company is likely to give 14,000 subscribers in Manhattan Beach and Hermosa Beach a month's worth of free movies, ranging from "White Knights" to "Reform School Girls." The company, M. L. Media, raised the price of basic, 12-channel service to $12.95 a month from $9.92.

Thousands of fans caused a bottleneck at the entrance to the HSBC Champions, all of them eager to see the Sunday showdown at Sheshan International between Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods. The Shanghai surprise? Woods turned out to be merely a spectator too. Mickelson built a six-shot lead over the world's No. 1 player on the front nine, then rallied to beat another familiar foe, Ernie Els, with two clutch putts for a one-shot victory in the final World Golf Championship of the year.