Siren Song

Failing to exploit the grand potential of the Gold Rush mining backdrop and the attendant Rocky Mountains splendor, Kramer's ( Under Gypsy Skies ) latest is little more than a restaging of trite, hackneyed scenes from ``B'' westerns--down to a passage where the bad guys force the Eastern ``dude'' to dance by shooting at his feet (``Now just what dance do you 'spect he's doin', Slim? The Virginia reel?''). The romance between Alex Nicholson, a proper Bostonian who hopes that ``all the tall tales about the West are true,'' and Samantha Claybourne, a free-wheeling Westerner making her way in a man's world of mining, is so resoundingly inevitable that Kramer has to create absurd misunderstandings and a completely silly finale to keep suspense even hobbling. (Jan.)