What I look for in a camera body is a "feel" that I like. A camera that is comfortable to hold and shoot, has buttons and switches in places that are comfortable to reach while just holding the camera or in shooting position, etc. You'll find that as long as you go with a major manufacturer, the features of the cameras in the same approximate price point will be pretty much the same. One may have faster flash synch, but the other has better spot metering, etc. It will end up being more about which body is the most comfortable to shoot, because the more comfortable you are with the camera and its features, the easier it is to capture the shot when you see it happening.
Being able to almost effortlessly bring the camera into position, get focus, set up the exposure, and catch the shot before it's gone is essential for candids and action shots. It is less important in macrophotography, portraits, and landscape shots, because you can take a dozen pics of the same scene at different exposures and pick the one you like. So in those fields comfort is less important, but still helps you get the shot you want with less work.
Once you find a body that is comfortable to you, as long as you pick a major brand you're in good shape. All the major lens manufacturers make their lenses for all the major camera bodies. Now, you can't get Nikon lenses for a Canon body, or vice versa, but you can get Sigma and other glass for either, and Nikon and Canon both make similar lenses for their own cameras (e.g. you can get a 70-200mm F2.8 with image stabilization from both Nikon and Canon).
So, my recommendation would be to go to a camera store and take some test shots in the store. Since you're talking about film SLRs you wouldn't want to shoot a bunch of actual pictures, but set up and take shots without film and see which body feels the most comfortable to you. Even if you don't know what the aperature and shutter speed settings do yet, play with them and see which body is the most comfortable to make those adjustments while you're shooting.
As for lenses, 28-50 mm is generally used for wide angle, landscape-type shots. 50-100mm lenses are usually portrait lenses, and larger than 100 mm is generally for telescopic shots. Of course there is a wide variety of zoom lenses that are capable of covering more than one of those ranges, and they're usually good multipurpose lenses. Most new SLRs will come with a lens, and it is generally something like a 50-135mm (maybe slightly wider range, maybe slightly narrower), which is good for all kinds of stuff and makes a good "walking around" lens. But don't go for the widest zoom range you can find right off the bat, because more often than not those lenses don't perform well at the extremes of their range. The 50mm prime lens is the "standard" and you will probably spend time in the class talking about them, so it may be worthwhile to get one. Otherwise, if you can only afford one lens, look for a zoom in the 50-200mm range for the most flexibility, until you can afford some other lenses. Something like that should allow you to do everything from landscape to portraits to reasonably distant telescopic shots while you get a better idea of what you really want in lenses.
ryanm
