The Thin Blue Line (Channel 28 Sunday...

The Thin Blue Line (Channel 28 Sunday at 1 p.m.), Errol Morris’ 1988 true-life film investigation of a Byzantine Dallas murder case, is a gutsy, clear-eyed work; it exposed the case’s amazingly sloppy and prejudiced conduct and aided in the reversal of Randall Adams’ conviction. But the film failed on appeal with the Motion Picture Academy’s documentary committee; they refused to nominate it for an Oscar, though the nation’s movie critics overwhelmingly disagreed with them. So do I. The movie--which uses film noir -ish re-creations of the crime, a hypnotic Phillip Glass score and mesmerizing interviews with the principals--is something new in American Gothic: horror with a tabloid cutting edge.

Gates of Heaven, Morris’ earlier deadpan documentary on pet cemeteries, follows “The Thin Blue Line” (Channel 28 Sunday at 3 p.m.). Robert Altman’s 1968 Countdown (Channel 13 Sunday at 6 p.m.) with Robert Duvall and James Caan as astronauts, precedes his classic “MASH” by two years, and it in some ways anticipates it--full of thickly layered dialogue, offbeat characters, irreverence and wry realism.

Sunday’s other offerings hearken back to the Age of 007, with George Lazenby as the least well remembered of the screen’s James Bonds in Peter Hunt’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (ABC at 8 p.m.), and Sophia Loren looking askance at endless World War II commando intrigue in Michael Anderson’s exciting Operation Crossbow (Channel 13 at 8 p.m.). Telly Savalas’ bearish cop pops up again, with more lollipops and unspeakable crimes in Kojak: The Price Is Justice (CBS at 9 p.m.).

Super-hyphenate Albert Brooks hilariously writes, directs and stars in Modern Romance (Channel 13 Monday at 8 p.m.), playing a film editor pasting together an atrocious science fiction programmer while his sweetheart is snipped out of his life.

Also on Monday: John Wayne duking it out in the 1942 David Miller war saga, Flying Tigers (Channel 11 at 8 p.m.)--not to be confused with two other World War II Dukefests: “Flying Leathernecks” or “Fighting Seabees.”

Yo! Sly Stallone is back with Rocky III (CBS Tuesday at 9 p.m.), which he made somewhere around the time of Rambo I (“First Blood”), but after “Rocky II”--and before “Rocky IV” and Rambo II and III. Uhhh . . . it’s the one where he fights this big guy and nobody thinks he’ll win, but he beats him. (What’s the guy’s name? Oh, yeah: Mr. T.) Hey, wow! You don’t even have to worry if you missed Rocky I and II, because it’s sort of the same movie and it has a catchier song. Go for it. Yo! Hey! Rocky forever. (Or so it seems.)

Jean Shepherd’s childhood reminiscences always make us chuckle. The newest one is Ollie Hopnoodle’s Haven of Bliss (Channels 28 and 15 Wednesday at 9 p.m.). Narrated by Shepherd himself, it’s all about a long-ago family excursion to the lake with a dog named Fuzzhead. And we understand Shepherd has promised that even if it’s wildly successful, he won’t make “Ollie Hopnoodle II.” (Sure, Jean.)

Loni Anderson stars as the ‘50s Blonde Sex Bomb No. 2 in The Jayne Mansfield Story (Channel 2 Friday at 9:30 p.m.), a real bust of a Hollywood biopic. If Burt Reynolds is feeling frustrated these days, he can thank his stars he wasn’t asked to play muscle-man Mickey Hargitay. (Instead, they got Arnold Schwarzenegger.)

In these less frigid times, we can cast a smiling eye back at one of Norman Jewison’s best efforts, the 1966 The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming! (Channel 13 Saturday at 4 p.m.), with hapless Soviet sub commander Alan Arkin running aground and stumbling into Carl Reiner, Jonathan Winters and lots of wary New Englanders. Cleverly written by William and Tania Rose, it’s become a cold-war curio. (See it again. Have a glasnost -and-nachos party. And if that craggy Atlantic coastline looks familiar, it’s because it’s actually Mendocino County.)

Also on Saturday: Real Genius (CBS at 8 p.m.) is one of three summer-of-1985 comedies that allegedly helped kill off the ‘80s teen movie. (It’s not quite as bad as that.) Avenging Force (Channel 5 at 8 p.m.), with Michael Dudikoff, is another of those beefcake binges where they dream up 100 minutes of revenge and try to force you to watch it. But Marek Kanievska’s adaptation of the Julian Mitchell play Another Country (Channel 28 at 10 p.m.) is an unusually thoughtful and sensitive look at the sexually oppressive British school system--and how, before World War II, it bred misery, nonconformity, rebellion, treason and exile.

The ratings checks on movies in the TV log are provided by the Tribune TV Log listings