The 1991 Dogfight (KCOP Sunday at 6...

The 1991 Dogfight (KCOP Sunday at 6 p.m.) is about two characters: a U.S. Marine (River Phoenix) headed for Vietnam and a dowdy waitress (Lili Taylor). Phoenix hopes to win a $50 bet by wooing Taylor in a contest to see who among his pals can snare the ugliest woman any of them can find. Phoenix and Taylor are extraordinary--even if the entire film isn’t--in a story that eventually transcends appearances.

The controversial Andrew Dice Clay sanitizes his stand-up act for The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (KTLA Sunday at 8 p.m., Wednesday at 2 a.m.), but this 1990 film, in which Clay plays an L.A. private eye specializing in music industry cases, is a pointless exercise for the Diceman.

Total Recall (ABC Sunday at 9 p.m.), a spectacular, ultra-violent 1990 hit, asks whether Arnold Schwarzenegger is a malcontent construction worker obsessed with dreams of Mars and sleazy brunettes or a turncoat secret agent, his memory erased by the all-powerful intergalactic “Agency.”

Fred Schepisi’s underestimated 1992 cultural-clash comedy Mr. Baseball (KTTV Tuesday at 8 p.m.) racks up a home run for Tom Selleck, who brings an irascible Clark Gable-like charm to his tailor-made role as a veteran New York Yankees hitter who finds himself traded off to a Japanese team.

Breaking Point (KTLA Friday at 8 p.m.) is a stylish 1989 TNT cable remake of the 1964 “36 Hours.” Corbin Bernsen, as an American intelligence officer carrying vital knowledge about the Allies’ planned invasion of Normandy, is captured by the Nazis only to wake up in an American military hospital in Germany and be told that the war has been over for two years.

Although it doesn’t add up, the 1992 thriller White Sands (NBC Friday at 9 p.m.) is enjoyable for its New Mexico scenery and the avid acting of Willem Dafoe as a sheriff investigating the death of an Indian found in the middle of nowhere with $500,000 in cash--and his co-stars Mickey Rourke and Mary Elizabeth Mastroantonio.

Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (ABC Saturday at 8 p.m.) is a fine 1993 family film, a real improvement over the 1963 original because this time around Disney gave voices to the aging golden retriever, frisky bulldog puppy and a fastidious Himalayan cat making their way through a forest wilderness in search of the family who left them behind with a friend.

Roman Polanski’s Frantic (KCOP Saturday at 8 p.m.) is an icy, elegant 1988 thriller about an American (Harrison Ford, near-perfect) chasing his wife’s kidnapers through the deadlier byways of Paris----but the film doesn’t go far enough at its end.