CINEMA
The Hoodlum Priest. A bewildered boy, entrapped by life, finally finds freedom in the gas chamber. Crude and violent, Irvin Kershner's drama nonetheless shows that the divine spark can burn in trash.
The League of Gentlemen. A British comedy of misdemeanors about a retired army officer who runs a commando-style bank robbery by Queen's Regs.
101 Dalmatians. Dog-beats-man in Walt Disney's airy, unpretentious cartoon that is sure to please everybody but cats.
Breathless. Exciting variations on the old existentialist theme: life is just one damn thing after another, and death is the thing after that.
The Millionairess. British Comedian Peter Sellers is superb as the medic in an otherwise heavy-handed remake of Shaw's comedy, with Sophia Loren singularly unfunny as the rich-bitch heroine. Sellers is also on view in Two-Way Stretch, an excellent prison farce.
Other notable current movies: Russia's poignant Ballad of a Soldier, Britain's larcenous comedy, Make Mine Mink; the spy thriller Circle of Deception.
TELEVISION
Wed., March 8 U.S. Steel Special (CBS, 10-11 p.m.).* Ernie Kovacs, Edie Adams, Hans Conreid and Pat Carroll star in "Private Eye, Private Eye," a musical comedy about the private lives of TV's gley-eyed operators.
Thurs., March 9 The Purex Special for Women (NBC, 4-5 p.m.). In a family drama, Actress Patricia Neal tries to show worried U.S. housewives how to cope with a resentful child and an uncooperative husband.
Face the Nation (CBS, 10-10:30 p.m.). "The Migrant Farm Worker—Is Federal Legislation Necessary?" New Jersey's Senator Harrison Williams says yes. Charles P. Shuman, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, disagrees.
Fri., March 10 The Jackie Gleason Show (CBS, 9:30-10 p.m.). Heavyweights Floyd Patterson and Ingemar Johansson trade punch lines with Superweight Gleason, watch films of their two earlier bouts.
Sat., March 11 Our American Heritage (NBC, 9:30-10 p.m.). In "The Secret Rebel," TV Gun-slinger Hugh O'Brian portrays John Honeyman, a Revolutionary War double agent who poses as a British spy.
Sun., March 12 Sunday Sports Spectacular (CBS, 2:30-4 p.m.). The world bobsledding championships and ski-jumping competition at Lake Placid, N.Y., including a slalom-is-simple demonstration by Penny Pitou.
The Great Challenge (CBS, 4-5 p.m.) Senator Barry Goldwater and Newsman Richard Rovere discuss changing patterns of U.S. politics.
The Chevy Show (NBC, 9-10 p.m.) Art Carney stars in "O'Halloran's Luck," a musical adaptation of Stephen Vincent Benet's story about an Irish immigrant who becomes a U.S. railroad tycoon with the assistance of a displaced leprechaun. Color.
Tues., March 14 Expedition! (ABC, 7-7:30 p.m.). An account of a remarkable odyssey: an 11,000-mile whale hunt, ranging all the way from the Black Sea to the Antarctic. Filmed by Soviet cameramen.
NBC White Paper No. 4 (NBC, 10-11 p.m.). A look at state legislatures, their purposes, problems and procrastinations, narrated by Chet Huntley.
THEATER
Come Blow Your Horn. Combines phone calls and wolf calls, prodigals and playboys, manages to emerge as the season's best of a bad lot of comedy farces.