GENERATION KILL! A GRIPPING MYSTERY FOR THE "CHIEFS"

Murders in a small town. Charlton Heston, Brad Davis and Billy Dee Williams investigate in CHIEFS. Image CBS.

Probably best described in film terms as STAND BY ME meets ZODIAC, the three part classic 1983 CBS TV mini-series CHIEFS starts a much deserved daily re-run (albeit in video conversion copies rather than the original pristine film prints that the series was originally made in) from tomorrow on the UK's TRUE ENTERTAINMENT channel after years in limbo (and not commercially available in the UK), telling the story of three generations of policemen (played by M.A.S.H.'s Wayne Rogers, Brad Davis and Billy Dee Williams) in the small Southern Florida town of Delano trying their hardest to capture an elusive serial killer who leaves his indelible mark with each re-appearance. Around all this generational continuance is Americana history at its best and worst from the 1920s to the 1960s, in a dramatic envelope that touches on all the hard issues of the times: from bigotry, abuse, political scandal and murder.

With a terrific main cast including the mighty Charlton Heston (replacing the originally planned Andy Griffith), who gives one of his career best performances from later years as town founder Hugh Holmes, as well as the always great Keith Carradine and STAR WARS Billy Dee Williams as the Chief with the most problems to solve in the midst of sixties racial hatred and violence, there's also equally fine support from the aforementioned Wayne Rogers plus Stephen Collins, Danny Glover, John Goodman, Lane Smith, Paul Sorvino,Victoria Tennant and MIDNIGHT EXPRESS's Brad Davis (as a very memorable, thoroughly detestable racist cop: Sonny Butts).

Based on an acclaimed book of the time by US author Stuart Woods, and adapted with Robert W. Lenski, directed by SHOGUN's Jerry London, CHIEFS is a well structured mini-series event worth catching, especially if you've never seen it before, full of depth and characterisation at a time when US mini-series, like the later original V, were real stand-outs on TV. I haven't personally seen CHIEFS since its original UK broadcast nearly thirty years ago but I recall it was prestigious Must See TV on the then singular ITV channel even then, and I hope it lives up to my re-watching expectations...