Chiefs (miniseries)

Plot

The miniseries follows three generations of police chiefs in the fictional town of Delano, Georgia, as they investigate a series of murders. In 1924, town patriarch Hugh Holmes, who intermittently narrates, decides the town needs a jail and a full-time police officer. Lee's farm had employed the Coles, a black family, who view their new employer, Ku Klux Klan member Hoss Spence, with trepidation. Chief Lee investigates the death of a young boy who fell down a ravine while apparently fleeing a sexual attack and discovers that other young male vagrants and hitchhikers have been seen traveling toward Delano but not leaving.

Unable to get cooperation from Sheriff Skeeter Willis or neighboring county chiefs, Lee eventually identifies loner Foxy Funderburke as the murderer. Funderburke hovers in the hospital room as the dying Lee tries to gasp out his guilt, but Lee's wife fails to understand. Jesse Cole is executed, urging his son Joshua to run away. Funderburke continues his decades-long spree of sexually motivated murders.

After World War II, violent war hero Sonny Butts becomes assistant police chief and later chief. Implicated in crimes including the murder of a black mechanic, Butts is about to lose his badge when he deduces Funderburke's guilt. Going to Funderburke's land, Butts catches him burying a victim but lets down his guard; Funderburke strikes him with a shovel, shoots him with his own revolver, and buries him with his police motorcycle.

Production and distribution

Chiefs premiered on CBS as a six-hour miniseries. The first two hours aired at 8pm on November 13, 1983; the second part aired November 15 at 9pm; the final part aired November 16 at 9pm. Production filming took place in Chester, South Carolina. In 2014, a celebration of the filming was organized in Chester by Catherine Fleming Bruce with local organizations; author Stuart Woods was among the presenters.

Reception

John J. O'Connor of The New York Times described Chiefs as an ambitious yet flawed project that overall works powerfully well, noting that director Jerry London has a keen sense of the sweeping saga though there are weaknesses. He criticized the miniseries' ending for not following the novel's conclusion, in which Holmes realizes Delano will be remembered for the murders; the film instead ends with an upbeat moment of friendship between Lee and Watts.

O'Connor praised the performances of Brad Davis, Paul Sorvino, Keith Carradine, and Danny Glover. The miniseries received three Emmy Award nominations: Outstanding Art Direction for a Limited Series or a Special (Charles C. Bennett and Victor Kempster for Part 2), Outstanding Limited Series (Martin Manulis, Jerry London, John E. Quill), and Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or a Special (Keith Carradine). It was also nominated for an Eddie Award in the Best Edited Episode from a Television Mini-Series category for Eric Albertson, John J. Dumas, and Armond Lebowitz.

The success of the miniseries led the paperback version of the novel Chiefs to enter the New York Times Best Seller list.