Product: Chiefs [Region 2] (1983)
Rating: 5.0
Best mini series of all time - from David in Brisbane Qld
This mini series, "Chiefs" from the book by Stuart Woods, was first shown in Australia on the Ten Network in the early 80s and presented by Bill Collins. He gave it a great review and spoke about the characters and the powerful story line. From the moment I first watched it I was hooked!The characterisation and intensity of the acting is nothing short of stunning! The adherance to details of the period settings, from the 1920s to the early 1960s is spot on, including the changing style of automobiles (unlike some period movies where you sometimes see a 1970s car in a film set in the 1930s - check out Great Waldo Pepper! - with apologies to the late George Roy Hill!)The story follows three generations of police chiefs in small town America, and is essentially a story of good verses bad. The good characters of Will Henry and Billy Lee, Hugh Holmes, and Tyler Watts battle against police corruption, Ku Klux Klan, bigotry, murder, and racism. The "bad" characters of Foxy Funderburke, Sonny Butts, Hoss and Emmett Spence and Skeeter Willis balance out the other side of the coin. There are so many outstanding pieces to this story it is hard to choose one character above all the others, however my personal choice for sheer intensity of characterisation would have to be Sonny Butts (portrayed by the late Brad Davis.)However - one major complaint!The series was originally shown on television in Australia over three nights in three, two hour blocks, including commercials, critiques, and pre and end credits. This would mean a running time of a little over 4 hours. The film was released on DVD in the UK on Region 2 and just recently in Australia on Region 4 with a running time of 3 hrs 20 mins, and several major scenes have been either deleted completely or cut short. This spoils the storyline and is completely unnecessary and frustrating. Also the picture quality is lacking in contrast and sharpness. I therefore hope that it will receive a new DVD release with EVERY scene included IN FULL!, as I'm sure the director originally intended. It would probably require a 2 DVD set rather than the single disc set available currently