TV Reviews : A Serial Killer Targets the Mafia

“Keeper of the City” (at 9 tonight on the Showtime cable channel) is a solid police procedural starring Louis Gossett Jr. as a smart, seasoned Chicago cop in pursuit of a serial killer.

The wrinkle here, in Gerald DiPego’s adaptation of his own novel, is that the killer (Anthony LaPaglia) is systematically knocking off Mafiosi because God--and his dead grandmother--told him to.

Director Bobby Roth captures expertly the escalating tensions that evolve when a local crusading columnist (Peter Coyote) arrogantly eggs on the unknown killer. Caught in the middle are LaPaglia’s loving but distraught wife (Renee Soutendijk) and small son (Aeryk Egan). Adding dimension to the action is the growing attraction between Gossett and Soutendijk, both lonely, isolated people.

This is very conventional fare--too conventional for the big screen--but satisfying on the tube because it has been done well. Performances are sharp, especially Gossett’s multidimensional cop.

Ever the resourceful craftsman, Roth and his cinematographer, Shelly Johnson, did a good job of matching establishing shots filmed in Chicago with L.A. area locales. (A Craftsman cottage in South Pasadena passes nicely for a Prairie-style home of the kind found in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park.) “Keeper of the City” benefits, too, from a fine Leonard Rosenman score.