The Dark Wind | Lou Diamond Phillips, Betty C. Barlow

The Dark Wind | Lou Diamond Phillips, Betty C. Barlow | DARK WIND

DVDs:

The Dark Wind

	The Dark Wind Lou Diamond Phillips, Betty C. Barlow Lions Gate, 2003 average customer review:based on 14 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Filmed on location, The Dark Wind brings to life the popular hero of several Tony Hillerman best-sellers, Navajo Cop Jim Chee. Chee (Lou Diamond Philips) is a student of the old ways who wanted to be a medicine man before he became a lawman. Now as a cop covering the Arizona Territories belonging to the Hopi and Navajo Indians, he's torn between both worlds.

When the badly mutilated victim of a Navajo skinwalker is found on Hopi Land, Chee is suddenly plunged into a world of mystery, filled with drug dealers, F.B.I. agents, witchcraft, intertribal politics and revenge.
Features:
Full Screen Version
2.0 Dolby Stereo Suround
Digitally Mastered
Scene Selection
English Closed Captioning

System Requirements:
Running Time: 111 Minutes

Format: DVD MOVIE

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Everyone Loves a Mystery!

Everyone has their favorites: Lou Diamond Phillips/Adam Beach, Fred Ward/Wes Studi, Errol Morris/Hollywoodesque. But everybody loves a mystery! I have enjoyed both Beach and Studi in the three PBS film versions of Hillerman's mysteries, so I was a little hesitant to "start all over again" with new faces. Heck, I'd already had to refigure these guys from the books! I'm happy to say that there is room for diversity. Phillips is terrific playing Officer Chee as a bumbling, cat-loving loner who is nevertheless tenacious and inwardly savvy about Indian ways. Fred Ward characterizes Lieutenant Leaphorn as a gruff, no-nonsense commander. Both are fitting and refreshing interpretations.

While not polished like the PBS fare, Morris' film has a definite authentic twang to it: location shots, like a real trading post (Shiprock Trading Post), a real Wigwam Motel, hogans and trucks that look old and dirty; Phillips and Ward wearing what look like real police uniforms, tacky and uncomfortable; the supporting cast, many of them speaking in Navajo and subtitled in English. Is it real cat food that Phillips/Chee actually licks off his fingers after spooning it out into kitty's dish?

What does the master say? According to Barnes and Noble, Tony Hillerman, in a 1999 online interview said, "Robert Redford has all of them optioned, and he hired Errol Morris to direct them. I have to say that I have seen worse movies. It wasn't released in the U.S. You can rent it in video stores, though, if you are hard up for something to see." Ouch!

Trivia holds that Morris did not finish the film "due to artistic differences" with Redford. It's also interesting that Chris Eyre (Smoke Signals) directed both Skin Walkers (2002) and The Thief of Time (2004) while Jan Egleson directed Coyote Waits (2003).

Gary Farmer bridges the gap, playing Cowboy Dashee in The Dark Wind and Captain Largo in two of the PBS flicks. After all, we're really one big happy family. Aren't we? Thanking the Native people for their perseverance, guidance, and wisdom is the best any of these films can do. And they do.

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DARK WIND

I watched this twice before really understanding it all and am I glad I did. I think Lou Diamond Phillips can really act and I thought his understanding and wisdom of Jim Chee's native American heritage and his more modern life as a peace officer was very well put together.I think he expressed it just as well. I felt this was worth watching and I will be viewing it again.

The Dark Wind

The Dark Wind The dvd arrived in mint condition and was extremely enjoyable. I look forward to PBS producing more of Tony Hillerman's masterpieces.

Good story--but I will always see Adam Beach as Jim Chee

There are two versions of this film. This version, directed by Robert Redford and starring Lou Diamond Phillips as Jim Chee and the PBS version with Adam Beach as Chee and Wes Studi as Leaphorn. What the author, Tony Hillerman, said about the actors in the making of "Coyote Waits" (one of the other PBS specials) was that Wes Studi was the man he saw as Leaphorn and he was beginning to see Jimmy Chee as a good deal more handsome after Adam Beach played him.

Well, I'm only seeing Adam Beach as Chee now, myself. And Fred Ward may be a good actor elsewhere, but Wes Studi's face was what I saw when I read Hillerman's novels, too.

The story in short. Jim Chee (Phillips) is a newly assigned cop to this beat of the Navajo-Hopi rez. His lieutenant Leaphorn (Ward) sets him on staking out the windmills to see who's destroying them. In the process, he finds a murdered man and a bigger crime than the windmill massacres. A drug smuggler's plane crash lands near the spot and Chee finds a dead man inside. The Federal officers and Leaphorn think he's involved. With the help of a Hopi Deputy (Gary Farmer) he sets out to solve the crime and clear several people's good names.

In this particular installation of the Hillerman based films, witchcraft and superstition are strong. The traditions are fascinating and the plot is complex. I much prefer the PBS version of "Skinwalker" though, even with the lower budget, I think it's the better film.

Rebecca Kyle, August 2008

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3

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