Product Description

Studio: Pbs Release Date: 04/16/2009

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11236 in DVD
• Brand: PBS
• Released on: 2004-01-06
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English, Vietnamese
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 107 minutes

Amazon.com
The compelling Coyote Waits is based on one of the Leaphorn and Chee mystery novels by Tony Hillerman (all three have been adapted for television), concerning a partnership, of sorts, between an experienced Navajo detective, Joe Leaphorn (Wes Studi), and a young reservation cop, Jim Chee (Adam Beach). When the latter's colleague and friend ends up shot to death and left to burn in a fiery car, Chee takes time off to evaluate whether he should become a healer instead of a lawman. Either way, he can't proceed without getting to the bottom of the killing and proving or disproving his own original assumption that the murderer is a shaman he found drunk and in possession of a gun near the crime. Working the case from a different angle is Leaphorn, who finds a link between the shaman and a missing university professor on the trail of a major historical find. Beach and Studi are terrific, though the story doesn't bring them together, in the same space, very often. (The two characters do most of their communicating by phone.) Familiar faces in the supporting cast include Gary Farmer (Dead Man), Keith Carradine (Deadwood), and Graham Greene (Dances with Wolves). Sheila Tousey is outstanding in her recurring role as Emma Leaphorn, Joe's wise, no-nonsense wife. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

Overall, a Satisfying Hillerman Adaptation
"Coyote Waits", brought to the small screen by the same team that produced the lamentable "Skinwalkers", is a satisfying experience for Tony Hillerman fans, for fans of movie mysteries in general, and for folks interested in the portrayal of Native Americans, in this case the Navajo (Dine'). It would appear that the writers listened to the complaints about "Skinwalkers" and came up with a story that adheres much more closely to Hillerman's plot and to the author's portrayal of his main characters, particularly Jim Chee (played by Adam Beach) and Joe Leaphorn (Wes Studi). Like any novel adapted into a two-hour movie, there are conflations of characters and substantial trimmings in the narrative. Nonetheless, the major plotlines in the book are dealt with here in a generally satisfactory way, although the climax was a bit too pat based on the information that the viewer was given during the course of the investigation into the death of Officer Delbert Nez. The principal character change in the film involves the substitution of Leaphorn's wife Emma(who died in the earlier book) for Professor Borbonnette, a change that is not particularly jarring in this context. Kept intact from the book is the relationship between the traditionalist Chee (studying to be a haatali, or medicine man) and the rationalist Leaphorn (firmly in touch with his own Dine' culture, but deeply skeptical of some of its beliefs). All in all, the treatment accorded to "Coyote Waits" bodes well for future productions in the series. Hopefully, "Thief of Time" will be next.

Kinda Cheesy but it's tv
Made for tv movie from the popular books. Movie was a bit cheesy. Overacting is key. Too good of actors for such a bad script. Adam Beach and Wes Studi were poorly casted for such an amature movie. I couldn't possibly dumb down their talent for this case.

Pretty filming, lifeless acting
It's usually not cricket to compare a movie with the book it was based on, but in this case everything that made the book worthwhile was missing in the movie. What makes Hillerman's books so wonderful is that he portrays Navajo culture with such profound authenticity. But in this film, Hillerman's Navajo characters were transformed into cardboard cutouts, and the culture that Hillerman so skillfully conveyed was reduced to some flute music and close-ups of elders telling old myths. However, even the stereotyped image of the wrinkled elder in braids recounting the ways of the ancestors looked pretty good compared to the completely lifeless acting. Adam Beach was horribly miscast as the traditionalist Navajo, Jim Chee. He slurred his way through his lines and couldn't even muster one convincing scene. Sheila Tousey, as Emma, sounded like she was reading her lines from a prompter. Wes Studi, as Leaphorn, was marginally better, but he only had one facial expression--hard-boiled cop. (And Jim Chee only had one shirt...) I'm afraid even Graham Greene, that warhorse of Native American films, couldn't save this one.

On the positive side, the scenery was gorgeous.