Mystery! Coyote Waits

Starring:Adam Beach, Candice Castello, Jimmy Herman, Gary Kanin, Wes Studi, Sheila Tousey, Mark Kilburn, Alex Rice, Graham Greene (II), Jill Scott Momaday, Keith Carradine, Sheri Foster, Jack Burning, Long Nguyen, Paul Guilfoyle (II), Jenni Blong, Marc Mouchet, Gary Farmer, Bodhi Elfman, Kevin Skousen
Director: Jan Egleson
Studio: Pbs (Direct)
Product Type: DVD

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:

Good movie and price.......2007-06-22

This is a good movie with Studi and Beach turning in solid performances again in this sequel to "Skinwalkers". If you enjoy detective stories, you should find this one entertaining. Fans of the first movie or those that enjoy movies like "Thunderheart" should like it. This Amazon price is a good since these Hillerman DVD movies are not easy to find unless you go to [...]. However; there they are overpriced since by the time you pay for shipping and tax you end up spending about $[...]. So get your Hillerman DVDs here or at Deepdiscount.com.

Coyote Waits.......2007-04-01

An excellent film and a must for any Tony Hillerman fan. I loved the production, the wonderful New Mexican scenery, and seeing a bit more of the modern Navajo way.

horrible movie.......2007-01-01

fell asleep twice trying to get through this movie. I kept hoping it would finally get interesting but it never did.

As reviewer: B. Chandler "xyzzy" (Arlington, Texas)said,"Jim Chee sits drinking coffee while partner Tribal Policeman Delbert Nez meets his demise. Chee catches the obvious perpetrator. A Navaho shaman, with a bottle in one hand and THE gun in his belt. Case closed."

The Tony Hillerman books are good stories - read them and skip these god awful movies.

I should have rented first instead of wasting money buying. There were so many good actors in this movie I thought it would be okay but even they couldn't get past the stinky script writing.

I also thought Adam Beach was terrible in this movie. Unemotional, sounded like he was unsure of his lines, fresh from his first acting class?

Wes Studi and Graham Greene were great, as usual. Wes wore some pretty spiffy threads in a lot of his scenes so that helped make up for suffering through such an awful film. Although there was a scene where Wes wore sunglasses when no one else was wearing them so it looked awkward. See how boring the movie was? I made it through the movie by napping, checking out their outfits, watching body language, and looking over the sets and scenes.

The blond TA character was also awful. Jeeze, what a friggin sterotype - yet another dumb blond TA doing her professor. EEEch. Then trying to come on to Adam Beach's character. Eyes rolling....

Get a lot of foam bricks if you are determined to watch this awful movie.

Typical Hollywood mangling.......2006-01-31

Typical Hollywood mangling of a good book. Read the book instead. But the book is tougher on the reader than some earlier Hillerman books.

Overall, a Satisfying Hillerman Adaptation.......2003-12-18

"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.

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