Skinwalkers (2002)

The story revolves around the legend of the skin walkers or "S Dubs", a folk legend from Utah about the spirits of murdered Indians returning to seek revenge upon those who disrespect the land.

Director:

Chris Eyre

Writer:

James Redford

Stars:

Harrison Lowe, James Dalgam, Adam Beach

6 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Harrison Lowe	...	Roman George
James Dalgam	...	Bister
Adam Beach	...	Jim Chee
Saginaw Grant	...	Wilson Sam
Nicholas Bartolo	...	Tommy Nakai
Jon Proudstar	...	Davis Nakai
Misty Upham	...	Nina
Drew Lacafa	...	Bobby
Sheila Tousey	...	Emma Leaphorn
Wes Studi	...	Lt. Joe Leaphorn
Apesanahkwat	...	Capt. Butler
Marla Frumkin	...	German woman (as Marla Finn)
Michael Greyeyes	...	Dr. Stone
Ryan Polequaptewa	...	Lonnie Mack
Noah Watts	...	Ruben Maze

Storyline

Faced with the murder of three medicine men, Navajo police must find the culprit. That the murders appear to be the work of a Skinwalker, or bad medicine man, complicate and illuminate the detective's work.

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Plot Keywords:

navajo indian | navajo reservation | tuba city arizona | ganado arizona | arizona | 

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Taglines:

Detective Leaphorn trusts hard facts. Officer Chee trusts ancient tradition. Their beliefs will be tested as they try to catch a mysterious killer.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

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Details

Official Sites:

PBS

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 November 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

Skinwalkers - kostajat haudan takaa

Filming Locations:

Apache Leap Mountain, Superior, Arizona, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Carlton International Media, Granada Entertainment, Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Most of this movie was made in and around Superior Arizona. Some scenes are from Globe Arizona. The steep cliffs shown in numerous scenes is called Apache Leap. Ironic being this movie and series was based on the Navajo Indians. The Movie U Turn was also famously filmed here as well.

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Goofs

The knife found in Chee's tire is held in place by grey putty, clearly seen and covering the tire tread.

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Quotes

Emma Leaphorn: Well, when something bugs you, usually turns out to be important, so I would stay on it. Come one, Joe. You'll solve it. You'll be a little dull until you do, but I know you'll solve it.
Lt. Joe Leaphorn: You're the best.
Emma Leaphorn: I know.

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Connections

Followed by A Thief of Time (2004)

User Reviews

Mildly disappointing

I'm a fan of Hillerman's mysteries, and had high hopes for Redford's film adaptations. I came away from Skinwalkers a bit disappointed. I should preface my comments by saying that I've read about two-thirds of the Navajo mysteries, and Skinwalkers is my least favorite, so in some sense my disappointment started with the choice of book to adapt. However, my main quibbles with the movie are independent of this issue.

The foremost problem is what I see as unfaithful characterizations of Leaphorn and Chee. In the books, Leaphorn's defining attribute is his preternatural intuition, which he backs up with methodical procedure--sort of an aging Navajo Adam Dalgleish. Chee's essence is that he's a good cop who has to overcome frequent waves of self-doubt. Both are men of few words, Leaphorn because his mind is always whirring, Chee because he's moody by nature. Perhaps most distinctly, the relationship between the two is extremely unequal: Chee is in awe of Leaphorn's reputation, and as such is perpetually worried about making a wrong move within Leaphorn's view. However, what the Skinwalker movie does is take a single dimension of the characters--the fact that Chee is an active participant in Navajo spirituality and Leaphorn is not--and make that their defining contrast. This distorts Leaphorn in particular almost beyond recognition: rather than the icy logician of the books, whose attitude toward Navajo spiritual tradition is at worst pragmatic, the movie renders him as sort of a reservation Dirty Harry (with a smaller gun), informed primarily by cynicism about human motives. Given this, there's nothing for Chee to be in awe of, and their collaboration is presented as an equal division of labor, with Chee providing the "Navajo insider" angle and Leaphorn the "hardheaded cop" grounding.

Beyond this, the plot of the movie diverged considerably from that of the book, for the worse in my opinion. Disparaging a movie for not being true to a book I didn't like all that much might sound like complaining about the small portions at a lousy restaurant, but the book did have some good moments, most of which got altered or left out. In particular, the book has an especially tense episode near the end when one of the principles is in grave danger, a scene that could have been adapted to great effect. Instead, the movie's denouement feels forced, as is not that exciting.

For fans of Hillerman's books, I strongly recommend seeing the film of The Dark Wind, which I think captures the feel of the books much better than does Skinwalkers. I have a harder time recommending The Dark Wind to those unfamiliar with the books, as it has a slow pace and will probably be hard to follow. I also liked the adapatation of Coyote Waits quite a bit, less than The Dark Wind, but much more than Skinwalkers.