The Dark Wind (1991 film) - Misplaced Pages

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1991 American film

The Dark Wind
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Errol Morris
Screenplay by	Eric Bergren Neal Jimenez
Based on	The Dark Wind by Tony Hillerman
Produced by	Patrick Markey
Starring	Lou Diamond Phillips Fred Ward John Karlen Gary Farmer
Cinematography	Stefan Czapsky
Edited by	Freeman Davies Susan Crutcher
Music by	Michel Colombier
Production companies	Carolco Pictures Le Studio Canal+
Distributed by	Seven Arts (through New Line Cinema)
Release date	November 1991 (1991-11) (BFI London Film Festival)
Running time	111 minutes
Country	United States
Languages	English Navajo Hopi

The Dark Wind is a 1991 American mystery drama film based on The Dark Wind by Tony Hillerman, one of a series of mysteries set against contemporary Navajo life in the Southwest. It stars Lou Diamond Phillips as Jim Chee and Fred Ward as Joe Leaphorn.

Synopsis

As Officer Jim Chee (Lou Diamond Phillips) watches a windmill, trying to catch the vandal repeatedly sabotaging it, a small plane crashes nearby. Thus begins a tangled story involving not only the vandalism and the crash, but also murder, drug smuggling, and burglary. Officer Chee is suspected by the FBI when drugs known to have been on the plane are missing.

Cast

Lou Diamond Phillips as Officer Jim Chee
Fred Ward as Lt. Joe Leaphorn
John Karlen as Jake West
Gary Farmer as Deputy Cowboy Albert Dashee
Michelle Thrush as Shirley Topaha
Guy Boyd as Agent Johnson
Blake Clark as Ben Gaines
Gary Basaraba as Larry

Reception

It was directed by Errol Morris, a documentary film-maker making his dramatic feature debut. Robert Redford was executive producer, hoping for a series of films, but he was unhappy with the production and director. In an article on the successful adaptation of Skinwalkers in 2002, Redford said of The Dark Wind, "That was a false start. It was miscast. It was ill-conceived and I didn't think it was the right beginning for the series. It wasn't distributed."

Director Errol Morris did not finish the film due to "artistic differences" with Redford.

References

King, Susan (November 17, 2002). "The bestseller they couldn't sell". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 28, 2015.

External links

v t e Errol Morris
Documentary films	Gates of Heaven (1978) Vernon, Florida (1981) The Thin Blue Line (1988) A Brief History of Time (1991) Fast, Cheap & Out of Control (1997) Mr. Death (1999) The Fog of War (2003) Standard Operating Procedure (2008) Tabloid (2010) The Unknown Known (2013) The B-Side: Elsa Dorfman's Portrait Photography (2016) American Dharma (2018) The Pigeon Tunnel (2023) Separated (2024)
Feature films	The Dark Wind (1991)
Other	First Person (TV series, 2000) They Were There (short film, 2011) A Wilderness of Error (book, 2012) Wormwood (miniseries, 2017) The Ashtray (Or the Man Who Denied Reality) (book, 2018)

v t e Works by Tony Hillerman
Joe Leaphorn / Jim Chee Navajo Tribal Police novels	The Blessing Way Dance Hall of the Dead Listening Woman People of Darkness The Dark Wind The Ghostway Skinwalkers A Thief of Time Talking God Coyote Waits Sacred Clowns The Fallen Man The First Eagle Hunting Badger The Wailing Wind The Sinister Pig Skeleton Man The Shape Shifter
Other novels	The Fly on the Wall (1971) Finding Moon The Boy Who Made Dragonfly (for children) (1972) Buster Mesquite's Cowboy Band (for children) (1973)
Nonfiction	Seldom Disappointed The Great Taos Bank Robbery The Spell of New Mexico Indian Country Talking Mysteries (with Ernie Bulow) The Tony Hillerman Companion: A Comprehensive Guide to His Life and Work Canyon De Chelly Kilroy Was There: A Gi's War in Photographs Hillerman Country Indian Country: America's Sacred Land with Bela Kalman Rio Grande with Robert Reynolds New Mexico with David Muench
Anthologies	The Best of the West: An Anthology of Classic Writing from the American West (1991) The Oxford Book of American Detective Stories (1996) Best American Mysteries of the Century (2000) New Omnibus of Crime (2005) The Mysterious West
Adaptations from novels	The Dark Wind Skinwalkers Coyote Waits (2003) A Thief of Time (2004) Dark Winds (2022 TV Series)
Related articles	Joe Leaphorn Jim Chee

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