You won't be disappointed!

That was an excellent one.

Fantastic!

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

I liked this film since it had a nice blend of Navajo culture with mystery and suspense. Adam Beach, Wes Studi and Jimmy Herman did well in this as they do in all their films. Three other films where they also star in, "A Thief of Time", "Skinwalkers" and "Coyote Summer" all have interesting themes of how Native cultures blend in with mystery/suspense although one of them may not directly deal with cultural issues in itself. If I am not mistaken, at least 3 of the 4 films have to do with murder cases where Native cultures are widely portrayed in order to help find the people responsible for the murders. Another reason why I liked this one is because Alex Rice is in it. I'm a big fan of hers and I liked the role she played as lawyer Janet Pete. ANYWAYS.... this film along with the other 3 mentioned all go hand in hand. This is why I gave it a 7 out of 10.

Years ago Robert Redford bought the screen rights to a bunch of Tony Hillerman mysteries. He's been the force behind one movie (The Dark Wind, 1991, with Lou Diamond Phillips and Fred Ward as Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn) and three television movies, all with Adam Beach as Chee and Wes Studi as Leaphorn (Skinwalkers, 2002; Coyote Waits, 2003; and A Thief of Time, 2004). Redford has yet to get it right. Coyote Waits is the best of the TV movies, but it suffers from the same conscientious flaws that mar the other three productions. It's best to remind ourselves just why Hillerman's mysteries are so good: They are complex yet believable; are set in what, for most Americans, is an exotic locale within a culture which is not well known; and the mysteries are superbly constructed and well written. Hillerman educates us along the way -- if we want to be educated -- about Navajo people, customs, history and the Navajo belief system. He makes clear the tension between modern needs and traditional values, but he does it matter-of- factly, with no preaching, and always within the context of the mystery he's telling. Redford and his team almost perversely get it backward. More than any of the other flaws, it's the reverential treatment given to the Navajo and their land that sinks these movies into culturally-approved lessons. Instead of trusting the audience to take up what they will and learn from it or not, as Hillerman does, we have sweeping camera vistas of the land at dramatic moments; a generically sensitive "ethnic" score that tries to tell us what we should be appreciating in the Navajo belief system; and a need to cram in so many plot points from the books with messages about Navajo issues that the mysteries themselves become disorganized. Coyote Waits eventually settles down to a better than average telling of Hillerman's story, which involves a ruthless search for old bones. A great deal of money and an enhanced reputation are the prizes. There's murder and avarice, rattlesnakes and Bolivian coins and the continuing conflict within Chee over his job as a cop and his gifts as a healer. Chee and the older Leaphorn wind up working together but on parallel aspects of the case. It makes for a neat way to keep the two different men prominent in the solution. The director and writer have managed with partial success to keep the focus on the story. Coyote Waits is far more coherent and with less of the reverential stuff that so marred, in my opinion, Skinwalkers and The Thief of Time. You might want to give The Dark Wind a try. Phillips makes an interesting, if young, Chee. The movie, however, also keeps getting sidetracked into overly respectful appreciation of the Navajo way. The Navajo deserve better...which they get in the Hillerman books. I give this movie a better-than-average rating because, even with the movie's flaws, the team tried to do a better job. When they concentrated on the mystery, the movie works reasonably well.

OMG!!!! It was so cool to see home on the small screen, I just moved out east and was missing the Frontier, and there it was on PBS. You could see UNM in the background. That's where I used to eat, and I used to waltz around that campus!!!! I love any movie that films in my home state; there aren't any real mountains out here. Just grass. Having read the book and seeing it translated onto film is always hard because most of the flow and context is lost. Hillerman has developed these characters over a series of novels, and his fans are familiar with them and need no guidelines. For those that haven't read the book, they probably got lost in the story line. (I don't buy Adam Beach as a Navajo, he's too pretty. The acting itself is fine, though.)

Was pleasantly surprised with this film as a friend who contributes to public television recommended it to me. Since the movie started at 2 a.m. my hopes initially was that the film would be a dud and I could go to bed. Instead this film has me wanting to purchase it to view again and possibly add the initial film Skinwalkers along with the purchase. The Tony Hillerman novels will also be purchased for a good read as well.For me, fortunately the pace and structure of the movie was outstanding in this CSI laden era of mystery. The back and forth development of the case was to me intriguing and provided enough information to get you involved but not to much information to stop your personal hunt to figure out who committed the crimes.There was enough personal concern for Adam Beach's character Jim Chee to strive for the resolution of this mystery. From time to time it is nice to see a Movie/TV cop solve a crime because it is the right thing to do without car chases or autopsy scenes shocking your senses.