Noted documentary filmmaker
Errol Morris made his dramatic feature debut with this story about murder and other dirty dealings on an American Indian reservation. Recent college graduate Jim Chee (
Lou Diamond Phillips) has just taken a job with the Navajo Reservation Police in Arizona, where he helps keep the peace with his superior Joe Leaphorn (
Fred Ward) on land earmarked for joint use by Navajo and Hopi tribes. Cowboy Dashee (
Gary Farmer), a sheriff from the Hopi law enforcement group, discovers a decaying and unidentified body in the desert, an event he thinks may be linked to a recent robbery at the reservation's trading post. The shop's Hopi manager, Jake West (
John Karlen), is convinced that Joe Musket, a Navajo drug dealer and ne'er-do-well, is responsible, and as Chee and Leaphorn investigate the murder, the robbery, and a mysterious plane crash, they find themselves drawn into a web of corruption, prejudice, and deceit.
Dark Wind was based on a novel by noted crime author Tony Hillerman. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide