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Ron Miller's DARK CORRIDORS VOL. 5, No. 25 |
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Tony Hillerman's A THIEF OF TIME The TV version comes to PBS' MYSTERY! Sunday, July 11, 9-11 p.m.  Wes Studi, left, as Lt. Joe Leaphorn Adam Beach as Officer Jim Chee |
Hillerman's tribal mystery
opens 'Mystery!' season
By RON MILLER
of TheColumnists.com
Of all the Tony Hillerman mysteries I've read so far, "A Thief of Time" is my favorite because of its unrelenting suspense, the author's splendid use of the exotic southwestern backdrop for his story and the special emotional stuff that's going on in the minds of his two heroes, Lt. Joe Leaphorn and Officer Jim Chee of the Navajo Tribal Police.
Happily, "A Thief of Time" is also the best of the three Hillerman mysteries so far brought to television by PBS' "Mystery!" Coming from me, of course, that's faint praise since I thought the first two--"Skinwalkers" and "Coyote Waits"--were pretty shabby. And though this new one disappointed me a good deal, it's certainly watchable and generally enjoyable, especially if you don't know the book very well.
That's a definite plus
since PBS has decided to launch the new summer season of "Mystery!"
on July 11 with "A Thief of Time." The first two Hillerman's
were shown as "American Mystery!" specials during the
regular TV season. At least this new film will get the 'Mystery!"
season off to a pretty good start, leading into the second season
of "Foyle's War," a much better mystery series, which
starts July 18. (see separate column)
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veteran star of "Easy Rider" and other feature films. |
"A Thief of Time," the novel, follows Lt. Leaphorn as he attempts to find a missing female archeologist whose research involved her with criminal elements responsible for illegal thefts of ancient pottery from sacred native burial sites. The suspense mounts as dead bodies start turning up, all of them connected to the illegal pottery trade.
Meanwhile, Officer Jim Chee is stuck with a much moer banal assignment: Trying to track down the men who stole a backhoe from a locked maintenance yard. But when his tracks begin to cross those of Leaphorn, they both realize they're really working the same case.
There's a major difference between the Leaphorn-Chee relationship in the books and the way it's depicted in the TV movies.
In the books, the men aren't real tight. They don't normally work as partners and, in fact, work different territories. They also are quite different in temperament and focus. At times, Hillerman even lets us know they don't quite like each other, though they always show each other respect. In the TV films, they both work for the same boss and Chee shows Leaphorn a good deal of reverence. It's not exactly Holmes and Watson, though. Chee has to do what Leaphorn tells him because Leaphorn outranks him, which often leaves the impression that Chee is Leaphorn's assistant.
At one point in "A
Thief of Time," Chee even strokes Leaphorn a bit, suggesting
the older policeman can get results because. "You're Joe
Leaphorn--the legendary Joe Leaphorn!"
Leaphorn replies, rather cynically, "You're roadkill when
they start calling you 'legendary.'''
In the novel, Leaphorn is under great personal stress. His wife of many years, Emma, has just died of cancer and he is on leave from his duties with the tribal police. He has, in fact, decided to retire and already has turned in his letter of resignation. He's asked to come back on duty during his final week with the police in order to execute a search warrant of the lodgings of archeologist Eleanor Friedman-Bernal, who's suspected of taking pottery from sacred Anasazi burial sites.
Once Leaphorn drags himself into the hunt for the missing archeologist, he's distracted from his grief and begins to renew his interest in the detecting work that has been his life so far.
At the same time, Chee is coming off the end of a romantic relationship. His former girl friend had left the reservation and wanted him to leave, too. But Chee decided to stay behind in the only world he really knows intimately. He's beginning a new relationship with pretty young lawyer Janet Pete, whose own relationship has just broken up for much the same reasons.
In the teleplay by Alice Arlen, both these strong character elements are either eliminated or altered. Leaphorn's wife, Emma, is ailing, but not dead, so his days on the force aren't numbered. In fact, Emma (Sheila Tousey) has several scenes and plays a meaningful role in the solving of the mystery.
They've also changed the relationship between Chee and Janet Pete. She is given some of the characteristics of the ex-girl friend and is working on Chee to leave the reservation to start a new life with her. The dynamic of their relationship is completely different. In the book, Chee is beginning to realize this smart, attractive Native American woman is a better match for him. In the movie, he already knows this and, in fact, is sleeping with her.
The teleplay also radically changes the character of Maxie Davis, a young female researcher who's also working on the reservation. She's turned into a redheaded sexpot, played by comely Dawn Lewis, who even comes on to Joe Leaphorn and attempts to seduce him. In the book, she behaves herself and doesn't even flutter her eyelids at Leaphorn.
Just out of curiousity, I asked staff members at WGBH Boston, the PBS station that produces the Hillerman movies in conjunction with Robert Redford's production company, to explain why they had made these fundamental changes in the story. They quickly put me in touch with screenwriter Alice Arlen, who emailed me some brief answers to my questions.
Arlen said they kept Emma Leaphorn alive "because she's a brilliant actress," referring to Sheila Tousey, who plays Emma. In answer to my question, "Did the teleplay consciously merge the character of Chee's ex-girl friend with the character of Janet Pete to create more romantic tension between them," Arlen simply said, "Sure." As for the "heating up" of the Maxie character, Arlen replied, "Ms. Davis in the script is not quite the over-the-top vixen as played (by actress Dawn Lewis), but we were attempting to cleverly divert your attention."
The TV version also makes some other changes that are bewildering, but don't really impact the story. For example, park ranger Bob Luna gets a gender switch and is now a woman--"Mildred" Luna, played by Beth Grant. (Arlen simply says it was done "for fun.") Scenes in which Leaphorn travels to the East Coast are eliminated.
In one of the funnier switches, Janet Pete decides to buy a used Buick in the book version of the story and cons Jim Chee into giving it a tryout while she's away on a short trip. Chee reluctantly does so, then gets into a wild chase after the backhoe thieves and wrecks her car. In the TV version, the car he wrecks is upgraded to a fancy BMW convertible. The Jim Chee known to readers could barely afford to repair a used Buick. Trying to imagine him finding the money to repair a BMW is totally absurd. (Arlen didn't explain that change.)
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Emma Leaphorn, who's not in the original story by Tony Hillerman. Dawn Lewis, right, plays Maxie Davis, who's turned into a hot-blooded vixen for the TV version. |
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The three "Mystery!" versions of Hillerman's novels all have suffered from the same basic problems--lackluster direction that gives the films a plodding sort of pace. The storyline of "A Thief of Time" is much more naturally suspenseful than the earlier two, so that helps this one hold our attention. Still, these productions don't have the snap of the British mysteries we're used to seeing on "Mystery!"
One good example: In "A Thief of Time," a key character is a hermit who lives in the wilderness. He's a mentally-disturbed murderer the police believe was killed in a shootout, his body swept away when it fell into a river. The background information we need to know could have been supplied in dialogue between Leaphorn and the boy's father, a powerful Mormon rancher played by Peter Fonda. Instead, the pace of the movie is stopped while we get a confusing flashback sequence that seems clumsily out of place.
Two of the best action sequences in the book also are squandered by director Chris Eyre--a scene where Fonda desperately attempts to hide from someone who has come to kill him and the climactic scene where Leaphorn comes face to face with the killer in a remote Anasazi burial ground. Both sequences fall flat in the film.
Still, much of the careful sleuthing by Leaphorn and Chee is retained in the film. There also are some very nice cameo performances, especially by Graham Greene, who plays Christian evangelist Slick Nakai. Greene, who was Oscar-nominated for his supporting role in "Dances with Wolves" (1990), has put on a lot of weight and is barely recognizable, but really brings this character to life. In fact, the whole revival meeting sequence is director Eyre's better moments in "A Thief of Time."
I'd like to believe the "Mystery!" series of Hillerman movies is now on the upward trend. "A Thief of Time" is definitely a big improvement over its predecessors. The films have been quite successful for PBS so far and much of the credit is due the enormous popularity of Hillerman's books and the stunning scenic backgrounds that Executive Producers Robert Redford and Rebecca Eaton have made sure are an essential part of each film. They look smashing--and unlike anything else mystery fans have ever seen on television.
"Mystery!" has managed to survive since being moved to the summer months and the upcoming "Foyle's War" mysteries are as good as anything in the series' long and proud history, so things may indeed be looking up for mystery fans.
©2004 by Ron Miller.
The photos are courtesy WGBH and PBS.
Ron
Miller is a former nationally syndicated television columnist
and the author of "Mystery! A Celebration," the official
companion book to PBS' "Mystery!" series. He currently
teaches classes in mystery and related topics at Whatcom Community
College and Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington.
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