Comparing Lou Diamond Phillips' rendition of Jim Chee to Adam Beach's version in the PBS specials, it's obvious that SOMEone decided that Chee had to assume a more authoritarian stance and actually seem like a physical threat when necessary to the story. In The Dark Wind, Phillips seemed to spend more time in handcuffs than anyone else in the story; his character seems less in control of his fate than (to make an apples-and-oranges comparison) McGyver, who relies on his wits and doesn't even carry a weapon (other than maybe a swiss army knife). Not to criticize Phillips' performance, which I thought was as good as it could be given the script,I think that the series of PBS specials would have ended at one had the Chee character not been reworked.
Review of The Dark Wind
