Starring Kevin Costner, Mary McDonnell & Graham Greene
Rating 10/10
Film
It’s 1863; the American Civil War is raging. Injured First Lieutenant John Dunbar (Costner) escapes the incompetent field surgery, choosing his own fate. He ends up doing something brave and, in return, he is offered any post he likes. He chooses to go West and ends up at the abandoned Fort Sedgwick.
In this lonely land, his only friends are his horse and a slightly wild wolf that visits him every day. Soon he encounters a Sioux tribe and decides to befriend them. He finds a Sioux woman, Stands With A Fist (McDonnell), bleeding and returns her to her tribe. Friendship is soon established with Kicking Bird (Greene). It is revealed that Stands With A Fist is actually a white woman who was rescued after her family was attacked by the Pawnee when she was a kid. Then there’s buffalo, battles, gross stuff, love and snow. The plot rocks so I won’t ruin it for you if you haven’t seen this masterpiece.
Review
Beautiful, historical, watchable, soulful, this film is a true Best Picture winner. It’s not often you get a great story with brilliant storytelling skills, especially from a first-time director. With minimal dialogue, Director, Kevin Costner and the gang use music, images and space in such a simple way to make a breathtakingly beautiful film.
I must admit, monotonal Costner was born to play this part. He’s a much better actor when he’s not talking so this was a perfect role for him. McDonnell gave a convincing performance as the Sioux convert. Her translation of Sioux into English was convincing and that hair! Don’t get me started on the hair.
However, the stars of this masterpiece would have to be the Native American actors in the beautiful Sioux community. None of the performances were awkward or forced. It just seemed real. Grahame Greene, Rodney A. Grant and Nathan Lee Chasing His Horse (and of course many others) portrayed a noble peaceful people, threatened by the influx of white people. In comparison, caucasian people appeared rough and cold hearted, blood thirsty and ignorant.
I cannot rave enough about this film. Though it is long, it is so watchable – I can’t wait to see the four hour version. It’s disturbing but not devastating, soulful but not sappy, minimalistic but not boring. It harks back to the Gone With the Wind films without all that OTT melodrama.
It is simply a masterpiece and if you haven’t seen it yet, I highly recommend that you do – with matching food, of course!
Food
Super-simple and as authentic as can be, Native American Fry Bread is a MUST-EAT snack for this incredible movie. Join John Dunbar as he transitions from his life in the army, in the violent world of the white man, into the beautiful community of his new Native American family. Whip up a batch of Traditional Indian Fry Bread with this recipe from Norine’s Nest.
Dances With Wolves trivia
- Budget – $22 million (worth every cent I tell ya!)
- It took only four months to film but they experienced delays due to unpredictable weather in South Dakota
- The buffalo scene had not CGI. There were very few animatronics. Most were real buffalo, during a real stampede.
- Costner was thrown off his horse during the stampede and almost broke his back
- The Sioux language has male/female gendered and the Sioux expert on the set was a woman, which meant that Costner was speaking female Sioux instead of male.
- Water was brought in to fill up the pond as there was a drought on the Fort Sedgwick location
- One of the wolves actually bit the trainer in the scene where Two Socks is being told to go home. When Costner is running away from him, he had to throw meat to the animal to keep him from nipping him too.
- The buffalo in the charging scene was actually running towards a pile of his favourite snack, Oreo Cookies. Go figure!
- With the film over budget, Costner had to kick in $3 million of his own money. But the film was so successful, he earned $40 million in return. A sound investment indeed.
- Costner’s six year old daughter plays the young Stands With a Fist
- McDonnell asked for the love scenes to be tamed down, as she wasn’t comfortable making tha lurve as explicitly as the script suggested.
FAQs
In the novel “Dances with Wolves,” Dunbar lives among the Comanche rather than the Lakota Sioux. Apparently, the Comanche tribe in Oklahoma offered only a small talent pool whereas South Dakota had many Sioux Indians who knew the Lakota language.
What did Kevin Costner eat in Dances with Wolves? ›
After the buffalo hunt, when Lieutenant Dunbar was offered the buffalo liver to eat raw, Costner was, in fact, eating cranberry jello.
What are the two versions of Dances with Wolves? ›
The theatrical release is 3 hours, but the extended is 4 hours. I found an interview where Costner says the theatrical is the "true" version.
What does Tatonka mean in Dances with Wolves? ›
In the language of the Sioux, TATONKA means bison. The idea for our brand name comes from the ever-popular film “Dances with Wolves”. For Native Americans, the bison is still a holy animal. For us it is a symbol of nature, freedom, wilderness and strength.
How do indigenous people feel about Dances with Wolves? ›
Not only does this film favor the white characters but it shows the enemy Native characters (the Pawnees) as unwilling to make peace and as unintelligent. When this movie was released it was praised for showing a positive representation of Natives, but today there are issues with their representation.
Why did the Sioux hate the Pawnee? ›
Answer and Explanation: The Sioux fought the Crow and Pawnee tribe due to competition over territory on the Northern Great Plains and beyond. The Pawnee people had lived on the Great Plains since at least 1250 C.E. They were a sedentary society that was established in the region.
Was two socks a real wolf in Dances with Wolves? ›
Two Socks was performed by two different wolves originally owned by Michael Kane. One was called Buck and the other was called Teddy, and both were kept on set at all times. After filming this cinematic production, they were permanently kept in Ventura County, California's animal sanctuary "Working Wildlife".
Was the buffalo scene in Dances with Wolves real? ›
The production company went to great effort and expense to stage realistic animal scenes without harming the animals. There is a huge buffalo stampede and hunt, which was partially achieved with the use of fake and mechanical buffalos. The cost of construction of these 23 fake animals was $250,000.00.
What actor was charged from Dances with Wolves? ›
'Dances with Wolves' actor Nathan Chasing Horse charged with sex assault, trafficking, more. LAS VEGAS — A grand jury on Wednesday indicted a former "Dances With Wolves" actor on felony charges that he sexually abused and trafficked Indigenous women and girls in Nevada for a decade.
Was John Dunbar a real person? ›
While the character of John Dunbar is fictional, there was a real person with the same name who shared surprising similarities. The author of the novel borrowed the name without knowing about the real person, and there are other overlapping connections between the real Dunbar and the fiction.
Eventually, the Sioux track the convoy, killing the soldiers and freeing Dunbar. They assert that they do not see him as a white man, but as a Sioux warrior called Dances with Wolves.
What happened to Cisco the horse from Dances with Wolves? ›
“Buck” (Cisco), one of the horses ridden in the movie, lived at 1880 TOWN until he passed away in 2008 at the age of 33. There is a memorial for him at his burial place in the 1880 TOWN.
What do they call bison in Dances with Wolves? ›
If the tribe's survival revolved around bison they had many names for bison. The movie, “Dances with Wolves,” took the Lakota Sioux name “tatanka” making bison forever cinematically known by this name.
What is the Indian word for buffalo in Dances with Wolves? ›
Many came to learn the word "tatanka" through “Dances With Wolves,” the 1990 Oscar-winner that was filmed at locations in Spearfish Canyon and Sage Creek Wilderness Area in western South Dakota.
What did they call buffalo in Dances with Wolves? ›
Just about everyone has seen the movie Dances with Wolves, and been impressed with the thundering herd of buffalo stampeding across the movie screen. But did you know that one lone buffalo stands out from the herd? That buffalo is Cody.
What happened to the Comanche tribe? ›
In May 1875, the last free band of Comanches, led by the Quahada warrior Quanah Parker, surrendered and moved to the Fort Sill reservation in Oklahoma. The last independent Kiowa and Kiowa Apache had also surrendered.
How historically accurate is Dances with Wolves? ›
Dances With Wolves is not based on a true story but is rooted in historical events, people, and culture. Real Union bases existed at the time, and Chief Ten Bears was a fictionalized version of a real Civil War leader.
Who is the Pawnee in Dances with Wolves? ›
Wes Studi: Toughest Pawnee.
How do you say Dances with Wolves in Sioux? ›
Dunbar, and later played with him on the plain, within sight of Lt. Dunbar's Sioux friends, prompting the Indians to begin calling Lt. Dunbar “Sunkmanitu Tanka Ob Waci” translation Dances with Wolves.
