Dances with Wolves

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Dances with Wolves
Directed by	Kevin Costner
Produced by	Jim Wilson Kevin Costner
Written by	Michael Blake
Starring	Kevin Costner Mary McDonnell Graham Greene Rodney Grant
Music by	John Barry
Cinematography	Dean Semler
Distributed by	Orion Pictures
Release date(s)	November 9, 1990
Running time	181 min (theatrical) 236 min (Director's Cut)
Country	USA
Language	English, Lakota
Budget	$19,000,000 (estimated)
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Dances with Wolves is a 1990 epic film which tells the story of a United States cavalry officer in the 1860s who befriends a band of Sioux, sacrificing his career and ties to his own people. Much of the dialogue is in the Lakota language with English subtitles, unusual for a film at the time of its release.

Contents 1 Tagline 2 Production 3 Synopsis 4 Cast 5 Awards 6 Versions 6.1 1998 Release (1 Disc) 6.2 1999 Release (1 Disc) (DTS) 6.3 2003 Release (2 Disc) (Special Extended Edition) 6.4 2004 Release (1 Disc) 6.5 2007 Release (3 Disc) 7 Soundtrack 8 Pop Culture 9 Trivia 10 References 11 External links

[edit] Tagline

• Lieutenant John Dunbar is about to discover the frontier...within himself.

[edit] Production

Originally written as a spec screenplay by Michael Blake, it went unsold in the mid 1980s. It was Kevin Costner who, in early 1986 (when he was relatively unknown), encouraged Blake to turn the screenplay into a novel, to improve its chances of being made into a movie. The novel manuscript of Dances with Wolves was rejected by numerous publishers but finally published in paperback in 1988. As a novel, the rights were purchased by Costner, with an eye to his directing it. Therefore, Blake's "adaptation" of the novel existed before the novel itself.

Filming lasted from July 18 to November 23, 1989. Most of the movie was filmed on location in South Dakota, but a few scenes were filmed in Wyoming. Filming locations included the Badlands National Park, the Black Hills, the Sage Creek Wilderness Area, and the Belle Fourche River area. The buffalo hunt scenes were filmed at the Triple U Buffalo Ranch near Pierre, South Dakota. [1]

Because of budget overruns and production delays, and the general perception, after the fiasco of Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate, that Westerns weren't commercially viable, Costner's picture was dubbed "Kevin's Gate" by Hollywood wags and pundits during the months prior to its release.

[edit] Synopsis

The film opens during a lull in a battle of the US Civil War. Union Army Officer Lieutenant John J. Dunbar has learned that his injured leg is to be amputated. Seeing the plight of fellow soldiers with amputated legs, Dunbar decides to commit suicide by riding his horse across the line of fire, between the opposing Union and Confederate positions. His action has the unexpected effect of rallying his comrades, who then storm the Confederate positions. After the ensuing battle, Dunbar is named a hero by his commanding officer, and his leg is saved by the general's surgeon. He is offered his choice of next posting.

Dunbar requests a transfer to the western frontier. He arrives with fresh post supplies at the desolate Fort Sedgewick, and finds it deserted except for a lone wolf, whom Dunbar befriends and dubs Two Socks, on account of the coloring of his front legs. Dunbar sets himself to clean up and set in order the deserted post, while waiting for reinforcements to arrive.

Dunbar eventually encounters the local Sioux-Lakota American Indian tribe. Some Sioux kids hear that Dunbar is at the old fort and attempt to steal his horse. Dunbar's horse escapes by pulling off the rider holding on his bridle and returns to the post. This happens again later when several adult members of the tribe try to take the horse but the man holding the horse's reins is again pulled off and the horse escapes.

Dunbar decides to go to the Sioux village to talk but discovers an injured white woman, who is wearing Indian clothing, and speaking only the Sioux language. Dunbar returns the woman to the tribe for treatment. Initially the Sioux are suspicious and wary, but begin to accept Dunbar after they visit the fort and begin simple communication. Eventually a dialog is opened when the medicine man, Kicking Bird, asks the white woman named Stands with a Fist to translate between himself and Dunbar.

Dunbar finds himself more and more drawn to the lifestyle and customs of his Indian neighbors. He becomes a hero among the Sioux, and is accepted as an honorary member of the tribe, after he helps the Sioux to locate a large migrating herd of buffalo, which the Sioux depend on for meat and furs. Dunbar also helps defend the settlement against a Pawnee raiding party, providing the Sioux warriors with surplus rifles and ammunition from the fort. He eventually is accepted as a full member of the tribe, and is named Dances With Wolves, after the scouts witnessed him frolicking with Two Socks. He then marries Stands With A Fist, and spends more time communing with the tribe than manning his post at the fort.

Dunbar's idyll ends when he must tell Kicking Bird that white men will continue to invade their land in numbers like the stars. They tell Chief Ten Bears, who decides it is time to move the village to its winter camp. As the final packing finishes, Dunbar realizes that his journal, left behind at the deserted fort, is a blueprint for finding the Sioux and knowing far too much about their ways. He returns to retrieve it, but finds Fort Sedgewick is re-occupied by reinforcing Army troops, who arrest and beat him as a deserter. He is rescued by warriors from the tribe. Dunbar realizes that, as a deserter and fugitive, if he stays with the Sioux he will continue to draw the unwelcome attention of the Army, and endanger the welfare of the tribe. Dunbar decides that he must leave the tribe, saying he must speak to those who would listen. His new wife accompanies him.

[edit] Cast

It stars Kevin Costner, Mary McDonnell, Graham Greene, Rodney A. Grant, Floyd Red Crow Westerman, Tantoo Cardinal, Wes Studi, Felix Heathcombe, Robert Pastorelli and Charles Rocket. It has been released in both a 181-minute theatrical version and a 236-minute Special Edition version for television and video.

[edit] Awards

Won:

• Academy Award for Best Picture — Jim Wilson and Kevin Costner
• Academy Award for Directing — Kevin Costner
• Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay — Michael Blake
• Academy Award for Best Cinematography — Dean Semler
• Academy Award for Film Editing — Neil Travis
• Academy Award for Sound — Russell Williams II, Jeffrey Perkins, Bill W. Benton, and Gregory H. Watkins
• Academy Award for Original Music Score — John Barry
• Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Drama — Jim Wilson and Kevin Costner

Nominated:

• Academy Award for Best Actor — Kevin Costner
• Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor — Graham Greene
• Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress — Mary McDonnell
• Academy Award for Best Art Direction — Jeffrey Beecroft and Lisa Dean
• Academy Award for Costume Design — Elsa Zamparelli

[edit] Versions

Dances With Wolves has been released to DVD on five occasions. The first on 17 November 1998 on a single disc. The second on 16 February 1999 as a two disc set with a DTS Soundtrack. The third on 20 May 2003 as a two disc set (Special Extended Edition). The fourth on 25 May 2004 as a single disc in Full Frame. There is a "planned" three disc set with a 226 minute version on two Discs and special features on the third, including a lengthy making-of documentary.

[edit] 1998 Release (1 Disc)

Disc 1: Movie

• Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, THX, Wide screen, NTSC
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Run Time: 181 minutes
• Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)

[edit] 1999 Release (1 Disc) (DTS)

Disc 1 & 2: Movie

• Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Wide screen, NTSC
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Run Time: 181 minutes
• Audio Tracks: English (DTS), English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
• Commentary by: director 'Kevin Costner' and 'Jim Wilson'

[edit] 2003 Release (2 Disc) (Special Extended Edition)

Disc 1 & 2: Movie

• Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, THX, Wide screen, NTSC
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Run Time: 236 minutes
• Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
• Commentary by: Kevin Costner and producer Jim Wilson, director of photography Dean Semler and editor Neil Travis.
• New extended version with never-before-seen additional scenes (236 minutes)
• New "The Creation of an Epic" retrospective documentary
• Original making-of featurette
• Original music video
• New Dances photo montage with introduction by Ben Glass
• New Poster gallery

[edit] 2004 Release (1 Disc)

Disc 1: Movie

• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Run Time: 181 minutes
• Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)

[edit] 2007 Release (3 Disc)

Disc 1 & 2: Movie
Disc 3: Special Features

• Run Time: 226 minutes
• Audio Tracks: English/Lakota
• Director's commentary
• New "The Creation of an Epic" retrospective documentary
• Original making-of featurette
• Original music video
• New Dances photo montage with introduction by Ben Glass
• New Poster gallery

First Edition 1 Disc Set

Second Edition 2 Disc Set

Third Edition 2 Disc Set

Fourth Edition 1 Disc Set

[edit] Soundtrack

John Barry composed the Award-winning score, which became a very popular film score. Pope John Paul II once referred to it as among his favorite pieces of music. It was issued in 1990 initially and again in 1995 with bonus tracks and in 2004 with the score "in its entirety."

[edit] Pop Culture

In the comedy-drama Gilmore Girls, Zach mentions to Lane Kim that she has seen him cry during Dances With Wolves, so she knows him better than his parents, who haven't.

[edit] Trivia

• Dances with Wolves became the highest grossing Western film of all time, with nearly $184 million in U.S. box office sales [2].

• The film was often praised for its accuracy in the portrayal of Native Americans, because it went beyond the simple primitive savage motif of typical Hollywood fare.

• The language spoken in the film is a fairly accurate, if simplified, version of the actual Lakota language. Lakota Sioux language instructor Doris Leader Charge (1931-2001) was the on-set Lakota dialogue coach and also portrayed Pretty Shield, wife of Chief Ten Bears, portrayed by Floyd Red Crow Westerman.

• Because Lakota contains both masculine and feminine forms of speech, the filmmakers decided to simplify the language by using the feminine form for all Lakota speech in the film. Native speakers of Lakota were reportedly highly amused by hearing warriors and other men in the film speak as if they were women.

• Two of the domesticated buffalo used in the film were borrowed from Neil Young.

• Mary McDonnell, then 37, was extremely nervous about shooting her love scenes with Kevin Costner.

• Despite portraying the adopted daughter of Graham Greene's character Kicking Bird, Mary McDonnell is actually two months older than Greene, and is less than two years younger than Tantoo Cardinal, the actress playing her adoptive mother.

[edit] References

• Blake, Michael. Dances with Wolves. Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-449-00075-3
• Desobrie, Jean. "Rencontre avec des films remarquables" (Film Analysis - In french). Roger. ISBN 2-903880-03-4

[edit] External links

• Michael Blake's official web site.
• Dances with Wolves at the Internet Movie Database

Preceded by Born On The Fourth Of July

Golden Globe for Best Picture - Drama 1991

Succeeded by Bugsy