Dances with Wolves
Dances with Wolves is a 1990 American epic Western film starring, directed, and produced by Kevin Costner in his feature directorial debut. It is a film adaptation of the 1988 novel Dances with Wolves, by Michael Blake, that tells the story of Union Army Lieutenant John J. Dunbar (Costner), who travels to the American frontier to find a military post, and who meets a group of Lakota.
For the novel by Michael Blake, see Dances with Wolves (novel). For The song by Mount Eerie, see Mount Eerie Dances with Wolves.Dances with Wolves
Dances with Wolves
by Michael Blake
- Jim Wilson
- Kevin Costner
- Kevin Costner
- Mary McDonnell
- Graham Greene
- Rodney Grant
- Tig Productions
- Majestic Films International
- October 19, 1990 (Uptown Theater)
- November 9, 1990 (United States)
181 minutes[1]
United States
$22 million[2]
$424.2 million[2]
Costner developed the film with an initial budget of $15 million.[3] Much of the dialogue is spoken in Lakota with English subtitles. It was shot from July to November 1989 in South Dakota and Wyoming, and translated by Doris Leader Charge,[4] of the Lakota Studies department at Sinte Gleska University.
The film earned favorable reviews from critics and audiences, who praised Costner's directing, the performances, screenplay, score, cinematography, and production values. It was a box office hit, grossing $424.2 million worldwide, making it the fourth-highest-grossing film of 1990, and is the highest-grossing film for Orion Pictures. The film was nominated for 12 awards at the 63rd Academy Awards and won 7, including Best Picture, Best Director for Costner, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, and Best Sound Mixing. The film also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama. It is one of only four Westerns to win the Oscar for Best Picture, the other three being Cimarron (1931), Unforgiven (1992), and No Country for Old Men (2007).
It is credited as a leading influence for the revitalization of the Western genre of filmmaking in Hollywood. In 2007, Dances with Wolves was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[5][6]
Plot[edit]
In 1863, 1st Lieutenant John J. Dunbar—serving with the Union Army—is wounded in battle at St. David's Field in Tennessee. The surgeon intends to amputate Dunbar's leg. Choosing death in battle instead, Dunbar steals a horse and rides out in front of Confederate lines, who repeatedly fire at him and miss. The Union Army takes advantage of the distraction to mount a successful attack. For his bravery, Dunbar is given medical care that saves his leg and is awarded "Cisco", the horse he rode during his suicide attempt, along with his choice of posting. Dunbar requests a transfer to the American frontier so he can see it before it disappears.
Dunbar arrives at Fort Hays where its commander, Major Fambrough, assigns Dunbar to the furthest outpost under his jurisdiction: Fort Sedgwick. Fambrough, who is mentally ill, kills himself as Dunbar departs. Dunbar travels with Timmons, a mule-wagon provisioner, and finds the fort deserted. Dunbar decides to stay and rebuild the fort, enjoying the solitude and recording his observations in his diary. Timmons is killed by a band of Pawnee while returning to Fort Hays. The deaths of both Timmons and Fambrough leave the army unaware of Dunbar's assignment, therefore no other soldiers arrive to reinforce the post.
Dunbar encounters his Sioux neighbors when they attempt to steal his horse and intimidate him. Wanting to make peace, he seeks out the Sioux camp. En route, he comes across Stands with a Fist, a white ethnic Sioux woman who was adopted as a young girl by the tribe's medicine man, Kicking Bird, after her family was killed by Pawnee. She is mutilating herself in mourning for her late Sioux husband. Dunbar brings her back to the Sioux to recover. Though the tribe is initially hostile, Dunbar gradually establishes a rapport with them, particularly Kicking Bird, the warrior Wind in His Hair, and the youth Smiles a Lot. Stands with a Fist acts as an interpreter, speaking Lakota and English.
Dunbar comes to respect and appreciate the Sioux, their lifestyle, and their culture. He is then accepted into the tribe after he tells them of a migrating herd of buffalo and participates in the hunt. When at Fort Sedgwick, Dunbar befriends a wolf he dubs "Two Socks" for its white forepaws. Observing Dunbar and Two Socks chasing each other, the Sioux give him the name Dances with Wolves. Dunbar learns the Lakota language, forges a romantic relationship with Stands with a Fist, and supplies the tribe with firearms to help defend them from an attack by the rival Pawnee tribe. Dunbar eventually earns Kicking Bird's approval to marry Stands with a Fist, and abandons Fort Sedgwick.
Because of the growing threat of encroaching white settlers, Chief Ten Bears decides to move the tribe to its winter camp. Dunbar decides to accompany them, but must first retrieve his diary from Fort Sedgwick, as he realizes that it would help the U.S. Army locate the tribe. When he arrives, he finds the fort reoccupied by the army. Because of his Sioux clothing, the soldiers open fire, killing Cisco before capturing Dunbar. Two officers interrogate him, but Dunbar cannot prove his story, as one of the soldiers stole his diary. Refusing to help the army hunt down native tribes, Dunbar is charged with desertion and transported back east as a prisoner. Two Socks attempts to follow Dunbar, but is shot dead by the escorting soldiers.
Eventually, the Sioux tracks the convoy, killing the soldiers and freeing Dunbar. At the winter camp, Dunbar decides to leave with Stands with a Fist because his continuing presence would endanger the tribe. As they leave, Dunbar and Kicking Bird exchange parting gifts; Smiles a Lot returns the diary, which he recovered during Dunbar's rescue; Wind in His Hair loudly proclaims his everlasting friendship to Dunbar.
U.S. troops are seen searching the mountains, but cannot locate Dunbar or the tribe. The epilogue text tells that the last of the free Sioux would eventually surrender at Fort Robinson, Nebraska thirteen years later, rendering their culture to history.
Production[edit]
Originally written as a speculative script by Michael Blake, it went unsold in the mid-1980s. However, Kevin Costner had starred in Blake's only previous film, Stacy's Knights (1983) and encouraged Blake in early 1986 to turn the Western screenplay into a novel to improve its chances of being produced. The novel was rejected by numerous publishers, but finally was published in paperback in 1988. The rights were purchased by Costner, with an eye on directing it.[7]
Costner and his producing partner, Jim Wilson, had difficulty in raising money for the film. The project was turned down by several studios due to the Western genre no longer being popular, following the disastrous box office of Heaven's Gate (1980), as well as the length of the script. After the project languished at both Nelson Entertainment and Island Pictures due to budget reasons, Costner and Wilson enlisted producer Jake Eberts to manage foreign rights in several countries for Costner to retain final cut rights.[8] The two then made a deal with Orion Pictures, in which the studio would distribute the film in North America.[8]
Actual production lasted from July 17 or 18 to November 21 or 23, 1989.[9][10] Most of the movie was filmed on location in South Dakota, mainly on private ranches near Pierre and Rapid City, with a few scenes filmed in Wyoming. Specific locations included the Badlands National Park, the Black Hills, the Sage Creek Wilderness Area, and the Belle Fourche River area. The bison hunt scenes were filmed at the Triple U Buffalo Ranch outside Fort Pierre, South Dakota, as were the Fort Sedgewick scenes on a custom set.[7]
Cancelled sequel[edit]
The Holy Road, a sequel novel by Michael Blake, the author of both the original novel and the movie screenplay, was published in 2001.[28] It picks up 11 years after the events of Dances with Wolves. John Dunbar is still married to Stands with a Fist, and they have three children. Stands with a Fist and one of the children are kidnapped by a party of white rangers, and Dances with Wolves must mount a rescue mission.
Salvador Carrasco was attached to direct the sequel, but the film was not realized.[29][30] As of 2007, Blake was writing a film adaptation.[31] However, Costner stated in a 2008 interview that he would "never make a sequel".[32] A third book titled The Great Mystery was planned, but Blake died in 2015.
Historical references[edit]
Judith A. Boughter wrote: "The problem with Costner's approach is that all of the Sioux are heroic, while the Pawnees are portrayed as stereotypical villains. Most accounts of Sioux–Pawnee relations see the Pawnees, numbering only 4,000 at that time, as victims of the more powerful Sioux."[33]
The history and context of Fort Hays is radically different from that portrayed in the movie. Historic Fort Hays was founded in 1867, with the iconic stone blockhouse being built immediately.[34] Its predecessor, Fort Fletcher (1865–1868), was abandoned for a few months and then relocated a short distance away in 1866.[35] Fort Hays was founded in Cheyenne territory rather than Sioux. Rather than a desolate site, the fort was host to thousands of soldiers, railroad workers, and settlers from the start. The Kansas Pacific Railway and the settlements of Rome and Hays City were built next to the fort in 1867; each was a perceived violation of Cheyenne and Arapaho territory, resulting in immediate warfare with the Dog Soldiers.[36] The fort was Sheridan's headquarters at the center of the 1867–1868 conflict. A historic seasonal Pawnee tipi village had been located only 9 miles (14 km) from Fort Hays, but the Pawnee had been excluded from it by other dominant tribes for some time by the 1860s.[37][38]
A Christian missionary named John Dunbar worked among the Pawnee in the 1830s and 1840s, and sided with the Native Americans in a dispute with government farmers and a local Indian agent.[39] According to screenwriter Michael Blake, the film character's name was chosen at random from lists of Civil War veterans and was merely coincidence.
The fictional Lieutenant John Dunbar of 1863 is correctly shown in the film wearing a gold bar on his officer shoulder straps, indicating his rank as a first lieutenant. From 1836 to 1872, the rank of first lieutenant was indicated by a gold bar; after 1872, the rank was indicated by a silver bar. Similarly, Captain Cargill is correctly depicted wearing a pair of gold bars, indicating the rank of captain at that time.[40]
Author and screenwriter Michael Blake said that Stands with a Fist was actually based upon Cynthia Ann Parker, the white girl captured by Comanches and mother of Quanah Parker.[41]
