John Dunbar: The strangeness of this life cannot be measured: in trying to produce my own death, I was elevated to the status of a living hero.


Dances With Wolves is without a doubt one of the best movies ever made. I get this movie out and watch it at least once a year. The acting is excellent. The cast is fabulous. The score is magnificent. The scenery was spectacular. The cinematography and directing are brilliant. The script was intelligent and the movie was as good as it gets.

Dances With Wolves (1990)

Directed by Kevin Costner
Kevin Costner as Lieutenant John Dunbar
Graham Greene as Kicking Bird
Mary McDonnell as Stands With A Fist
Floyd 'Red Crow' Westerman as Ten Bears


Storyline / Plot

Dances With Wolves starts out in a battlefield during the American Civil War. Lieutenant John Dunbar (Kevin Costner) portrays a young Union Lieutenant. His feet were in very bad shape and his right foot was going to be amputated. While the sawbones went off to get some coffee Lieutenant Dunbar put his boot back, mounted a horse and charged the Confederate lines. The Union men were inspired by the lieutenants suicidal actions and overran the Confederate lines. It was only dumb luck that the Lieutenant was not killed. After the battle a General who had watched the whole ordeal ordered his personal surgeon to care for Lieutenant Dunbar’s wounded foot.

Now that Lieutenant Dunbar was a war hero he had his choice of duty stations. Lieutenant Dunbar wanted to go see the wild frontier and requested the farthest post out west. This post was Fort Sedgwick, Colorado.
After quite a bit of traveling he and his guide arrive at the abandoned and run down, camp Sedgwick. Lieutenant Dunbar decides to stay at his post against the advice of his wee witted guide, Timmons (Robert Pastorelli). As Lieutenant Dunbar cleaned and rebuild the neglected Army outpost he wondered if reinforcements would ever arrive, weeks and months began to roll by.

One day while working around the camp a wolf started coming around. Over the weeks Lieutenant Dunbar fed the wolf and they became each others friend on the lonesome prairie. Lieutenant Dunbar was right in the middle of Lakota Sioux territory, so it was just a matter of time before he would run into them. Luckily, for Dunbar he ran into one of the tribes elders first. The elder, Kicking Bird (Graham Greene) was considered very wise and ordered that Dunbar not be killed. For whatever reason he liked Dunbar and wanted to learn to communicate with him.

While Lieutenant Dunbar’s friendship with the Lakota Sioux grew, his links to the Army and civilization were fading away. While his bond grew stronger with the Sioux and it’s people, his heart belonged to one of their women, Kicking Bird’s white daughter, Stands With A Fist (Mary McDonnell). Stands With A Fist had been taken and raised by the Sioux as a very young child. Although she hadn’t spoke a word of English in years, she was crucial while interpreting between Kicking Bird and Dunbar. Somewhere along the way Dunbar and Stands With A Fist fall in love.

SPOILER PARAGRAPH

Lieutenant Dunbar’s life was going well. He and Stands with fist had been married and Dunbar lived with the Sioux and, as a Sioux. The Sioux were moving to their Winter camp and Dunbar went to Fort Sedgwick one last time to pick up some items. This time there was US Cavalry troops there. Lieutenant Dunbar had no proof that he was a Lieutenant and acted more like a Sioux warrior than a Army officer. After some severe beatings the Army was moving Dunbar to Fort Hays to be hanged as a traitor. The Sioux thought enough of Dunbar to send back help which were able to rescue him. In the process several Army troops were killed. This meant that Dunbar and whoever he was with would be hunted and killed…


Conclusion


Dances With Wolves is one of the best westerns ever made. Everything about the movie was done well. If there was anything at all to snivel about, it would be the fact that it was a one sided movie. It shows the white man invading the American west from the view of the Lakota Sioux . The movie portrays the US Cavalry as ignorant, ruthless, unjust and unprovoked war mongers. There are two sides to every story and this film shows one. I enjoy the movie Dances With Wolves every time I watch it. I have the new DVD in my personal collection. I would recommend this movie to anyone! Even folks who do not generally like westerns seem to enjoy Dances With Wolves. Winning nearly ten Academy awards, Costner surely did something right.


Quotes From Dances With Wolves

Lieutenant Dunbar: Go home two socks, bad wolf…bad wolf…
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Lieutenant Dunbar: The strangeness of this life cannot be measured: in trying to produce my own death, I was elevated to the status of a living hero.
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[Dunbar & Timmons looking at a body with an arrow in it…]
Timmons: I'll bet someone back east is going, 'Now why don't he write?'

Awards

Dances With Wolves won the following Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Cinematography, Best Director, Best Film Editing, Best Music, Original Score, Best Sound
Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium

Features From Dances With Wolves

• Original Theatrical Trailer

Similar Movies
• Lonesome Dove
• Soldier Blue

RUNTIME 3 hours 1 minute
Rated: [PG-13] For violence and nudity

Thanks for the read,
~Mac

©2004 Joe McMaster

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older