Dances with Wolves (1990)
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Overview
About the Film
Dances with Wolves is a 1990 American epic Western directed by and starring Kevin Costner as Lieutenant John Dunbar, a Civil War hero who requests a posting at the furthest outpost on the Western frontier. Arriving at an abandoned Fort Sedgwick on the Great Plains, Dunbar gradually establishes a relationship with a neighboring band of Lakota Sioux, learning their language and customs, falling in love with a white woman raised by the tribe named Stands With A Fist, played by Mary McDonnell, and eventually being adopted into the tribe as "Dances with Wolves." The film was Kevin Costner's directorial debut and one of the most ambitious independent productions in American cinema — Costner financed much of the $22 million budget himself after studios balked at a three-hour Western with subtitled Lakota dialogue. Dances with Wolves won seven Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director, revitalizing the Western genre after a decade of dormancy.
The film used actual Lakota language — with Doris Leader Charge as language consultant and several Lakota actors in key roles — and its sympathetic portrayal of Native Americans was considered groundbreaking for mainstream Hollywood. Dances with Wolves earned $424 million worldwide.





