Dances with Wolves are based on a true story?
Kevin Costner made his feature directorial debut with Dances with Wolves, a 1990 American epic Western film.The film is based on the 1988 book of the same name and tells the story of a Union Army lieutenant who travels to the American frontier to find a military post.
The film had a budget of 15 million dollars.Much of the dialogue is spoken in a language other than English.Albert White Hat, chair of the Lakota Studies Department at Sinte Gleska University, translated it from July to November 1989 in South Dakota and Wyoming.
The film received positive reviews from critics and audiences, who praised Costner's directing, the performances, screenplay, and production values.The film was a box-office hit, grossing $424.2 million worldwide, making it the fourth-highest-grossing film of 1990.The film was nominated for 12 Academy Awards and won seven, including Best Picture, Best Director for Costner, and Best Adapted Screenplay.The Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Drama was won by the film.
The film is credited with revitalizing the Western genre in Hollywood.Dances with Wolves was selected for preservation by the Library of Congress as being culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.[4][5]
In 1863, 1st Lieutenant John J. Dunbar was wounded in a battle.Henywayanyday death in battle over amputation of his foot, henywayanyday a horse and rides up to and along the Confederate lines.Confederate forces fire at him and miss, and the Union Army takes advantage of the distraction to mount a successful attack.A citation for bravery and medical care allows him to keep his foot.He was awarded the horse that carried him during his suicide attempt and the choice of posting.He wants to see it before it disappears.
Major Fambrough, an officer who despises Dunbar's enthusiasm, transferred him to Fort Hays.He kills himself after agreeing to post Dunbar to the furthest outpost under his jurisdiction.Timmons is a mule-wagon provisioner.They arrived to find the fort empty.Despite the threat of native tribes, Dunbar decided to stay and man the post himself.
He prefers the solitude as he rebuilds the fort and records his observations in his diary.Timmons was killed on the way back to Fort Hays.The deaths of Timmons and Fambrough prevented other soldiers from knowing of Dunbar's assignment.
The neighbors attempt to steal his horse and intimidate him.He decided that being a target was a poor prospect and decided to try dialogue.The White adopted daughter of the tribe's medicine man Kicking Bird was found on his way.She is brought back to the Sioux.The tribe is initially hostile, but soon some of the members begin to respect him.
Kicking Bird, the warrior Wind In His Hair, and the youth Smiles A Lot were initially visiting each other's camps.The language barrier makes it hard for them, but Stands with a Fist is able to communicate with them.Before the rest of her family was killed in a raid, she remembers a little English.
He learns that the stories he had heard about the tribe were not true.He learns their language and is accepted as an honored guest by the tribe after he tells them of a herd of buffalo.He calls the wolf "Two Socks" because of its white forepaws.The name "Dances with Wolves" was given to him by the Sioux.The village is defended from an attack by the rival Pawnee tribe, as well as a romantic relationship with Stands with a Fist, during this time.Kicking Bird approves of Dunbar marrying Stands with a Fist and abandoning Fort Sedgwick.
Chief Ten Bears decided to move the tribe to its winter camp because of the threat from the U.S.As he realized that the army would be able to find the tribe with his diary, he decided to go with them.The fort was reoccupied by the U.S. Army when he arrived.The soldiers open fire because of his clothing, killing him and arresting him as a traitor.
Two officers are questioning him, but he can't prove his story as a soldier found his diary and kept it for himself.He was charged with desertion and transported back east as a prisoner after he refused to serve as an interpreter.The soldiers of the escort shot Two Socks when the wolf tried to follow him.
The soldiers were killed and the convoy was freed.They don't see him as a White man, but a warrior named Dances with Wolves.At the winter camp, he decided to leave because his presence would endanger the tribe.As they leave, Wind In His Hair shouts to Dunbar, reminding him that he is a friend, a contrast to their original meeting where he shouted at him in hostility.
A lone wolf can be heard in the distance while the U.S. troops are searching the mountains.
Their homes were destroyed and their buffalo was gone when they were submitted to white authority at Fort Robinson, Nebraska.The American frontier was soon to pass into history as the great horse culture of the plains was gone.
The spec script was unsold in the 1980's.Kevin Costner, who starred in the film, encouraged the writer to turn the Western script into a novel to improve its chances of being produced.The novel was rejected by many publishers, but was published in paperback in 1988.Costner bought the rights with an eye on directing it.[6]
Jim Wilson was unable to raise money for the film.The project was turned down by several studios due to the Western genre no longer being popular as it was during the 1980s following the disastrous box office of Heaven's Gate, as well as the length of the script.Costner and Wilson enlisted Jake Eberts, a producer, to manage foreign rights in order for Costner to retain final cut rights.The two made a deal with the studio to distribute the film in North America.[7]
There was actual production from July 18 to November 23, 1989.Most of the movie was filmed in South Dakota on private ranches near Pierre and Rapid City.The locations included the Black Hills, the Badlands National Park, and the Belle Fourche River area.The bison hunt scenes were filmed at the Triple U Buffalo Ranch outside Fort Pierre, South Dakota, while the Fort Sedgewick scenes are being constructed on the property.[6]
Dances with Wolves made $184 million in the U.S. box office and $42 million worldwide.The film has an approval rating of 83%, based on 76 reviews, with an average of 7.58/10, as of 13 July 2019.A grand, sweeping epic with noble intentions and arresting cinematography, but one whose center is not as important as it should be, according to the website's critical consensus.Metacritic gave the film a score of 72 out of 100, indicating "generally favorable reviews".CinemaScore reported that audiences gave the film an "A+" grade.[2]
One of the top 10 films of 1990 was Dances with Wolves, and it was also named the best film of 1990.Goodfellas was included on more lists in 1990.There is a citation needed.
The film's popularity and impact on the image of Native Americans led to the adoption of Costner as an "honorary member" of the tribe.At the 63rd Academy Awards ceremony in 1991, Dances with Wolves earned 12 Academy Award nominations and won seven, including Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Picture of the Year.Dances with Wolves was selected for preservation by the Library of Congress.There are no comments at this time.
Russell Means was critical of the film's technical accuracy."Remember Lawrence of Arabia?" he asked in 2009.That was Lawrence of the Plains.The movie was made with a woman teaching the actors the Lakota language, but it had a male and female gender.Kevin Costner was speaking in the feminine way.We were laughing when we went to see it.Michael Smith, the director of San Francisco's long-running annual American Indian Film Festival, said that there was a lot of good feeling about the film in the Native community.It's going to be difficult to top this one.[16]
The pronunciation is not authentic since only one of the actors is a native speaker.The dialogues in the native language have been praised.Other writers have noted that Eskimo, Wagon Master, and The White Dawn incorporated Native dialogue.[18]
Dances with Wolves was referred to as a "white savior" film by David Sirota of Salon.The "noble savage" character type was used to blunt the criticism of the underlying White Savior story.If Dances with Wolves shows characters such as Kicking Bird and Chief Ten Bears as special and exceptional, it will not be bigoted or overly white-centered.The whole story is about a white guy who saves the day.[19]
Dances with Wolves became the first Western film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture since 1931's Cimarron, as well as being one of the most honored films of 1990.[21]
In September 1991 the film was released on home video in the US and it sold 649,000 units for rental.Dances With Wolves was released on DVD on January 11th, 2011; on the same day it was re-released on both DVD and Blu-Ray.[23]
The sequel novel to Dances with Wolves, The Holy Road, was published in 2001.11 years after Dances with Wolves, it picks up again.John and Stands with a Fist have three children.Dances with Wolves must mount a rescue mission after one of the children is kidnapped by a party of White rangers.As of 2007, he was writing a film adaptation.Costner has refused to do a sequel to any of his films, including The Untouchables.The Great Mystery was supposed to be a third book.
The problem with Costner's approach is that the Pawnees are portrayed as stereotypical villains.The Pawnees, numbering only 4,000 at that time, were seen as victims of the more powerful Sioux.[28]
The movie depicts the history and context of Fort Hays in a different light.The stone blockhouse was built immediately after Fort Hays was founded.The predecessor to Fort Hays was abandoned for a few months and relocated a short time later.Fort Hays was founded in the territory of the Native Americans.Thousands of soldiers, railroad workers, and settlers lived at the fort from the start.The Kansas Pacific Railway and the settlements of Rome and Hays City were built next to the fort in 1867, which resulted in immediate warfare with the Dog Soldiers.The fort was the center of the conflict.The Pawnee had been excluded from a historic tipi village that was only 9 miles from Fort Hays.[31][32]
The real John Dunbar was a Christian missionary who sided with the Native Americans in a dispute with government farmers and a local Indian agent.It's not clear if the name "John Dunbar" was chosen as a reference to the historical figure or not.[34]
In the film, the fictional Lieutenant John Dunbar is shown wearing a gold bar on his officer shoulder straps, signifying his rank as a first lieutenant.The rank of first lieutenant was indicated by a gold bar from 1836 to 1872 and a silver bar after 1872.Captain Cargill is depicted wearing a pair of gold bars, indicating his rank at that time.[35]
The story of Cynthia Ann Parker, the White girl captured by the Comanches and mother of the white man who married her, was the basis for Stands with a Fist.36
A four-hour version of Dances with Wolves was released in London one year after the original theatrical release.This longer cut was titled Dances with Wolves: The Special Edition, and it restored nearly an hour's worth of scenes that had been removed to keep the original film running time under 3 hours.[37]