Dances With Wolves (1990)

“Many times I’d felt alone, but until this afternoon I’d never felt completely lonely.” – John Dunbar

Number of Times Seen – Between 5-10 times (Theater, DVD, 2 Jul 2013)

Brief Synopsis – A Union officer during The Civil War is transferred to the Western Frontier and makes friends with the local Indian tribe

My Take on it – This is a movie I saw in the theater, which as a 17 year old was a true task since the original cut of this movie is 3 hours long.  I have subsequently seen the extended version twice which is close to 4 hours and is a more complete story.

Kevin Costner read the original screenplay by Michael Blake and convinced him to make it into a book since then it would be an easier “sell” to a movie studio as an adaptation instead of an original screenplay.

Excellent cast in addition to Costner; Graham Greene as the Indian Medicine Man, Mary McDonnell as a white women who grew up among the Indians, Robert Pastorelli as a guide and Rodney E. Grant as an Indian Warrior.

Winner of 7 of 12 Oscars (Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Music, Sound and Film Editing).

It lost Actor (Costner), Art Direction, Costumes, Supporting Actor (Greene) and Supporting Actress (McDonnell)

Costner was the 4th of (so far) 6 Actors who have won Best Director by the Oscars. The others in order were Robert Redford for Ordinary People (1980), Warren Beatty for Reds (1981), Richard Attenborough for Gandhi (1982), Mel Gibson for Braveheart (1995) and Clint Eastwood for both Unforgiven (1992) and Million Dollar Baby (2004).

Bottom Line – Excellent movie. Worthy of all it’s awards. By far, Costner’s best movie. Highly recommended!!

Rating – Oscar Worthy