Dances With Wolves

In 1864 one man went in search of the frontier... and found himself

DANCES WITH WOLVES (12)

D: Kevin Costner

Tig (Kevin Costner & Jim Wilson)

USA 🇺🇸 1990

181 mins

Western

W: Michael Blake [based on his novel]

DP: Dean Semler

Ed: Neil Travis

Mus: John Barry

Pd: Jeffrey Beecroft

Cos: Elsa Zamparelli

Kevin Costner (Lt. John Dunbar), Mary McDonnell (Stands With A Fist), Graham Greene (Kicking Bird), Rodney A. Grant (Wind In His Hair), Floyd Red Crow Westerman (Chief Ten Bears), Tantoo Cardinal (Black Shawl), Robert Pastorelli (Timmons)

The critics wanted to tear this film apart before it's 1990 release, dubbing it "Kevin's Gate" during production in anticipation of it being a bloated ego trip and a flop of mammoth proportions.

When the film became a hit and went on to win the Oscar for Best Picture, it left them critics with egg on their faces, and damn right too! Dances With Wolves is an absolutely fantastic movie and a genuine labour of love for actor, producer and director Costner.

He plays a Lieutenant in the American Civil War who is honoured for bravery and relocated to a remote outpost on the frontier of the Wild West where he befriends a Sioux tribe and is eventually adopted by them and subsequently faces charges of desertion by the US army.

This is a western for people who don't really like westerns, politically correct in it's portrayal of the native people and their culture, but is more specifically a drama about self-discovery and new beginnings. That being said, this must be recognised as a classic of its genre, reviving it after a decade of dormancy.

10/10