Rating: 
Summary: A good film,not a great western.See "Little Big Man"
Review: I first saw "Dances With Wolves" in the theatre when it first came out at Christmas 1990 and was impressed.Even went back to see it again with various family members.The theatre screen is where it should be experienced to fully appreciate the scope of the picture. It loses alot when translated to home video.Ideally it should be seen in the widescreen version on as big a TV screen as possible.I have the collector's edition which is letterboxed and in Dolby Surround,with nearly 60 mins. of deleted,unseen footage and a behind the scenes documentary.It even has a bunch of theatre lobby cards with various scenes.I don't know if the VHS collector's edition is still available.It was a limited edition boxed set.I don't know what the DVD edition is like. Memorable highlights were the buffalo hunt,a truly great sequence. Composer John Barry's beautiful score(he won the Academy Award for it).And,actor Graham Greene as the head of the tribe.(He was nominated for Best Supporting Actor.He lost to Joe Pesci in "Goodfellas".)Mr.Greene was also very good in his recurring role in the network series "Northern Exposure" in the early '90's.The lowlights were Kevin Costner's dull,bland performance.(Costner's best performance was in Clint Eastwood's critically praised but overlooked "A Perfect World" from 1993).Another lowlight was actress Mary McDonnell's weird hairstyle.(I didn't realize they had hair salons on the prairie). "Dances With Wolves" is a good film but not a great western."Little Big Man" from 1970,directed by Arthur Penn(1967's classic "Bonnie and Clyde"),and starring Dustin Hoffman, is one of the truly all time great epic westerns.It has the same theme as "Dances With Wolves",life with an Indian tribe in the late 1800's.In "Little Big Man" the tribe are the Cheyenne.If you haven't seen it and you liked "Dances With Wolves" you will really appreciate "Little Big Man". Two other westerns with similar themes that I can highly recommend are 1972's "Jeremiah Johnson" with Robert Redford and 1976's "The Outlaw Josey Wales" with Clint Eastwood. I know there are many critics who thought Martin Scorcese's "Goodfellas" should have won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1990,not "Dances With Wolves".That's open to debate.
Rating: 
Summary: A classic.
Review: I bought this DVD with the aim of building a collection of my favourite movies. This is such a beautiful film and where I felt much of its beauty was lost in the video format, the DVD version reclaims the cinematography that the film was famed for. This is Kevin Costner at what must have been the peak of his career because to top this would be a Herculean task. Like the 'horsey' reviewer, I too love horses and have always had an affinity for wolves, so on a personal level this film was my 'Love Story'. I have waded through boxes and boxes of tissues because of this story, though come back to it time and time again! A modern classic. The DVD offers no 'extras' in the form of interviews or 'the making of' for example, but the widescreen format and clarity make this a necesary buy.
Rating:
Summary: a Soldier who fights no more
Review: This movie runs right up there with the best of them. Kevin Costner is always good in my opinion and I'll admit I'm a horse person so I had to see it in theaters because of Cisco. The plot was so well written it almost seemed like it was real. I've always been fasinated by the american Indian but the movie made me feel as though I knew them first hand. I had feelings to numorous to mention but, it made me laugh and cry. The scenery was excellent and it was an all-around breathtaking movie.
Rating:
Summary: The movie that no one should pass
Review: Dances with Wolves tells the story of John Dunbar who's sick of life, and turns into the friend of native indians. The story unfolds to great friendship and love, and you're faced with a whole new vision on the native indians. This is really a change in the typical western movie so far, as it shows a more correct life. All main actors has given their best performance which adds incredible depth to the movie. The musical score is fantastic, and it all comes well after the directing of Kevin Costner. Don't miss this one.
Rating:
Summary: Great Movie!
Review: Dances With Wolves is a great movie because of its drama and story. It has a great story to it and it is well worth the three hours. I would have to say that it is maybe the best movie of all time.
Rating:
Summary: Big as all outdoors
Review: For once I agree with the critics. "Dances with Wolves" is brilliant. I walked out of the cinema after seeing this film and felt like I had gone through a religious revelation. I was glad to live in a world which could make movies such as this.
OK, that sounds a little over the top but that is how I felt at the time. I pity those people who didn't get to see "Dances with Wolves" on a big screen. Video just does not do it justice. I own both the standard three hour wide screen version laser disc of "Dances with Wolves" as well as the special four hour edition. Despite the movie being terrific it is difficult for me to sit down for four straight hours. For that reason I have to split it over two sessions. The original edition is for visitors to watch.
Before I got the longer edition I was curious as to whether it was better or just a watered down version of the first cut. Well it is definitely better. There are so many new scenes that it would be too much effort to list them. The major difference for me though was a section in the middle where Dunbar, (Kevin Costner), has a moment of doubt about his newfound friends. It occurs right before the buffalo hunt when he finds them all celebrating their slaughter of the white buffalo hunters who were responsible for the waste of so many fine animals. Even if it is justice he is not comfortable with their evident joy at such an inherently brutal act. 'Nough said about the differences.
The core story is short but the telling is rich in nuance. We meet the wounded hero, Lieutenant Dunbar, in a American civil war hospital tent. He is about to have his leg amputated. While the doctors are having a smoke break he decides to rejoin his regiment and break a long standing stale mate by riding to his death across the enemy lines. It doesn't go quite as planned however and he ends up being the hero that turned the tide of battle. As a reward, he is given the use of the best doctor and an unlimited choice of duty.
His choice is to go west to the Indian frontier. Unfortunately his superior officer at his eventual posting, Major Fambrough, is mad. Just before his suicide the Major sends Dunbar out to a new base right in the frontier. When he get's there, the camp is deserted and unbeknownst to Dunbar the Major has not filed his final order, meaning that no one knows the whereabouts of Dunbar.
Only a little perturbed, Dunbar decides to clean up the camp and wait for reinforcements. It isn't long before the local Indians turn up to make his life more interesting. Over the course of time he is drawn more and more into their community. Eventually his is forced to take the side of the Indians over that of his fellow soldiers. A situation which leads to his arrest. The only other major factor in the film is his romance with a white woman who has been raised in the tribe since she was a young girl. She is responsible in no small part for Dunbar switching sides.
The message we are left with at the end of the film is that there need not have been any SIDES in the first place.
Rating:
Summary: The Great Wide West.
Review: After reading some of the reviews I have come to the conclusion that some people take this movie WAY too seriously. So what if it is not entirely factually correct? The movie does an excellent job of portraying Sioux indian dress and speech. The movie is not simply about the White Man/Native American relationship in history. It deals with the idea of the West. The beautiful cinematography captures the West the way it was and still largely is in some areas. I enjoyed watching the vast buffalo stampedes that were at one time numerous across the plains. This movie does a great service in evoking the beauty of the West and maybe it will convince others to have a greater respect for and a more conserving attitude toward the West.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent movie !
Review: Yes, I too have certain negative feelings toward Kevin Costner, but one must look past the personal issues and be open-minded to this film, to truly give a respected opinion. Kevin Costner has truly made a masterpiece, and regardless of what anyone may believe, this film IS actually accurate with it's history. Yes, regardless of what you think or how you feel, this IS how the U.S.A. WAS back then during that era. The majority of the Sioux were good, peace-loving people, and the majority of the white-men WERE as they are depicted. Not all of course, but most. I am a white male, 25 years of age, and I LOVE my country, but truth is TRUTH, DEAL WITH IT ! This is a great movie, and I would recommend this film to anyone old enough for the R-rating because of the violence. The musical score is excellent, and the screenplay and acting is also top-notch. A great movie, with a simple point to understand. Clearly one of the decade's best pictures, and one of my all time favorites. Say what you will about Kevin Costner, but he constructed an excellent film.
Rating: 
Summary: Horrible Injustice
Review: Kevin Costner, one of the most racist and arrogant actors in hollywood, destroys history for the sake of a higher grossing movie. When I first saw the movie I was filled with sentimentality. Then when I did some research and found out almost everything in this movie is wrong or told wrong.
Rating:
Summary: Convert, get cleaned up!
Review: The first movie in my experience that I wasn't allowed to not like. Kevin Costner is incredibly vacuous in this tedious western epic. Yes it is visually stunning, yes the score is beautiful,(except the ridiculous electronic dance sequence). This movie has a message though and it is perfectly willing to hit you over the head with it. White people are sweaty, wear dirty clothes, are immoral, incontinent, foul mouthed. Indians, at least the Sioux Indians are clean, laundered, chaste, pure of heart and speech. There are bad Indians but they are not Sioux, they are Nazi's with feathers and loin cloths. When a white man decides to convert to an Indian, he gets to have his hair blow dried and all his dirty clothes laundered, he gets to have a serene attitude, he gets to have a fetching young white woman who is also spotlessly clean because she has turned Indian too. When we are all clean and pure we get new names. The whole thing is so manipulative and transparently racist I don't understand why so many people fell for it. Buy the soundtrack and try to put these images out of your mind.
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