Rating: 
Summary: Great Movie - 237 Minute Version is FAR Superior.
Review: No movie before or since has gotten to me the way "Dances With Wolves" has (it would have been even better if some guy in the theater hadn't blurted out the climax: "Hey, this is the part where..." UGH!). Though not without its flaws (the idea of a white cavalry officer deserting to join a Sioux Indian tribe--and then actually succeeding--is a bit of a stretch in the historical context) the movie is so good that you don't care! This is what movie magic is all about, the suspension of disbelief, and Costner is a master here. The photography is breathtaking, the acting outstanding, and the musical score...well, I think it speaks for itself (BRILLIANT!). A truly remarkable picture, and when one considers this as Costner's directorial debut...WOW! Is it any wonder everything he has made since, regardless of its quality, has seemed anti-climactic? If you love epic tales that don't put you to sleep, this is the one. Also, if you haven't seen the Expanded Edition at 237 minutes you are truly missing out. I hope it is released on DVD soon. If this movie doesn't bring a tear to your eye then you need your heart examined! Five stars.
Rating: 
Summary: It's a good flick, but...
Review: The scenery, the directing, the acting, etc., are all very good and the movie is absolutely captivating. However, if you look underneath all of that, you've got to realize that Native Americans were not without their flaws and the White Man was not completely evil. "Dances with Wolves" lacks balance in the historical story telling of these two cultures. It's pretty one sided. However, that said, it is true that Native Americans always had a deep abiding love of nature, much more so than the average white man. But so little mention is given as to how "Stands with a fist" ended up living amongst the Sioux. I did enjoy the film and have watched it several times. Native Americans have been portrayed in Hollywood as "blood-thirsty savages" for so many decades and this film seeks to right that wrong. But rather than having this pendulum of public opinion swinging back and forth, we should find the truth which is somewhere in the middle. "Dances with Wolves" is a good flick and I did thoroughly enjoy watching it again and again.
Rating: 
Summary: Dances with Hacks
Review: The sentimentality that this film oozes is just too much to bear at times. Apparently the American public, who is accustomed to such trifling immodesty, swallowed this up when it was first released and hailed Costner as the "new genius of American art films".
Well, since then we've learned two things, that first of all, this film is another foray into the "John Wayne" bias of American dogmatism and secondly Costner is a ham who hasn't scored another big hit in years. The film gives us the once again undefiled view of an idealist who was born in the wrong ethic group. Costner plays a Union troop in the Civil War that is merely a "misunderstood" progeny and suffers physically and spiritually as a result of it. He gets a new command and like a dim witted simpleton he picks the one that is the furthest from civilization. He soon learns that solitude is not an easy thing. One day he encounters a group of Indians in one of the most ridiculous scenes I have ever seen put forth to a group of adults. The film goes down hill from there and fast. One unrealistic example is when he shows his new Indian friends some ground coffee and they react like dumb founded buffoons, it was a fact in history that the Native Americans ground corn, and other seeds so they would in no way be surprised like this exaggerated claim. Why render them childish?
Costner then becomes a part of the tribe, merely walking into it like a new found brother. He learns the dialect, and sits with the chief while exuding pensive thought. Of course, instead of falling in love with an Indian woman, he falls in love with a captured white who mumbles her way through like a drought minded wench. How convenient that the evil Sioux captured an English speaking woman who is both beautiful and robust! Instead of portraying the Indians in a truthful manner, Costner singlehandedly misinterprets their culture as something bordering on vanity and he does so by extinguishing their intelligence and ability to live in harmony with nature.
Also, the scenes that dealt with the Pawnee were merely used for action sequences and in no way understood the vital role that other tribes had in relation to each other. The only decent portrait is of the stupidity and narrowness of the virulent white people who were shooting at everyone and everything. What more is there to say about this lousy film except that it had no 'truth' about it and it wasn't a loving portrayal as some people claim it to be?
Rating:
Summary: Dancing at the Oscars
Review: The winner of 7 Academy Awards, Kevin Costner's panoramic frontier epic DANCES WITH WOLVES is a rich and masterful blend of scenery, story, culture, personality, and friendship.
Following an act of interpreted bravery in the Civil War, Lt. John Dunbar is restationed to a deserted and delapidated Army fort, somewhere in the vast expanse of the unsettled Dakotas. He soon encounters a local tribe of Sioux Indians. Though initially distrustful, both sides begin to work, however slowly, at conquering their fears and prejudices. As Dunbar grows closer to the community, he makes efforts to learn their ways: language and dress, buffalo hunts and bonfire dances. His developing romance with a tribal woman blossoms into marriage. The Sioux leaders fear, all the while, that more `whites' are coming, to take and drive them off their lands, and the society's holy man suspects that Dunbar himself knows as much. What is more, the U.S. Army has initiated pursuit of the former lieutenant, branding him a traitor. Eventually, Dunbar must choose between remaining with the Sioux ... or departing from their company, rerouting military parties in order to safeguard Sioux culture and life.
The story is strong; the characters are distinctive and transparent; the script, smart and focused. The costumes, setting, transportation and tools-of-the-day all appear very authentic. Thus, it captures the time period (and location) extremely well. And here, it is all the better, because the movie is about those times, and what happened during them. The mood carefully shifts from a somber quality to soft cheeriness to cautious triumphant score, and back again. The film itself makes excellent use of cinematography, with grand, sweeping shots of the plains and hills, especially during the daytime buffalo chase. Unlike so many other Hollywood movies, first-hand acquaintance with "the girl" does not turn into romance in a few short days or hours. Nearly everything takes SOME time to develop, to change, to grow.
Costner's depictions seem to be largely accurate: the Sioux and many other indigenous societies in the Midwest and elsewhere were being pushed west, captured, or wiped out. However, he does come close to generalizing the `whites' as senseless, brutal, and enormously characteristically savage, almost like a race of monsters. While in fact various numberless persons - at both common and political levels - perpetrated attrocities and relocation efforts that, sadly, came out of westward expansion's predominant attitude of callous disregard for the native peoples and ecosystems of central North America - it would be inaccurate, as well as unfair, to say that such actions (or even attitudes) constituted phenomena universal to the white settlers.
Yet, on the whole, Costner has done a superb job of recreating the era, the peoples (generally), their ways of life, and the ideologies that motivated their actions. He has brought to life and memory the richness and humanity of a people all but forgotten ... and a partial portrayal of events which made, arguably, for the sadest chapter in the two-hundred-plus years of American history.
This film ranks among the very best Westerns made.
DVD Features: Audio Commentary (Kevin Costner, Jim Wilson), theatrical trailers, and scene selection.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful movie, but DVD quality so-so
Review: This is my all-time favorite film, and the other reviewers do an already fine job of reviewing the movie itself. I have owned four different versions of this release... two on VHS (the original and extended-length versions), and two on DVD (the original DTS version and this new release). PICTURE: While some scenes on this new DVD are absolutely stunning visually, it appears to me that about 1/4 of the scenes have very lackluster color. This effect is very noticable. Spectacular blue skies and vibrant green grasses in some scenes are followed by others that appear as if someone turned down the colors on my television set (I am using a Denon 2800II DVD player and a Samsung HLN-507W DLP HDTV). SOUND: The original DTS version of the film sounded better than this one. My reference scene (and the one I use to demo my home theater to friends) is of course the buffalo hunt. The DTS version sounded crisper and more detailed... I found this Dolby Digital version somewhat muddier. This DVD is still a must-own for fans of the movie. I'm just disappointed that it didn't receive the video and audio treatments it deserved. Many DVDs are released in both the Dolby Digital and DTS audio formats... why wasn't this one?
Rating:
Summary: "I want to see the Frontier...Before It's Gone."
Review: This tale of the frontier and the last days of native culture in the west is Kevin Costner's best film to date. It tells the story of Union army officer John Dunbar who, disillusioned with the bloody civil war in the east, requests to be posted to a remote western outpost. He arrives to find the fort totally deserted with no sign of the garrison. His only companions are his trusty horse Cisco and a unusually friendly wolf he names Two-Socks. He soon makes contact with a band of Souix Indians who are at first curious but highly suspicious of the lone white man in their land. He finally rides out to make formal contact with them which eventually leads to friendship and acceptance by the tribe. Over time, he develops close friendships with several members of the clan, particularly Kicking Bird, the village holy man, Wind In His Hair, a stoic and powerful warrior, and Stands With a Fist, a white woman raised by Kicking Bird's family. Dumbar undertakes a journey of self-discovery as he grows ever closer to his new Indian friends, accompanying them on a buffalo hunt, defending the village against a Pawnee attack, and eventually marrying into the tribe. Slowly but surely, he ceases to be what he has always been, a white soldier named John Dunbar until all that remians is a Souix named Dances With Wolves. In the end, he must make a choice to defend his new friends or return to his old life and assist in the decimation of the Indians and their land. Dances With Wolves is a beautiful film with strong characters and lush landscapes. Costner is in his element here as the soft spoken reluctant hero who must make serious life choices in the face of overwhelming odds. This movie definately embraces Rousseau's idea of the "Noble Savage" as the Souix are presented here as a proud and innocent people, unencumbered by vice, and threatened by an ever expanding flood of whites driven by the dreams of Manifest Destiny. Whether this is a factual depiction of the Indians is open to debate, but it cannot be denied that we are given a genuinely sympathetic picture of life on the plains and a desire to see Dunbar and his Indian allies hold back the inevitable...
Rating:
Summary: The extended version really adds a lot
Review: When Lieutenant John Dunbar (Kevin Costner) steals a cavalry horse named Cisco (played by Plain Justin Bar), he unleashes a chain of events that leads to an accidental victory for the Union troops, and Dunbar becomes a bona fide Civil War hero. Given the outpost of his choosing as well as the Buckskin horse, Dunbar makes friends with a shy wolf called Two Socks (played by Buck and Teddy), and hooks up with a Lakota Sioux tribe where he meets an enigmatic woman named Stands With Fist (Mary McDonnell).
The extended version DVD really adds a lot to the viewing experience -- be sure and listen to Costner's commentary, as it's not only informative but it's funny and is full of good anecdotes.
Staci Layne Wilson
Author of Staci's Guide to Animal Movies
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