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Dances with Wolves
Wounded Civil War soldier John Dunbar tries to commit suicide—and becomes a hero instead. As a reward, he's assigned to his dream post, a remote junction on the Western frontier, and soon makes unlikely friends with the local Sioux tribe.
1990 · Directed by Kevin Costner · 181 min · Adventure · Drama · Western · Screenplay in the scene database · 16 frames
Tagline
Inside everyone is a frontier waiting to be discovered.
Plot
In 1863, 1st Lieutenant John J. Dunbar, serving with the Union army, is wounded in a stalemated battle at St. David's Field in Tennessee. The surgeon intends to amputate his leg. Choosing death in battle instead, Dunbar steals a horse and rides in front of Confederate lines unarmed, but miraculously survives his suicide attempt. Union troops take advantage of the distraction to mount a successful attack. Dunbar is given medical care that saves his leg and is awarded "Cisco", the horse he rode during his suicide attempt, along with his choice of posting. He requests a transfer to the American frontier to see it before it disappears.
Dunbar arrives at Fort Hays, where its commander, Major Fambrough, assigns him to the farthest outpost under his jurisdiction, Fort Sedgwick. Fambrough, who is mentally ill, fails to inform anyone where Dunbar is going and kills himself after Dunbar departs. Dunbar travels with Timmons, a foul-mouthed mule-wagon provisioner, and finds the fort deserted. He decides to rebuild the fort, recording his observations in his diary. Timmons is killed by a band of Pawnee while returning to Fort Hays. The deaths of Timmons and Fambrough leave the army unaware of Dunbar's assignment, so no other soldiers arrive to reinforce the post.
Dunbar encounters his Sioux neighbors when they attempt to steal his horse and intimidate him. Wanting to make peace, he seeks out the Sioux camp. En route, he comes across Stands With A Fist, a white Sioux woman who was adopted as a girl by the tribe's medicine man, Kicking Bird, after Pawnee killed her family. She is mutilating herself in mourning for her late Sioux husband. Dunbar brings her back to the Sioux to recover. Though the Sioux are initially hostile, Dunbar gradually establishes a rapport with them, notably Kicking Bird, the Sioux fighter Wind In His Hair, and the youth Smiles A Lot. Stands With A Fist acts as an interpreter, speaking Lakota and English.
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Screenplay: Michael Blake
- Cinematography: Dean Semler
- Edited by: Neil Travis, Steve Potter, William Hoy, Chip Masamitsu
- Music: John Barry
- Production design: Jeffrey Beecroft
- Produced by: Jim Wilson, Kevin Costner
Cast
- Kevin Costner as Lieutenant Dunbar
- Mary McDonnell as Stands With A Fist
- Graham Greene as Kicking Bird
- Rodney A. Grant as Wind In His Hair
- Floyd 'Red Crow' Westerman as Ten Bears
- Tantoo Cardinal as Black Shawl
- Robert Pastorelli as Timmons
- Charles Rocket as Lieutenant Elgin
- Maury Chaykin as Major Fambrough
- Jimmy Herman as Stone Calf
Production
- Country: United Kingdom, United States of America
- Language: English
- Studios: Tig Productions, Majestic Films International, Allied Filmmakers
- Budget: $22,000,000
- Box office: $424,208,848
- Themes: friendship, mutiny, countryside, based on novel or book, unsociability, wolf, culture clash, self-discovery, freedom, desertion
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