"Most of the movie was filmed on location in South Dakota, mainly on private ranches near Pierre and Rapid City, with a few scenes filmed in Wyoming. Specific locations included the Badlands National Park, the Black Hills, the Sage Creek Wilderness Area, and the Belle Fourche River area."
Winner of 7 Oscars including Best Picture. It's one of the best epic western movies ever made. The Buffalo Hunt Sequence is one pf my favorite action scenes in film history. When Kevin Costner screened the movie for his son, the projectionist accidentally played the scene, which pissed off Costner, until his son said it's an awesome scene.
John was shown dancing around a big fire at the "fort," watched by a small group of the tribe; the wolf was also seen a short distance away -- the other connection that led to Dunbar's Sioux name.
During the Civil War, rich and/or powerful northerners were given officer positions (which allowed them to safely hang back from the front lines) and usualy hired their own personal physicians from their own pockets. The lower ranks had to submit to shared medical care, which in those days meant expedient decisions and a complete lack of both sanitation and sedation. The same surgical instruments were used, unwashed and still bloody, for a whole line of injured men; this meant infection and gangrene was a shared concern. More men died of medical care than military action. For many in the lower ranks, they would be returning to demanding agrarian or commercial work, where having all one's limbs was essential to making a living or finding a wife or supporting a family. Dunbar saw his failing chances and decided on a suicide ride through 'No Man's Land', the space between the two armies' firing lines. As it is, Dunbar's action brought an unexpected Union victory, for which his superior lent his personal physician to care for the foot. This not only saves Dunbar's foot (and possibly the leg), but also saved Dunbar from a slow death from sepsis. An officer's personal physician is not only likely to be better educated and sober, but also outside of cross-infection by virtue of only tending to one patient: the officer who hired and pays him. Very likely the major who dispatched Dunbar to the abandoned fort was suffering from advanced syphilis, possibly complicated by the common treatment at that time: mercury. Both syphilis and mercury resulted in insanity. With the major's suicide, no one beyond Timmons knew Dunbar had been sent to the abandoned fort. With Timmons's murder and scalping by the Pawnee, not a soul knew Dunbar had arrived at the major's settlement or that he was sent off to Indian country. It was like Dunbar had dropped off the face of the Earth. There would be no reinforcements or additional supplies. Dunbar was on his own and didn't even know it. When Dunbar came upon Stands-with-a-Fist, she was in the midst of performing a mourning ritual in honor of her dead husband and had accidently cut deeply into her thigh. She had been kidnapped as a very young child during a Pawnee attack on her family; it was not only traumatic for her, but she was the only survivor. Through several trades, she eventually came under Kicking Bird's protection. Speaking English brings back the trauma for her and she is completely acclimated to Native culture, making her terrified of being taken and forced back into white culture for which she has no affinity or preparation. When Kicking Bird invites Dunbar to discuss things, Stands-with-a-Fist shows up in her very best ceremonial dress. The federal government encouraged the wasteful slaughter of buffalo. Natives relied heavily on buffalo for the fulfillment of nearly every need they had: fresh and dried meat, fat for cooking and for salves, hides, leather for clothes and housing, sinew, horn, tools, weaponry, etc. Take away buffalo as a fundamental resource, and tribes were totally dependent on the government. Buffalo herds were composed of hundreds of millions of animals. It's said one herd took 3 days to run through an area, packed close together and kicking up so much dust it dimmed the sun. Trains were set through the plains and privileged Victorian tourists would climb to the top of the trains and just randomly shoot, leaving the dead and injured buffalo to rot in the sun. There are photos from that time of a mountain of just buffalo skulls 20 or more feet high that had been piled up from one such hunt. The buffalo was a sacred animal to Natives; the source of all good things and of life, which Natives held in deep reverence. Very different from the 'civilized' invaders. In the dispute over Dunbar's hat, Dunbar got the best part of the trade; Dunbar received the man's medicine bag. It contained all the tokens of power and faith most meaningful to its former owner. That's really big! The Union army has no clue Dunbar is out there, that anyone is manning that frontier fort. The major left no documentation about even meeting with Dunbar, much less where Dunbar was sent. Dunbar reported immediately to the major without introducing himself to anyone, then left immediately with Timmons. Stands-with-a-Fist's hair was originally planned to be in the style of other tribal women, but Costner wanted her to stand out, so ordered what ended up onscreen. Many people think it was a bad decision. I totally get the 'Great White Savior' trope; it didn't start in the 1990s. It showed up in a 1970 film titled "A Man Called Horse" (starring the original Dumbledore, Richard Harris), but it also shows up in real life (1962's "Lawrence of Arabia" set in 1917) and in earlier literature (Edgar Rice Burroughs's 1912 novel "Tarzan of the Apes"). Recommend: "Waterworld" (1995), starring Kevin Costner. Also, "Windwalker" (1981). Mostly Native cast (except the European in the title role as grandfather), in Native language, and NO WHITES. All too frequently overlooked.
Such a terrific film...glad to see you folks react to it. Just to be clear, Christine...Stands With A Fist...was the little white girl in her flashbacks. The riders that came and killed her family were supposedly Pawnee in the backstory, and after her family was killed as we see, she somehow ends up being adopted into the Sioux tribe led by Ten Bears.
*Wind In His Hair at beginning of Movie:* “I am Wind in His Hair! Do you see that I am not afraid of you?” *Wind In His Hair at end of Movie:* “I am Wind in His Hair! Do you see that I am your friend? Can you see that you will always be my friend?”
Tatanka is Bison, Wolf is Sumanitu tanka. Dances with wolves is Sumanitu tanka owaci, litteraly translates to wolves dances with, as the Lakota language has passive verbs, instead of active, that is why Sitting Bull is "bull sitting", (tatanka iyotake).
THANK you, sincerely, I'm a native born American English speaker, but etymology has been an unconscious obsession. I was trying to become a professor in English lit and comp before my illness took me out of university. I'm a passionate history student as well (naturally?). I've been trying to learn Japanese, and due to uh... martial arts based pursuits into what is now called HEMA (.....I made a rude joke and decided to remove it. But it is genuinely called "Historically European Martial Arts). The syntax and action/noun is easily understood, and I'm just......... damn I wish I could make a career out of this. The Japanese inversion is the SAME, hell much of the offshoot romance languages do whaddeverday want. Marcus, I wish you the best in all things, and may the Spirit that guides us towards Goodness be easily seen by our eyes.
This movie is a masterpiece, and a beautiful example of what happens when we try to understand something, before we mock and destroy it (which is sadly what happened in the end anyway).
I'm so glad that you got to this masterpiece!!! Kevin Costner's daughter played little Christine. Timmins (the guy with the mules) was played by Robert Pastorelli, who was later a regular on _Murphy Brown._ He killed himself when he learned he was a person of interest in the death of a woman that had been reclassified a homicide.
One of the most beautiful films ever and I got to see it in the theater on release with MY mom. I had the music score on CD for yrs too. The Buffalo hunting scene might be the best non cgi action sequence ever put on film. Amazing
Some dramatic license was taken in the movie: By 1864 the Sioux had acquired firearms and knew how to use them, had been given coffee by passing white traders, trappers, etc., and it was the Sioux who constantly attacked the Pawnee.
Great reaction. It was nice to watch this with you. I read the book also. On a side note, I am wearing the same Star Wars t-shirt. I had just returned from watching the Las Vegas Youth Orchestra perform the music of John Williams. ❤
The film is based on a novel by one of Kevin Costner's friends. Costner tells the story on the Graham Norton show: Kevin had secured several jobs for his friend, but the work was not well received. After living in Costner's guest house, for some time, the two men had a falling out, and Costner encouraged his friend to go write something worthwhile and not worry about making it "Hollywood ready". After several months of not speaking, the writer friend sent Costner his new screenplay called dances with wolves ... They both won an Oscar for it.
Even after he rewrote the screenplay, they had a hard time getting the funding for it because once Costner read it and saw it in his head, he didn't want to change certain things. Like the $$ people wanted a younger actress for Stands With a Fist, and they wanted the Natives to speak English because they didn't want subtitles over so much of the film. They got some funding for it, but when they knew they were going over budget, Costner put some of his own money up rather than scaling down the film.
The final scenes in the winter camp were filmed in Spearfish Canyon in South Dakota. It is spectacularly beautiful and is older than the Grand Canyon. When I visited in the late 1990’s, there were signs posted indicating that filming had taken place there.
This movie gets quite a bit of flack now, being called a “white savior movie” but, as a Native American myself, before this film, seeing representation of yourself in the film industry was basically non-existent, with the exception of white actors dressed up as Natives and painted to look darker. Thankfully this film put actors like Graham Green, Rodney A. Grant and Steve Reevis on the map for other movies and shows, as well as making Native actors visible in general.
It’s funny because the only people calling it a “white saviour movie” are progressive white people themselves. Where I grew up in the rez, everyone loved this movie and didn’t see it as “ a white saviour” type movie.
I would dispute the “white savior” label. Lt. Dunbar is someone who had a death wish at the beginning of his, (would rather blindly charge into enemy gunfire than lose his leg.) Living with the Lakota Sioux gave him purpose and peace of mind. Also, after he’s captured, the tribe comes and saves HIM, because they regard him as one of their own.
Great job. I love this film. Reminds me of the first thing I ever saw that actually attempted to show people what it must have been like for First Nations people to suffer what they did. It's "Little Big Man" (1970), where Dustin Hoffman portrays a 'white kid' adopted by Cheyennes after Pawnees kill the adults in his family (much like Mary's "Stands With a Fist" character). It's a brilliant piece of work, y'all should try it!
I saw this movie when it was first released in the theaters not knowing what it was about and loved it. I later watched on TV with my mom who immediately become a Kevin Costner fan.
If you've ever seen, or plan to see, War Games you might recognize the suicidal officer who pisses himself in Dances With Wolves as one of the two computer "experts" David(Matthew Broderick) goes to see about how to work out the backdoor password into the WOPR. "Go right through Falcon's Maze"
I believe the movie was shot in South Dakota and Wyoming not Alberta. Should you visit the Blackhills in South Dakota, a worthwhile stop would be at the Crazyhorse Memorial. Approximately 13 miles from MT Rushmore, Crazyhorse Memorial has a large Native American Museum, college, restaurant and gift shop in addition to the ‚in progress“ carving of the worlds largest sculpture. Cheers
lot of people get confused by the scene with the "weird officer" in the very beginning. Basically it showed that being send to the frontier was reserved for lesser stable or skilled personal especially while the Civil War was going on. That is also why he was confused why Dunbar (as a decorated Hero) was there at his own request.
The filming locations were the Dakotas. If this was filmed in today’s film industry probably Canada would be the place because of their friendly tax incentives.
One piece of music that was not composed by John Barry, was the scene where Costner dances by himself at night around the fire. That was done by Peter Buffett (son of Warren Buffett.)
Without any spoilers, there are a couple of places in the Theatrical cut that will leave you with questions. I highly recommend watching the director's cut even if it is just for yourself.
This is one of my favorite movies. I didn't know a longer director's cut was available. I will definitely be seeking out a copy on DVD. You should also check out "Thunderheart" from 1992. Val Kilmer and Graham Greene are in that one.
The officer at fort Hays who signed his transfer to the frontier was suffering from syphilis. That's why he was losing his mind and couldn't control his bladder.
One of my favorite movies; there's some issues, sure, but such a beautiful film with an amazing story and a haunting soundtrack. On the director's cut, you'll definitely have to watch it sometime! Honestly, it's fine to see either version first IMHO: it's not that it changes anything with the story, but it simply expands on the backstory of several elements in the theatrical film that don't get as well fleshed-out to make the 3-hour cut -- more character details, a bit more scene-setting for why things are the way they are when you encounter them unexplained in the theatrical version. Thanks so much for sharing the experience, love you guys!
Kevin told a story on the Graham Norton show how he got the script ua-cam.com/video/XT2S1OkSld4/v-deo.html it shows the ups and downs of Hollywood and how a kindness can be returned in multitudes
The character of stands with a fist is a fictional representation of adopted whites who were taken by various native peoples throughout the white expansion into the west. One such notable adoptee was Cynthia and Parker, the mother of Quanah Parker, the last of the Comanche chiefs. There is an excellent book. By the author, SC Gwynn, called Empire of the Summer Moon, which covers the parkers and the end of the Comanches.
There is fairly strong evidence that re-introduction of the horse by Spanish explorers provided a significant advantage to native peoples, and as such they were well on their way to extirpating native bison long before white hunters arrived.
8:20 In the directors edition of the film, you see the guys who abandoned the post from before, basically the crazy Major who shot himself never sent supplies out to the fort so those guys were left to fend for themselves over the winter, and the ones that didn't die deserted when spring came. Also, I love this movie, but it's not very historically accurate. By the time this movie takes place, pretty much every Native American tribe was dealing with whites and White goods (including guns) were pretty common in Native villages, many of the plains tribes hunted Buffalo with guns by this point and intermarriage with Whites (along with converting to Christianity) was not uncommon.
Actually, Jen, it was not uncommon for young children to be taken by attacking war parties. I have read historical accounts of white people who were raised among Native American communities - in fact they often self-identified as members of their respective Native American communities - but they were actually people of European descent who were taken as children in hostile raids.
Doing genealogy in my own family, there are two separate instances of families a century before this film's era who lost children to Native raiding parties. (I've had family in North American since about the 1630s, so these events occurred with colonial settlers along the Appalachians.)
One of my favorite movies ever, enough said! Some white men and women indeed adopted Native american culture at some point. I think a "former white man" even became a Sioux or Comanche chief, but I cannot remember his name. Unfortunately, way before the white folk came, native american tribes were often at war with each other, as we see Pawnee and Sioux here. Their culture was not the harmonious paradise often depicted in pop culture. The US army took advantage of this situation and often hired native american scouts who were happy to fight with them as long as it was against an enemy tribe. Broken treaties, alcohol and diseases did the rest. I think you would enjoy "Thunderheart", the story of a native american FBI agent completely assimilated in Western culture, coming face to face with his roots during a mission in a native american reserve.
I love this film. Just saw a post about how this film is an example of white savior movies that wouldn't fly today along with "Avatar" and "To Kill a Mockingbird"!!
part of the 4 hour version shows us what happened to the Fort before John Dunbar got there. another movie I would like to draw your attention to is Little Big Man (1970) with a young Dustin Hoffman.
Aw, you beat me to it! I really need to learn to read the whole comment thread before I post up my own. '..so my life was saved by the violent murder of my best friend.' Great, great film.
Great movie & glad you finally reacted to it. I knew you'd enjoy it. So much better than last Samuri because in that he was the white savior. Dunbar never truly knew himself until he was a native named dances with wolves.
There's never been a proper film of what happened to the native Americans, and it's fundamental to the making of the United States with all of its land and resources. Yet the US produces thousands of films every year.
@@poolhall9632 It's so fundamental to what the world is today though, it's not about crimes but about identity and nationalism. Do others define themselves as land of the free and use such resources to entice millions from elsewhere (weakening them) to colonise? The impact is enormous.
9:35 Yes, he was. He's existing in land that isn't his territory, without permission. His people are committing genocide upon the indigenous, to thieve the land. xo there's plenty of reason for it.
Great reactions you two !!! I always enjoy the ones I bet to see of yours. However, I just need to say this ... I am part NA (Native American), and I would caution you to about painting everything with such a broad brush. It's POPULAR to say that all Whites were bad, and that all NAs were good, innocent and just protecting their stuff, but that just ain't true !!! Let me explain ... NAs did all the same things as Whites did ... to their OWN people, their NA neighbors, Whites, Blacks, Browns, Reds and Yellows. This movie attempted to show you some of that. We stole from, raped, enslaved tortured and killed anyone that wasn't a member of your tribe, and we took land as WE needed or wanted, but as is customary, the victors always rewrite history to fit whatever narrative THEY want !!! The only difference in the retelling of THIS history, is it's become popular to say Whites were ALWAYS the bad guys, even by Whites. Here's the reality ... We (Whites AND NAs) were at war, and we fought like we were. The problem is, we involved many from both sides, who never wanted that. It was the more aggressive among our own people that caused all the bloodshed. Finally, throughout recorded history, ALL people have taken the lands they eventually occupied from other people, who loved there before them, and it wasn't done in a nice way, but by force. It was also customary to kill ALL of the peoples being conquered, including children, to keep any remnants of those people from coming back for revenge. You can see this on every continent, by every race, and yes, slavery was done by pretty every race to their own and/or others.
Seeing as this movie was a massive hit and critically acclaimed, seems no one else agrees with you. Dunbar is not a super emotive character, and he's narrating what he writes in his journal -- makes perfect sense as an acting choice. The emotions are there, they're just subdued.
@@zammmerjammer I know it was a big hit and I even said it is a very good movie. Costner just doesn’t have a good narrative voice. Compare it to other stars that have done the narration and you’ll know they’re much better.
@@jamesdamiano8894 And I think he had a very good narrative voice. Further, you seem to think it's a shortcoming of the actor, while I think it's a deliberate character choice and one that perfectly suits the story and film. Having emotions and expressing them is more than just screaming and swearing and crying.
I truly love your reactions, but I must say, with all due respect, as a person of color (Hispanic), I find your "once again the white man does it" comment, the one about "cultural genocide" and your white guilt narrative about the "greed of Western Civilization" to be not only stale and misinformed, but lacking historical context. Territorial gains by armed conquest was the unwritten law of the world until the later half of the 20th century. (Although it seems to be making a bit of a comeback with Ukraine). The Sioux were defending a land from the encroaching "white men", which they themselves had once taken over by force from another tribe, probably the Pawnee..., which were probably trying to get back the land that THEY took by force of arms from another weaker tribe. That's been the law of the land throughout history. It has NOTHING to do with being white or a member of the Western Civilization. -- Having said all that, keep up the good work! Thank you.
Wind in his hairs final words in this are so poignant and simple and perfect to explain the depth of their friendship
And the perfect bookend to his first words to him!! 😉👍
Also Wes Studi as the Pawnee leader was great. So many great Native American performances
And the classical line from his tribesman Warrior "he is never going to stop untill we are all dead"
Graham Greene and Rodney Grant were absolutely magnificent as Kicking Bird and Wind in his hair
yep, and I have always wanted to know: how did Kicking Bird get his name? love to hear that story!
"Most of the movie was filmed on location in South Dakota, mainly on private ranches near Pierre and Rapid City, with a few scenes filmed in Wyoming. Specific locations included the Badlands National Park, the Black Hills, the Sage Creek Wilderness Area, and the Belle Fourche River area."
Winner of 7 Oscars including Best Picture.
It's one of the best epic western movies ever made.
The Buffalo Hunt Sequence is one pf my favorite action scenes in film history.
When Kevin Costner screened the movie for his son, the projectionist accidentally played the scene, which pissed off Costner, until his son said it's an awesome scene.
22:38 The old lady who gives Dunbar a piece of meat in the traveling scene is Doris Leader Charge.
She was the Lakota language teacher on the film .
John was shown dancing around a big fire at the "fort," watched by a small group of the tribe; the wolf was also seen a short distance away -- the other connection that led to Dunbar's Sioux name.
During the Civil War, rich and/or powerful northerners were given officer positions (which allowed them to safely hang back from the front lines) and usualy hired their own personal physicians from their own pockets. The lower ranks had to submit to shared medical care, which in those days meant expedient decisions and a complete lack of both sanitation and sedation. The same surgical instruments were used, unwashed and still bloody, for a whole line of injured men; this meant infection and gangrene was a shared concern. More men died of medical care than military action.
For many in the lower ranks, they would be returning to demanding agrarian or commercial work, where having all one's limbs was essential to making a living or finding a wife or supporting a family. Dunbar saw his failing chances and decided on a suicide ride through 'No Man's Land', the space between the two armies' firing lines. As it is, Dunbar's action brought an unexpected Union victory, for which his superior lent his personal physician to care for the foot. This not only saves Dunbar's foot (and possibly the leg), but also saved Dunbar from a slow death from sepsis. An officer's personal physician is not only likely to be better educated and sober, but also outside of cross-infection by virtue of only tending to one patient: the officer who hired and pays him.
Very likely the major who dispatched Dunbar to the abandoned fort was suffering from advanced syphilis, possibly complicated by the common treatment at that time: mercury. Both syphilis and mercury resulted in insanity. With the major's suicide, no one beyond Timmons knew Dunbar had been sent to the abandoned fort. With Timmons's murder and scalping by the Pawnee, not a soul knew Dunbar had arrived at the major's settlement or that he was sent off to Indian country. It was like Dunbar had dropped off the face of the Earth. There would be no reinforcements or additional supplies. Dunbar was on his own and didn't even know it.
When Dunbar came upon Stands-with-a-Fist, she was in the midst of performing a mourning ritual in honor of her dead husband and had accidently cut deeply into her thigh. She had been kidnapped as a very young child during a Pawnee attack on her family; it was not only traumatic for her, but she was the only survivor. Through several trades, she eventually came under Kicking Bird's protection. Speaking English brings back the trauma for her and she is completely acclimated to Native culture, making her terrified of being taken and forced back into white culture for which she has no affinity or preparation.
When Kicking Bird invites Dunbar to discuss things, Stands-with-a-Fist shows up in her very best ceremonial dress.
The federal government encouraged the wasteful slaughter of buffalo. Natives relied heavily on buffalo for the fulfillment of nearly every need they had: fresh and dried meat, fat for cooking and for salves, hides, leather for clothes and housing, sinew, horn, tools, weaponry, etc. Take away buffalo as a fundamental resource, and tribes were totally dependent on the government. Buffalo herds were composed of hundreds of millions of animals. It's said one herd took 3 days to run through an area, packed close together and kicking up so much dust it dimmed the sun. Trains were set through the plains and privileged Victorian tourists would climb to the top of the trains and just randomly shoot, leaving the dead and injured buffalo to rot in the sun. There are photos from that time of a mountain of just buffalo skulls 20 or more feet high that had been piled up from one such hunt. The buffalo was a sacred animal to Natives; the source of all good things and of life, which Natives held in deep reverence. Very different from the 'civilized' invaders.
In the dispute over Dunbar's hat, Dunbar got the best part of the trade; Dunbar received the man's medicine bag. It contained all the tokens of power and faith most meaningful to its former owner. That's really big!
The Union army has no clue Dunbar is out there, that anyone is manning that frontier fort. The major left no documentation about even meeting with Dunbar, much less where Dunbar was sent. Dunbar reported immediately to the major without introducing himself to anyone, then left immediately with Timmons.
Stands-with-a-Fist's hair was originally planned to be in the style of other tribal women, but Costner wanted her to stand out, so ordered what ended up onscreen. Many people think it was a bad decision.
I totally get the 'Great White Savior' trope; it didn't start in the 1990s. It showed up in a 1970 film titled "A Man Called Horse" (starring the original Dumbledore, Richard Harris), but it also shows up in real life (1962's "Lawrence of Arabia" set in 1917) and in earlier literature (Edgar Rice Burroughs's 1912 novel "Tarzan of the Apes").
Recommend: "Waterworld" (1995), starring Kevin Costner.
Also, "Windwalker" (1981). Mostly Native cast (except the European in the title role as grandfather), in Native language, and NO WHITES. All too frequently overlooked.
Such a terrific film...glad to see you folks react to it.
Just to be clear, Christine...Stands With A Fist...was the little white girl in her flashbacks. The riders that came and killed her family were supposedly Pawnee in the backstory, and after her family was killed as we see, she somehow ends up being adopted into the Sioux tribe led by Ten Bears.
*Wind In His Hair at beginning of Movie:*
“I am Wind in His Hair! Do you see that I am not afraid of you?”
*Wind In His Hair at end of Movie:*
“I am Wind in His Hair! Do you see that I am your friend? Can you see that you will always be my friend?”
John Barry's soundtrack is one of my favorites.
Tatanka is Bison, Wolf is Sumanitu tanka. Dances with wolves is Sumanitu tanka owaci, litteraly translates to wolves dances with, as the Lakota language has passive verbs, instead of active, that is why Sitting Bull is "bull sitting", (tatanka iyotake).
THANK you, sincerely, I'm a native born American English speaker, but etymology has been an unconscious obsession. I was trying to become a professor in English lit and comp before my illness took me out of university. I'm a passionate history student as well (naturally?).
I've been trying to learn Japanese, and due to uh... martial arts based pursuits into what is now called HEMA (.....I made a rude joke and decided to remove it. But it is genuinely called "Historically European Martial Arts).
The syntax and action/noun is easily understood, and I'm just......... damn I wish I could make a career out of this. The Japanese inversion is the SAME, hell much of the offshoot romance languages do whaddeverday want.
Marcus, I wish you the best in all things, and may the Spirit that guides us towards Goodness be easily seen by our eyes.
Sounded ruder than I meant. I'm ... a bit drunk, I'm chronically ill, and I think far too much. My apologies. I mean no rudeness.
This movie is a masterpiece, and a beautiful example of what happens when we try to understand something, before we mock and destroy it (which is sadly what happened in the end anyway).
So, when Avatar came out, my friends and I called it, "Dances with Wolves in Space." 😃This movie is easily in my top 10 favorites.
Nice! I've always called it "Pocahontas in space".
I'm so glad that you got to this masterpiece!!!
Kevin Costner's daughter played little Christine.
Timmins (the guy with the mules) was played by Robert Pastorelli, who was later a regular on _Murphy Brown._ He killed himself when he learned he was a person of interest in the death of a woman that had been reclassified a homicide.
One of the most beautiful films ever and I got to see it in the theater on release with MY mom. I had the music score on CD for yrs too. The Buffalo hunting scene might be the best non cgi action sequence ever put on film. Amazing
❤
Some dramatic license was taken in the movie: By 1864 the Sioux had acquired firearms and knew how to use them, had been given coffee by passing white traders, trappers, etc., and it was the Sioux who constantly attacked the Pawnee.
Great reaction. It was nice to watch this with you. I read the book also. On a side note, I am wearing the same Star Wars t-shirt. I had just returned from watching the Las Vegas Youth Orchestra perform the music of John Williams. ❤
The film is based on a novel by one of Kevin Costner's friends.
Costner tells the story on the Graham Norton show:
Kevin had secured several jobs for his friend, but the work was not well received.
After living in Costner's guest house, for some time, the two men had a falling out, and Costner encouraged his friend to go write something worthwhile and not worry about making it "Hollywood ready".
After several months of not speaking, the writer friend sent Costner his new screenplay called dances with wolves ...
They both won an Oscar for it.
Even after he rewrote the screenplay, they had a hard time getting the funding for it because once Costner read it and saw it in his head, he didn't want to change certain things. Like the $$ people wanted a younger actress for Stands With a Fist, and they wanted the Natives to speak English because they didn't want subtitles over so much of the film. They got some funding for it, but when they knew they were going over budget, Costner put some of his own money up rather than scaling down the film.
I read the book years ago; don't remember where or exactly when. It was good - it clarified a lot of things in the movie.
The final scenes in the winter camp were filmed in Spearfish Canyon in South Dakota. It is spectacularly beautiful and is older than the Grand Canyon. When I visited in the late 1990’s, there were signs posted indicating that filming had taken place there.
This movie gets quite a bit of flack now, being called a “white savior movie” but, as a Native American myself, before this film, seeing representation of yourself in the film industry was basically non-existent, with the exception of white actors dressed up as Natives and painted to look darker.
Thankfully this film put actors like Graham Green, Rodney A. Grant and Steve Reevis on the map for other movies and shows, as well as making Native actors visible in general.
It’s funny because the only people calling it a “white saviour movie” are progressive white people themselves. Where I grew up in the rez, everyone loved this movie and didn’t see it as “ a white saviour” type movie.
I would dispute the “white savior” label. Lt. Dunbar is someone who had a death wish at the beginning of his, (would rather blindly charge into enemy gunfire than lose his leg.) Living with the Lakota Sioux gave him purpose and peace of mind. Also, after he’s captured, the tribe comes and saves HIM, because they regard him as one of their own.
Dang forgot about the late great Floyd Red Crow Westerman as Ten Bears
Great job. I love this film. Reminds me of the first thing I ever saw that actually attempted to show people what it must have been like for First Nations people to suffer what they did. It's "Little Big Man" (1970), where Dustin Hoffman portrays a 'white kid' adopted by Cheyennes after Pawnees kill the adults in his family (much like Mary's "Stands With a Fist" character). It's a brilliant piece of work, y'all should try it!
I tear up after watching this film, all the time. Incredible film.
I saw this movie when it was first released in the theaters not knowing what it was about and loved it. I later watched on TV with my mom who immediately become a Kevin Costner fan.
It's such a beautiful film, I still love it even after all these years. Another great reaction guys.
❤
If you've ever seen, or plan to see, War Games you might recognize the suicidal officer who pisses himself in Dances With Wolves as one of the two computer "experts" David(Matthew Broderick) goes to see about how to work out the backdoor password into the WOPR. "Go right through Falcon's Maze"
I believe the movie was shot in South Dakota and Wyoming not Alberta. Should you visit the Blackhills in South Dakota, a worthwhile stop would be at the Crazyhorse Memorial. Approximately 13 miles from MT Rushmore, Crazyhorse Memorial has a large Native American Museum, college, restaurant and gift shop in addition to the ‚in progress“ carving of the worlds largest sculpture. Cheers
The unseen surgeons at the opening were Kevin Costner and producer Jim Wilson.
The little girl who became Stands With a Fist is played by Costner's daughter....
Ahhhh 🌸😊
lot of people get confused by the scene with the "weird officer" in the very beginning. Basically it showed that being send to the frontier was reserved for lesser stable or skilled personal especially while the Civil War was going on. That is also why he was confused why Dunbar (as a decorated Hero) was there at his own request.
President Laura Roslyn, aka Stands With A Fist, is amazing in this film. I think Mary is a fantastic actress.☺️💚
Yes! 😊
So say we all!
The filming locations were the Dakotas. If this was filmed in today’s film industry probably Canada would be the place because of their friendly tax incentives.
One piece of music that was not composed by John Barry, was the scene where Costner dances by himself at night around the fire. That was done by Peter Buffett (son of Warren Buffett.)
I missed the premiere, watching now. This is an epic movie with so many great performances.
Without any spoilers, there are a couple of places in the Theatrical cut that will leave you with questions. I highly recommend watching the director's cut even if it is just for yourself.
This is one of my favorite movies. I didn't know a longer director's cut was available. I will definitely be seeking out a copy on DVD. You should also check out "Thunderheart" from 1992. Val Kilmer and Graham Greene are in that one.
I've never been able to get past the 15 min mark before I'm asleep with this movie 😴 Maybe it's the music 🎶
I *went* to Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump on a trip wirh my aunt. She also took me to Drumheller.
Everybody always cries but they don't notice that at the very end. Two Socks was only injured not dead. Thats him howling at the end.
That’s just wishful thinking on your part. The poor wolf was indeed killed.
The officer at fort Hays who signed his transfer to the frontier was suffering from syphilis. That's why he was losing his mind and couldn't control his bladder.
Always wondered what caused his insanity.
It's so upsetting when they shoot the wolf. I cry every time.
And the horse.😭
@@Stephanie-es7wv Yes, of course and poor sweet Cisco 😭
Military horses were trained to always return to the fort
Any Murphy Brown fans? If so, did you notice who played Dunbar's ride out to his new post...Murphy's house painter.😂
Oh yes, I noticed! 😊
@Jen-Mom Yay... glad I'm not the only one.☺️
He was also with Bruce Willis in "Striking Distance" and with Arnie in "Eraser"...
@@TesseRact7228 Good memory. I like Eraser☺️And Striking Distance...nice call backs!!!
One of my favorite movies; there's some issues, sure, but such a beautiful film with an amazing story and a haunting soundtrack. On the director's cut, you'll definitely have to watch it sometime! Honestly, it's fine to see either version first IMHO: it's not that it changes anything with the story, but it simply expands on the backstory of several elements in the theatrical film that don't get as well fleshed-out to make the 3-hour cut -- more character details, a bit more scene-setting for why things are the way they are when you encounter them unexplained in the theatrical version. Thanks so much for sharing the experience, love you guys!
😊❤
I remember watching this on CBS back in the 1990's.
another good indian perspective is Little Big Man with Dustin Hoffman
Not Canadians calling out fake snow in movies!😂
😅
Director’s cut answers many questions…
Kevin told a story on the Graham Norton show how he got the script ua-cam.com/video/XT2S1OkSld4/v-deo.html it shows the ups and downs of Hollywood and how a kindness can be returned in multitudes
You guys definitely should check it out! It's a great story!
The character of stands with a fist is a fictional representation of adopted whites who were taken by various native peoples throughout the white expansion into the west.
One such notable adoptee was Cynthia and Parker, the mother of Quanah Parker, the last of the Comanche chiefs.
There is an excellent book. By the author, SC Gwynn, called Empire of the Summer Moon, which covers the parkers and the end of the Comanches.
Prior to scoring this movie John Barry scored many James Bond movies.
Every time I see Robert Pastorelli getting killed by the Pawnee(?) I always wonder if Murphy Brown is somewhere asking "why don't he write?"😅😅😅😅😅
RIP Robert Pastorelli; another casualty of suicide.
Only watched this once in high school anthropology class.
The reason they had the captain kill himself was to indicate that nobody knew where he was posted.
There is fairly strong evidence that re-introduction of the horse by Spanish explorers provided a significant advantage to native peoples, and as such they were well on their way to extirpating native bison long before white hunters arrived.
LOL
No.
Excellent movie and actors.😊
8:20 In the directors edition of the film, you see the guys who abandoned the post from before, basically the crazy Major who shot himself never sent supplies out to the fort so those guys were left to fend for themselves over the winter, and the ones that didn't die deserted when spring came.
Also, I love this movie, but it's not very historically accurate. By the time this movie takes place, pretty much every Native American tribe was dealing with whites and White goods (including guns) were pretty common in Native villages, many of the plains tribes hunted Buffalo with guns by this point and intermarriage with Whites (along with converting to Christianity) was not uncommon.
I watched this movie a couple of days before a watched Avatar, and I was like: "wait... this is the same movie!"
great reaction to a classic
Actually, Jen, it was not uncommon for young children to be taken by attacking war parties. I have read historical accounts of white people who were raised among Native American communities - in fact they often self-identified as members of their respective Native American communities - but they were actually people of European descent who were taken as children in hostile raids.
Doing genealogy in my own family, there are two separate instances of families a century before this film's era who lost children to Native raiding parties. (I've had family in North American since about the 1630s, so these events occurred with colonial settlers along the Appalachians.)
Cynthia Ann Parker was a white woman adopted as a child, she became wife to the chief and mother to the last Comanche leader, Quanah Parker.
One of my favorite movies ever, enough said!
Some white men and women indeed adopted Native american culture at some point. I think a "former white man" even became a Sioux or Comanche chief, but I cannot remember his name.
Unfortunately, way before the white folk came, native american tribes were often at war with each other, as we see Pawnee and Sioux here. Their culture was not the harmonious paradise often depicted in pop culture. The US army took advantage of this situation and often hired native american scouts who were happy to fight with them as long as it was against an enemy tribe.
Broken treaties, alcohol and diseases did the rest.
I think you would enjoy "Thunderheart", the story of a native american FBI agent completely assimilated in Western culture, coming face to face with his roots during a mission in a native american reserve.
I love this film. Just saw a post about how this film is an example of white savior movies that wouldn't fly today along with "Avatar" and "To Kill a Mockingbird"!!
Just shows you that people don't even know what white savior means. To call this movie a white savior movie is such bs.
P.s. don't look up smiles a lot unless you want to be disappointed...
Too late! 😮
@@prettypinkpopsicle darn it
❤❤❤ great movie ❤️✌️
I have heard that, just like in Robin Hood, that wasn't Kevin Costner's butt. He used a body double.
Good reaction 👍👍
Great reaction you two! If you to enjoyed this movie, you should watch The Last of the Dogmen it’s a great movie!
Lakota Sioux the horse people of the great plains.
Great reaction as always. Gotta be tough to edit a three hour movie
Yeah, it can be. Glad you enjoyed!
Just a great movie, including one of my favorite soundtracks. Have you guys watched Jeremiah Johnson? If not, I highly recommend it.
I am living this story now in a way, becoming part of the people of Israel.
part of the 4 hour version shows us what happened to the Fort before John Dunbar got there.
another movie I would like to draw your attention to is Little Big Man (1970) with a young Dustin Hoffman.
Aw, you beat me to it! I really need to learn to read the whole comment thread before I post up my own. '..so my life was saved by the violent murder of my best friend.' Great, great film.
@@panamafloyd1469 yep, I do that too!
Great movie & glad you finally reacted to it. I knew you'd enjoy it. So much better than last Samuri because in that he was the white savior. Dunbar never truly knew himself until he was a native named dances with wolves.
There is neither in this movie nor in Last Samurai a white savior.🙄
@@Stephanie-es7wv sure there was. The white guy becomes the last samurai.
There's never been a proper film of what happened to the native Americans, and it's fundamental to the making of the United States with all of its land and resources. Yet the US produces thousands of films every year.
People tend not to make movies about their crimes against others 🤷🏼♂️
@@poolhall9632 It's so fundamental to what the world is today though, it's not about crimes but about identity and nationalism. Do others define themselves as land of the free and use such resources to entice millions from elsewhere (weakening them) to colonise? The impact is enormous.
You were waiting for a literal dance with a wolf 😂there Indians not wizards
Have not seen yall in a while,😊
9:35 Yes, he was. He's existing in land that isn't his territory, without permission. His people are committing genocide upon the indigenous, to thieve the land. xo there's plenty of reason for it.
If he got hit in the head that many times for real he would be as rattled as Maury was...
Great reactions you two !!! I always enjoy the ones I bet to see of yours.
However, I just need to say this ... I am part NA (Native American), and I would caution you to about painting everything with such a broad brush. It's POPULAR to say that all Whites were bad, and that all NAs were good, innocent and just protecting their stuff, but that just ain't true !!! Let me explain ...
NAs did all the same things as Whites did ... to their OWN people, their NA neighbors, Whites, Blacks, Browns, Reds and Yellows. This movie attempted to show you some of that. We stole from, raped, enslaved tortured and killed anyone that wasn't a member of your tribe, and we took land as WE needed or wanted, but as is customary, the victors always rewrite history to fit whatever narrative THEY want !!! The only difference in the retelling of THIS history, is it's become popular to say Whites were ALWAYS the bad guys, even by Whites.
Here's the reality ... We (Whites AND NAs) were at war, and we fought like we were. The problem is, we involved many from both sides, who never wanted that. It was the more aggressive among our own people that caused all the bloodshed.
Finally, throughout recorded history, ALL people have taken the lands they eventually occupied from other people, who loved there before them, and it wasn't done in a nice way, but by force. It was also customary to kill ALL of the peoples being conquered, including children, to keep any remnants of those people from coming back for revenge. You can see this on every continent, by every race, and yes, slavery was done by pretty every race to their own and/or others.
Strongly disagree, the extended cut is much better first or repeated
Please react Woody Woodpecker "Goes to Camp" the new 2024 movie 🙏😂❤️
So what names did you give each other? You're not allowed to name yourselves.
😊
And now compare the story to AVATAR (not the airbender, the one with the blue aliens).
Very good movie except for maybe one thing. I’m not a big fan of Kevin Costner’s narration. It’s very drab and lacks any emotional inflections.
Seeing as this movie was a massive hit and critically acclaimed, seems no one else agrees with you.
Dunbar is not a super emotive character, and he's narrating what he writes in his journal -- makes perfect sense as an acting choice. The emotions are there, they're just subdued.
We can AI replace it with David McCullough.
🤔
@@zammmerjammer I know it was a big hit and I even said it is a very good movie. Costner just doesn’t have a good narrative voice. Compare it to other stars that have done the narration and you’ll know they’re much better.
@@jamesdamiano8894 And I think he had a very good narrative voice. Further, you seem to think it's a shortcoming of the actor, while I think it's a deliberate character choice and one that perfectly suits the story and film.
Having emotions and expressing them is more than just screaming and swearing and crying.
I truly love your reactions, but I must say, with all due respect, as a person of color (Hispanic), I find your "once again the white man does it" comment, the one about "cultural genocide" and your white guilt narrative about the "greed of Western Civilization" to be not only stale and misinformed, but lacking historical context. Territorial gains by armed conquest was the unwritten law of the world until the later half of the 20th century. (Although it seems to be making a bit of a comeback with Ukraine). The Sioux were defending a land from the encroaching "white men", which they themselves had once taken over by force from another tribe, probably the Pawnee..., which were probably trying to get back the land that THEY took by force of arms from another weaker tribe. That's been the law of the land throughout history. It has NOTHING to do with being white or a member of the Western Civilization. -- Having said all that, keep up the good work! Thank you.
Why wouldn't you want to watch a longer version??? Was it so awful?
No. We explained ourselves in the discussion.
This was always the perfect lazy Sunday movie for me 🥰🥹 x
They left one arrow and took all the others. It's called recycling.
If he got hit in the head that many times for real he would be as rattled as Maury was...