Dances with Wolves
Movie, 1990, The '90s, Set in The Dakota frontier
Dances with Wolves is #23 of 34 in release order and #20 of 34 in chronological order in the Westerns.
The story
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.
Dances with Wolves recap
Dances with Wolves (1990) follows a Union officer posted alone at an abandoned frontier fort who is slowly taken into a Lakota band. Kevin Costner directs and plays Lieutenant John J. Dunbar. After a suicidal ride that turns a stalled Civil War battle in 1863, Dunbar asks to see the frontier and is sent to Fort Sedgwick, an empty outpost on the Dakota plains. The officer who posts him kills himself, and the wagon driver is killed by Pawnee on the way back, so no one knows Dunbar is there. He befriends a wolf he calls Two Socks and makes slow contact with the Lakota, led in friendship by the holy man Kicking Bird (Graham Greene) and in hostility by the warrior Wind In His Hair (Rodney A. Grant). Stands With A Fist (Mary McDonnell), a white woman raised by the band, translates. Dunbar joins a buffalo hunt, helps fight off the Pawnee, takes the name Dances With Wolves and marries Stands With A Fist. The film stands alone; Michael Blake adapted his own novel.
Dances with Wolves ending explained
Dances with Wolves ends with Dunbar and Stands With A Fist leaving the Lakota winter camp so the soldiers hunting him will not find the band. Returning to the fort for his journal, Dunbar was arrested as a deserter, and Two Socks was shot; the Lakota rescued him. As the couple leave, Wind In His Hair shouts that he is Dunbar's friend. A closing title says that thirteen years later the last free Sioux surrendered. In Blake's novel the tribe is Comanche.
Post-credits scenes
No. There is no post-credits scene.
Where to watch Dances with Wolves
Dances with Wolves is streaming on Prime Video, YouTube TV, and Amazon MX Player in the US. You can rent or buy it on Amazon, Apple TV, and Google Play.
Ratings
IMDb 8.0/10, Rotten Tomatoes 87%
Where it fits
- Release order: after Lonesome Dove, before Unforgiven.
- Chronological order: after Lonesome Dove, before Unforgiven.
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
- Nathan Lee Chasing Horse as Smiles A Lot
- Michael Spears as Otter
Directed by Kevin Costner.