Francais | English | Espanõl

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dances with Wolves
Image:Dances with Wolves poster.jpg
Directed by	Kevin Costner
Produced by	Jim Wilson Kevin Costner
Written by	Michael Blake
Starring	Kevin Costner Mary McDonnell Graham Greene Rodney Grant
Music by	John Barry
Distributed by	Orion Pictures
Release date(s)	November 9 1990
Running time	181 min (theatrical) 236 min (Director's Cut)
Language	English, Lakota
Budget	$19,000,000 (estimated)
IMDb profile

Dances with Wolves is a 1990 epic film which tells the story of a United States cavalry officer in the 1860s who befriends a band of Sioux Indians, sacrificing his career and ties to his own people. The film is unusual in that much of the dialogue is in the Lakota language with English subtitles.

Contents 1 Production 2 Synopsis 3 Cast 4 Awards 5 Versions 5.1 1998 Release (1 Disc) 5.2 1999 Release (1 Disc)(DTS) 5.3 2003 Release (2 Disc) (Special Extended Edition) 5.4 2004 Release (1 Disc) 5.5 200? Release (3 Disc) 6 Soundtrack 7 Trivia 8 References 9 External links

[edit] Production

Originally written as a spec screenplay by Michael Blake, it went unsold in the mid 1980's. It was Kevin Costner who, in early 1986 (when he was relatively unknown), encouraged Blake to turn the screenplay into a novel, to improve its chances of being made into a movie. The novel manuscript of Dances with Wolves was rejected by numerous publishers but finally published in paperback in 1988. As a novel, the rights were purchased by Costner, with an eye to his directing it. Therefore, Blake's "adaption" of the novel existed before the novel itself.

Filming lasted from July 18 to November 23, 1989. Most of the movie was filmed on location in South Dakota, but a few scenes were filmed in Wyoming. Filming locations included the Badlands National Park, the Black Hills, the Sage Creek Wilderness Area, and the Belle Fourche River area. The buffalo hunt scenes were filmed at the Triple U Buffalo Ranch near Pierre, South Dakota. [1]

Because of budget overruns and production delays, and the general perception, after the fiasco of Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate, that Westerns weren't commercially viable, Costner's picture was dubbed "Kevin's Gate" by Hollywood wags and pundits during the months prior to its release.

[edit] Synopsis

The movie opens during the US Civil War, where Union officer Lt. John Dunbar has learned that his injured foot is about to be amputated. Rather than face this, he decides to commit suicide by riding directly at enemy lines. However, his action has the effect of rallying his comrades who storm the Confederate position. Dunbar is dubbed a hero and offered his choice of posting.

He requests a transfer to the western frontier. Arriving at the desolate Fort Sedgewick, he finds it deserted except for a semi-tame wolf whom Dunbar dubs 'Two Socks' on account of his coloring. He also encounters the local Indian tribe (initially when two attempts by them to steal his horse fail ignominiously).

Initially both sides are suspicious and wary, but when Dunbar helps to defend the settlement against a Pawnee raiding party, he is accepted. He finds himself more and more drawn to the lifestyle of his Indian neighbours, and eventually is accepted as a member of the tribe, marrying Stands With A Fist, a white woman who was raised by the tribe after her parents were slain by the Pawnee. Dunbar himself is given the name 'Dances With Wolves', after members of the tribe witness him playing with Two Socks.

However, Dunbar's idyll soon ends when Fort Sedgewick is re-occupied by Army troops, who arrest him as a deserter. He is rescued by members of the tribe, but realizes that if he stays with them, he will bring the unwelcome attention of the whites, and decides that he and Stands With A Fist must leave.

[edit] Cast

It stars Kevin Costner, Mary McDonnell, Graham Greene, Rodney A. Grant, Floyd Red Crow Westerman, Tantoo Cardinal, Wes Studi, Robert Pastorelli and Charles Rocket. It has been released in both a 181-minute theatrical version and a 236-minute Special Edition version for television and video.

[edit] Awards

Dances with Wolves was the winner of seven Oscars:

• Academy Award for Best Picture — Jim Wilson and Kevin Costner
• Academy Award for Directing — Kevin Costner
• Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay — Michael Blake
• Academy Award for Best Cinematography — Dean Semler
• Academy Award for Film Editing — Neil Travis
• Academy Award for Sound — Russell Williams II, Jeffrey Perkins, Bill W. Benton, and Gregory H. Watkins
• Academy Award for Original Music Score — John Barry

It was also nominated for another five Oscars:

• Academy Award for Best Actor — Kevin Costner
• Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor — Graham Greene
• Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress — Mary McDonnell
• Academy Award for Best Art Direction — Jeffrey Beecroft and Lisa Dean
• Academy Award for Costume Design — Elsa Zamparelli

The film also won the award for best picture at the Golden Globes.

[edit] Versions

Dances With Wolves has been released to DVD on five occasions. The first on 17 November 1998 on a single disc. The second on 16 February 1999 as a two disc set with a DTS Soundtrack. The third on 20 May 2003 as a two disc set (Special Extended Edition). The fourth on 25 May 2004 as a single disc in Full Frame. There is also a three disc set with the 226 minute feature on two and special features on the third, including a lengthy making-of documentary.

[edit] 1998 Release (1 Disc)

Disc 1: Movie

• Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, THX, Wide screen, NTSC
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Run Time: 181 minutes
• Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)

[edit] 1999 Release (1 Disc)(DTS)

Disc 1 & 2: Movie

• Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Wide screen, NTSC
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Run Time: 181 minutes
• Audio Tracks: English (DTS), English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
• Commentary by: director 'Kevin Costner' and 'Jim Wilson'

[edit] 2003 Release (2 Disc) (Special Extended Edition)

Disc 1 & 2: Movie

• Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, THX, Wide screen, NTSC
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Run Time: 236 minutes
• Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
• Commentary by: Kevin Costner and producer Jim Wilson, director of photography Dean Semler and editor Neil Travis.
• New extended version with never-before-seen additional scenes (236 minutes)
• New "The Creation of an Epic" retrospective documentary
• Original making-of featurette
• Original music video
• New Dances photo montage with introduction by Ben Glass
• New Poster gallery

[edit] 2004 Release (1 Disc)

Disc 1: Movie

• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Run Time: 181 minutes
• Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)

[edit] 200? Release (3 Disc)

Disc 1 & 2: Movie
Disc 3: Special Features

• Run Time: 226 minutes
• Audio Tracks: English/Lakota
• Director's commentary
• New "The Creation of an Epic" retrospective documentary
• Original making-of featurette
• Original music video
• New Dances photo montage with introduction by Ben Glass
• New Poster gallery

Dances With Wolves DVD Covers
First Edition 1 Disc Set	Second Edition 2 Disc Set	Third Edition 2 Disc Set	Fourth Edition 1 Disc Set
Image:DWW1.jpg	Image:DWW2.jpg	Image:DWW3.jpg	Image:DWW4.jpg

[edit] Soundtrack

John Barry composed the Award-winning score, which became a very popular film score. Pope John Paul II once referred to it as among his favorite pieces of music. It was issued in 1990 initially and again in 1995 with bonus tracks and in 2004 with the score "in its entirety."

[edit] Trivia

• Dances with Wolves was very successful commercially, becoming the highest grossing Western of all time with nearly $184 million in U.S. box office sales [2].

• The film was often praised for its accuracy in the portrayal of Native Americans, because it went beyond the simple primitive savage motif of typical Hollywood fare.

• Mary McDonnell, then 37, was extremely nervous about shooting her sex scene with Kevin Costner.

• Two of the domesticated buffalo used in the film were borrowed from Neil Young.

• Despite portraying the adopted daughter of Graham Greene's character Kicking Bird, Mary McDonnell is actually two months older than Greene, and is fewer than two years younger than Tantoo Cardinal, the actress playing her adoptive mother.

• The language spoken in the film is a fairly accurate, if simplified, version of the actual Lakota language. Lakota Sioux language instructor Doris Leader Charge (1931-2001) was the on-set Lakota dialogue coach and also portrayed Pretty Shield, wife of Chief Ten Bears, portrayed by Floyd Red Crow Westerman.

• Because Lakota contains both masculine and feminine forms of speech, the filmmakers decided to simplify the language by using the feminine form for all Lakota speech in the film. Native speakers of the film were reportedly highly amused by hearing braves and other men speak as if they were women.

[edit] References

• Blake, Michael. ‘’Dances with Wolves’’. Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-449-00075-3

[edit] External links

• Michael Blake's official web site.
• Dances with Wolves at the Internet Movie Database

cs:Tanec s vlky

de:Der mit dem Wolf tanzt (Film) es:Dances with Wolves fa:با گرگ‌ها می‌رقصد fr:Danse avec les loups hr:Ples s vukovima lt:Šokis su vilkais nl:Dances with Wolves ja:ダンス・ウィズ・ウルブズ pt:Dances with Wolves ru:Танец с волками (фильм) fi:Tanssii susien kanssa sv:Dansar med vargar