Dances With Wolves

For the novel by Michael Blake, see Dances With Wolves (novel). For The song by Mount Eerie, see Mount Eerie Dances with Wolves.
Dances With Wolves
Theatrical release poster
Directed byKevin Costner
Screenplay byMichael Blake
Based onDances With Wolves
by Michael Blake
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyDean Semler
Edited byNeil Travis
Music byJohn Barry
Production
companies
Distributed byOrion Pictures (North America)
Majestic Films International (International)
Release dates
  • October 19, 1990 (1990-10-19) (Uptown Theater)
  • November 9, 1990 (1990-11-09) (United States)
Running time
181 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
Languages
Budget$22 million[2]
Box office$424.2 million[2]

Dances With Wolves is a 1990 American epic Western film starring, directed, and produced by Kevin Costner in his feature directorial debut. It is a film adaptation of the 1988 novel Dances With Wolves, by Michael Blake, that tells the story of Union Army Lieutenant John J. Dunbar (Costner), who travels to the American frontier to find a military post, and who meets a group of Lakota.

Costner developed the film with an initial budget of $15 million.[3] Much of the dialogue is spoken in Lakota with English subtitles. It was shot from July to November 1989 in South Dakota and Wyoming, and translated by Doris Leader Charge,[4] of the Lakota Studies department at Sinte Gleska University.

The film earned favorable reviews from critics and audiences, who praised Costner's directing, the performances, screenplay, score, cinematography, and production values. It was a box office hit, grossing $424.2 million worldwide, making it the fourth-highest-grossing film of 1990, and is the highest-grossing film for Orion Pictures. The film was nominated for 12 awards at the 63rd Academy Awards and won 7, including Best Picture, Best Director for Costner, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, and Best Sound Mixing. The film also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama. It is one of only four Westerns to win the Oscar for Best Picture, the other three being Cimarron (1931), Unforgiven (1992), and No Country for Old Men (2007).

It is credited as a leading influence for the revitalization of the Western genre of filmmaking in Hollywood. In 2007, Dances With Wolves was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[5][6]

  1. ^ "Dances With Wolves". British Board of Film Classification. Archived from the original on September 25, 2015. Retrieved July 29, 2015.
  2. ^ a b "Dances With Wolves (1990)". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on December 2, 2002. Retrieved July 29, 2015.
  3. ^ "Dances With Wolves: Overview" (plot/stars/gross, related films), allmovie, 2007, webpage: amovie12092
  4. ^ Miller, Steve (February 19, 2001). "Lakota teacher Leader Charge dies". Rapid City Journal. Archived from the original on May 22, 2021. Retrieved May 22, 2021.
  5. ^ "Librarian of Congress Announces National Film Registry Selections for 2007". Library of Congress. Archived from the original on November 21, 2017. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
  6. ^ "Complete National Film Registry Listing". Library of Congress. Archived from the original on December 17, 2014. Retrieved June 4, 2020.