Dances With Wolves (1990)

Kevin Costner's Plunge from Glory:

- The Untouchables (1987) - hey, great movie! nice work!

- Field of Dreams (1989) - heartfelt blockbuster. Good job!

- Dances With Wolves (1990) - still doing great! Hey, I won some Oscars!

- JFK (1991) - got your token Oliver Stone collaboration in, still doing fine

- The Bodyguard (1992) - begins the decline into "bad movie, but makes a shitload of money" phase

- Wyatt Earp (1994) - begins the "I'm pompous and can do whatever the fuck I want, but hey, why isn't this making any money?"phase

- Waterworld (1995) - nobody wants this on their conscience, or resume

- The Postman (1997) - and we're done.




Just Cold Reviewin'

Kevin Costner was riding high in 1989. With the triple punch of “The Untouchables,” “Bull Durham” and “Field of Dreams,” Costner was unstoppable, a quintessential all American leading man with hit after hit. So he set out to be his generation’s Orson Welles, and directed and starred in his Civil War Oscar-targeted “Dances With Wolves.” Yes, it’s self-indulgent (the director’s cut is FOUR HOURS), and Costner’s self-indulgence would get old quickly (his career was dead with “Waterworld”, and I still have no fucking clue how he was allowed to make “The Postman”). But “Dances With Wolves” makes up for the self-indulgence by being incredibly good.

“Dances With Wolves” is a hell of a good movie. It’s gorgeously shot, well-paced and well acted. For a first time director, Costner knows what he’s doing—each shot is expertly framed, and the landscapes and colors are simply stunning.

The movie opens with death, all around. Costner’s body is covered in blood, and surgeons—hands really, no faces are shown—are pouring over him. He’s about to lose a leg to gangrene. So he’s like, “Fuck it, I’m going to commit suicide by riding a horse through ‘no man’s land’ and get shot by 800 people.” Miraculously (but not really because we have 3 hours and 45 minutes left!) he survives, and the Captain is so impressed with his heroism, he fixes Costner’s leg and lets him move to a new post. Costner—or should I say Lt. Costner—decides to go out west, to the frontier, as he poignantly remarks “Before it’s gone.”

He’s led out to beautiful Wyoming by Murphy Brown’s house painter (Robert Pastorelli). Once there he finds his post abandoned and decrepit. So Lt. Costner figures, “Hey, this kind of blows, but it beats being in the fucking CIVIL WAR,” so he stays and fixes up the place. After a few brushes with the Sioux, who discovered that someone else is living in Wyoming, he decides to go confront them, with an American flag, because that’s always impressive.

And who does Lt. Costner encounter on the abandoned plains of Wyoming? Why, President Roslin from Battlestar Galactica, of course! Yep, Wyoming is just dotted with hot cougars crying under trees. Lt. Costner rescues her and returns her to the Sioux camp, beginning a slow build towards friendship between the white man and the native Americans.

The story unfolds slowly, as Lt. Costner and the Sioux court each other, becoming more familiar and friendlier, but the film hardly drags. KC keeps the action interesting, moving the scenes along briskly and letting the gorgeous vistas speak for themselves. The film focuses on the many nuances and details in the developing relationship between Lt. and the Sioux—from showing them how to make coffee to wild buffalo hunts, to English-Sioux grammar powwows—the scene where Lt. Costner explains his name to the Sioux is priceless (“No, Dun-BAR, not DUMB BEAR!”).

Bottom line: if you like epic westerns and Wyoming, you’ll love this.