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.

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.

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".

Choosing death in battle instead, Dunbar steals a horse and rides in front of Confederate lines unarmed, but miraculously survives his suicide attempt.

Dunbar is given medical care that saves his leg and is awarded "Cisco", the horse he rode during his suicide attempt, along with his choice of posting.

The deaths of Timmons and Fambrough leave the army unaware of Dunbar's assignment, so no other soldiers arrive to reinforce the post.

En route, he comes across Stands With A Fist, a white ethnic Sioux woman who was adopted as a girl by the tribe's medicine man, Kicking Bird, after her family was killed by Pawnee.

Because of the threat of encroaching white settlers, Chief Ten Bears decides to move his group to its winter camp.

Refusing to help the army hunt down the Sioux, he is charged with desertion, and the soldiers begin to transport him back east as a prisoner.

The film's epilogue text states that the last of the free Sioux would surrender at Fort Robinson, Nebraska, thirteen years later.

The project was turned down by several studios due to the Western genre no longer being popular, following the disastrous box office of Heaven's Gate (1980), as well as the length of the script.

The website's critical consensus reads: "Dances With Wolves suffers from a simplistic view of the culture it attempts to honor, but the end result remains a stirring western whose noble intentions are often matched by its epic grandeur.

[14] Because of the film's popularity and lasting impact on the image of Native Americans, members of the Lakota Sioux Nation held a ceremony in Washington, D.C., "to honor Kevin [Costner] and Mary [McDonnell] and Jim [Wilson] on behalf of the Indian Lakota nation", explained Floyd Westerman (who plays Chief Ten Bears in the movie).

In 2007, the Library of Congress selected Dances With Wolves for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.

"[18] Though promoted as a breakthrough in its use of an indigenous language, earlier English-language films, such as Eskimo (1933), Wagon Master (1950), and The White Dawn (1974) also have native dialogue.

[19] David Sirota of Salon referred to Dances With Wolves as a "white savior" film, as Dunbar "fully embeds himself in the Sioux tribe and quickly becomes its primary protector".

He argued that its use of the "noble savage" character type "preemptively blunts criticism of the underlying White Savior story".

Stands With A Fist and one of the children are kidnapped by a party of white rangers, and Dances With Wolves must mount a rescue mission.

Judith A. Boughter wrote: "The problem with Costner's approach is that all of the Sioux are heroic, while the Pawnees are portrayed as stereotypical villains.

The Kansas Pacific Railway and the settlements of Rome and Hays City were built next to the fort in 1867; each was a perceived violation of Cheyenne and Arapaho territory, resulting in immediate warfare with the Dog Soldiers.

[37][38] A Christian missionary named John Dunbar worked among the Pawnee in the 1830s and 1840s, and sided with the Native Americans in a dispute with government farmers and a local Indian agent.

[39] According to screenwriter Michael Blake, the film character's name was chosen at random from lists of Civil War veterans and was merely coincidence.

[41] One year after the original theatrical release of Dances With Wolves, a four-hour version of the film opened at select cinemas in London.

We have received countless letters from people worldwide asking when or if a sequel would be made, so it seemed like a logical step to enhance our film with existing footage ... making an extended version is by no means to imply that the original Dances With Wolves was unfinished or incomplete; rather, it creates an opportunity for those who fell in love with the characters and the spectacle of the film to experience more of both.