The film tells the journey of Lieutenant John J. Dunbar (Kevin Costner), a ranking official in the Union Army as the Civil War is drawing to a close. Awaking from a scuffle in the field of battle, there are talks of Dunbar loosing his leg from worries of infection. Upon thinking about the hardship of life without the ability to walk, the decided to return to the battle and launches a one man suicide raid against the Confederate forces on the other side. This inspires his fellow Union members to “carpe diem” and extinguish the Southern forces on that particular occasion. Because of his perceived sheer act of bravery, he is granted permission to be stationed at the locale of his choosing. So when he gets “back on his feet” so to speak, Dunbar decided to head west and see the frontier “before it’s gone” and checks in at Fort Hayes to meet the eccentric Major Fambrough (Maury Chaykin). Pondering the Army’s needs and the Lieutenant’s wants, Fambrough sends him on a trek along with guide Timmons (Robert Pastorelli) further west to report to Captain Cargill at Fort Sedgwick, Colorado. After an inspiring journey, the two of them arrive to find the outpost deserted and in shambles. But, not to deny his call of duty and his own personal aspirations, Dunbar stays and puts in the hard work needed to get the place back into “tip-top shape.” Isolation goes “with the territory” but he does have the company of his trusty steed Cisco and Two Socks, a shiftless wolf that has a curious affinity for Dunbar and his everyday routine. Time passes and Dunbar is slowly giving up hope of any more military presence arriving at the compound. But a visitor does show up, however it’s not another fellow in uniform, rather a native Sioux Indian named Kicking Bird (Graham Greene). Startled by the exchange, the native runs off while Dunbar makes a note of the encounter in his journal (which acts as an account of his entire experience while at Fort Sedgwick) and says he is making ready for a possible assault by the “wild Indians.” Debates go on within the Sioux community about how they should handle the situation, with Kicking Bird taking the side of communication and friendship. In the meantime, the Lieutenant decides to go meet with the Indians himself, but on his ride he runs into a wounded woman that may be apart of the tribe he is going to visit. She just so happens to be Kicking Bird’s adopted white daughter Stands With A First (Mary McDonnell) who survives her attack and begins to act as a translator between her tribe and Dunbar. This sets the stage for an adventure on the frontier that is the platform upon which two different sets of lives and ideas are challenged by one another and also how one man’s journey may take on a different path when some beliefs become clearer while others fade away.
I understand that was quite a long synopsis but it’s only fitting. If there is anything that may be a little frustrating about this film it’s the length. With the added time in this edition, the movie checks in at right under four hours long. This is not to say that the tale just drags along without a point (although the initial interactions between Dunbar and the Indians may be a bit exaggerated). The movie has really good flow and is always between third and fourth gear. It just happens to have a lot of narrative to it. But that isn’t such a bad thing when the film is as good as this one is. There honestly weren’t any performances that just “blew me away” although Costner, McDonnell, and Graham are all very good. The real “stars” of the show are the narrative and landscape itself. The story on display is put together well and does a great job of really letting you get attached to each character on an individual level and wanting them to survive for different reasons other than just simply “staying alive”. You really get the sense that Costner’s character may actually be able to set a tone for other frontiersman to follow when dealing with the natives. While this may sound like a rather lofty aspiration when reading this, it becomes almost like a hope in the middle of the viewing experience. At its most basic level, it tells a story of connecting with foreign peoples while exploring vast new earth, and profiles humanity’s tendency to “pick up sticks” against one another at its most complex. And although I felt it got a tad bit preachy with the “white man evil” stance in the latter part of the movie, this is a short detour to an otherwise clean, flowing story. But even this, at times, is overshadowed by the great visuals in this movie. This is some of the best cinematography I’ve ever watched. And I’m usually not one for the scenic “riding horses” type western adventure, but the absolute beauty and vision that this movie has is undeniable. Its like the visual directors didn’t attempt to make more out of what they had. Rather they just pointed the camera, put it in focus, and let the breathtaking scenery speak for itself. Bravo. Along with this, MGM should be more than pleased with the work put in to making this disk look and sound awesome. This is the best HD transfer of an older film I’ve ever seen. Again, this was released in 1990, meaning it was filmed in the late ’80s. There are a few early scenes that are a little lack luster, but when the frontier comes in the forefront, the look is vibrant while still keeping a rustic, “romantic” tone. The movie also sports a DTS 7.1 master track that makes the buffalo hunt all the more epic!
The special features on the second portion of this two disk Blu-Ray set are great and offer about as much insight as you would ever want or need about this film.
There are three featurettes on display that are all about 20 minutes long. The first is “A Day in the Life on the Western Frontier” that showcases the “real life” frontier experience and offers a historical , “scholar” look at the time and place at which the movie takes place and offers insider comments from Writer Michael Blake. The second is “The Original Making of ‘Dances with Wolves’ ” which is a documentary about the making of the film that features much commentary from Costner who is very candid about being an “unsure” director on this project (refreshing change from “big headed” Hollywood). Producer Jim Wilson and writer Michael Blake also share their part of the story. The last of these is “The Creation of an Epic – A Retrospective Documentary” which features the aforementioned three reflecting about how everything worked with the film at a few different, individual levels, from “From Novel to Screen” to “Actor Becomes the Director” to “The Buffalo Hunt.”
The Vignettes just keep piling on the goodness with shorter looks into the movie like music videos featuring the original score, multiple “behind the camera” looks at different scenes like “The Confederate March” and “Burying the Hatchet,” and an awesome selection called “Editor Neil Travis’ Presentation Reel ‘Second Wind’ ” which seems to be his personal record of some scenes that were filmed “handycam” style.
There are also trailers and TV spots and photo galleries of assorted parts of the film and the promotional posters. The feature film disk also has two different commentary sets: one by Costner and Producer Jim Wilson and the other has Director of Photography Dean Semler and Editor Neil Travis.