American history

Movie review worksheet

35Points

Dances with Wolves (1990)

Directed by: Kevin CostnerRun Time: 224min.

Plot: Having been sent to a remote outpost in the wilderness of the Dakota territory during the American Civil War, Lieutenant John Dunbar encounters, and is eventually accepted into, the local Sioux tribe. He is known as "Dances with Wolves" to them and as time passes he becomes enamored by the beautiful "Stands With a Fist". Not soon after, the frontier becomes the frontier no more, and as the army advances on the plains, John must make a decision that will not only affect him, but also the lives of the natives he now calls his people.

Cast:

Kevin Costner – Lt. John J. Dunbar

Mary McDonnell – Stands with a Fist

Graham Green – Kicking Bird

Rodney A. Grant – Wind in His Hair

Nathan Lee Chasing His Horse – Smiles a Lot

Jimmy Herman – Stone Calf

Floyd Red Crow Westerman – Ten Bears

Wes Studi – “Toughest” Pawnee

Useless Trivia:

• Filmed in South Dakota, which is mainly wide-open rolling hills, the cornfield

at the beginning of the film had to be specially grown, and the few trees that

were on thechosen location had to have their leaves painted different shades

of red and brown to signify fall.

• Filmed during a drought, water had to be trucked into the Fort Sedgwick

location to fill up the pond.

• The buffalo herd comprised 2000 animals, the largest herd in America, and

only one take a day could be made of the buffalo stampede as the animals

would often run a distance of 10 miles. It would take the wranglers all day to

round them up again.

• Those are actual dead deer that Kevin Costner pulls out of the river. To look

authentic the carcasses had to be heavy, so animals killed on the highways

were collected for the scene.

• During the scene where the buffalo is charging at the young Indian, the buffalo
is actually charging at a pile of its favorite treat: Oreo cookies.

• The man seen initially telling the wolf to go home when Dunbar is riding out to

visit his friends is actually the trainer. He was bitten in the leg when the wolf

chased him, so Costner had to run himself during the next shot. He kept

throwing pieces of raw meat to keep the wolf from biting him.

• Crew or equipment visible: When the Sioux and John Dunbar are going on

the buffalo hunt and they come upon the slaughtered/skinned buffalo, a crew

member can be seen lying down on the ground in the background behind the

Sioux passing on horseback.

• Anachronisms: When Kicking Bird flees from a naked Dunbar on their first

encounter, modern building structures can be seen on the horizon, to the right

of the picture.

•Revealing mistakes: When Dunbar and Timmons are leaving for Ft.

Sedgewick you can see a second set of reins leading back underneath the

wagon seat. There is also a curtain under the seat to conceal the real driver. In

later scenes the curtain is gone.

QUESTIONAIRE (20 pts)

  1. Why is the fort abandoned when Dunbar arrives?
  1. What does Dunbar spend his days doing at the fort?
  1. What happens to Timmons on the trip back to Ft. Hays?
  1. Who is Dunbar’s first visitor at the fort?
  1. What convinces Dunbar to confront the Indian?
  1. When Cisco is stolen, what happens to the “thief”?
  1. Who is the warrior who rides up to Dunbar to show his bravery?
  1. Why does Dunbar ride out to meet the Sioux? What does he find?
  1. In their meeting at the fort, what does Dunbar act out for the Sioux? Which guy figures it out?

10. How did Stands with a Fist come to live with the Sioux?

11. The night before the big hunt, what are the Sioux celebrating? How

does it make Dunbar feel?

12. Whose life does Dunbar save from the charging buffalo?

13. how does Dunbar receive his Sioux name?

14. What tribe attacks the Sioux village? How does Dunbar help?

15. Following the battle at the village however, he stated that “he had

never been in a battle like this before”. How was this particular

battle different for him?

16. What artifact does Ten Bears talk about to show his belief that the

whites will go away too?

17. When Dunbar returns to the fort, what is different?

18. How is Dunbar treated by the soldiers? Why?

19. How does Smiles A Lot return the favor to Dunbar for saving his life?

20. Why do Dunbar and Stands with a Fist leave the village?

ESSAY (15 pts)

When Dunbar first arrived at Fort Sedgwick he felt duty bound to repair it and make it fit for service. As he spent more time both alone and with the Sioux, how did his attitude about things change? How did he come to think of the Sioux as compared with the whites? Use specific examples from the movie to help illustrate how Dunbar’s priorities, and entire life for that matter, changed during his time with the Sioux.