History Film / DancesWithWolves

* BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler:The Sioux Resuce Party come to Dunbar's rescue and take out the squad of soldiers transporting him.]]

* BloodBrothers: "I am Wind In His Hair! Can't you see that I am your friend?"

Since this movie is a classic, it shouldn't be too hard to find a longer description that spoils the whole story. If seven UsefulNotes/{{Academy Award}}s (including [[UsefulNotes/AcademyAwardForBestPicture Best Picture]]) don't tell you, it's worth a view. One further testament to the movie's excellent balance of fiction and historical accuracy -- not to mention cultural sensitivity -- is the fact that Kevin Costner was adopted as an honorary member of the Lakota Nation.

* MenOfSherwood: The men and boys of the Lakota tribe prove to be a brave and well-coordinated fighting force and only lose one person in the two battles they engage in.

** Ten Bears produces a conquistador helmet to explain that his tribe drove out a Spanish invasion in ancient times. Contact with the Spanish Empire might have been actually possible because back then the Lakota people lived in the lower Mississippi region (only later they migrated toward what's today Dakota), but historically, no attempt of Spanish expansion over there was trumped by being decisively mauled by the natives. It can be assumed, though, that the tribe's oral memories might have become embellished over generations in-universe until picturing an entire invasion where they were only skirmishes.[[note]]The original book featured not Lakota, but Comanche, who did interact extensively with the Spanish Empire through both trade and war. They would have enjoyed stronger arguments to claim to have repealed the Spaniards, given that the Comanche's aggression and predatory practices often made them a headache for the Spaniards and other neighboring tribes.[[/note]]

** Fort Hays (misspelled as "Fort Hayes") is featured. The film starts in 1863, but Fort Hays wasn't established until two years later and didn't receive its current name until the following year.

* TheDogBitesBack: After being captured and abused as a prisoner along forced to watch his animal companions get killed before being rescued, John wasted no time helping the Sioux rescue party take out his captors especially strangling Corporeal Spivey to death and drowning him.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Dances With Wolves is saved by the Sioux, but Cisco and Two Socks are dead, and he feels that he has to go off Stands With a Fist to live on their own away from the tribe. If that weren't enough, the Sioux have already gone when the military's Pawnee scouts find their winter camp, but we are then told that 13 years later, the last of the free Sioux were forced to surrender to the United States Government.]]

* CavalryOfficer: Both good and bad and bad ones appear, given the frontier setting.

The film also stars Creator/MaryMcDonnell as Stands with a Fist, Creator/GrahamGreeneActor as Kicking Bird, Floyd ''Kanghi Duta''[[note]]Dakota for "Red Crow"[[/note]] Westerman as Ten Bears, and Rodney A. Grant as Wind in His Hair.

''Dances with Wolves'' is an epic-length Western film adapted from Michael Blake's book of the same title. Directed[=/=]produced by and starring Creator/KevinCostner (in his feature directorial debut) and written by Blake, it was released on November 9, 1990.

''Dances with Wolves'' is an epic-length Western film adapted from Michael Blake's book of the same title. It is directed by Creator/KevinCostner and written by Blake. It was released on November 9, 1990.

Since this movie is a classic, it shouldn't be too hard to find a longer description that spoils the whole story. If seven Academy Awards don't tell you, it's worth a view. And one testament to the movie's excellent balance of fiction and historical accuracy -- not to mention cultural sensitivity -- is the fact that Kevin Costner was adopted as an honorary member of the Lakota Nation.

Also, this movie is [[{{WesternAnimation/Rugrats}} not a musical.]]

The film also stars Creator/MaryMcDonnell as Stands with a Fist, Graham Greene as Kicking Bird, Floyd ''Kanghi Duta''[[note]]Dakota for "Red Crow"[[/note]] Westerman as Ten Bears, and Rodney A. Grant as Wind in His Hair.

** Ten Bears produces a conquistador helmet to explain that his tribe drove out a Spanish invasion in ancient times. Contact with the Spanish Empire might have been actually possible because back then the Lakota people lived in the lower Mississippi region (only later they migrated toward what's today Dakota), but historically, no attempt of Spanish expansion was trumped by being decisively mauled by them. It can be assumed, though, that the tribe's oral memories might have become embellished over generations in-universe until picturing an entire invasion where they were only skirmishes.[[notes]]The original book featured not Lakota, but Comanche, who did interact extensively with the Spanish Empire through both trade and war. They would have had stronger arguments to claim to have repealed the Spaniards, given that the Comanche's aggression and predatory practices often made them a headache for the Spaniards and other neighboring tribes.[[/notes]]

** Ten Bears produces a conquistador helmet to explain that his tribe drove out a Spanish invasion in ancient times. Contact with the Spanish Empire might have been actually possible because back then the Lakota people lived in the lower Mississippi region (only later they migrated toward what's today Dakota), but historically, no attempt of Spanish expansion was trumped by being decisively mauled by them. It can be assumed, though, that the tribe's oral memories might have become embellished over generations in-universe until picturing an entire invasion where they were only skirmishes.

* TheAlcoholic: Major Fambrough is implied to be one: when he opens his desk drawer, (presumably liquor) bottles clink and rattle.

** The Lakota are portrayed as simply defending themselves, and the Pawnee as evil allies of the US government. However, it was actually the Lakota who had been the aggressors against the Pawnee, moving into the Plains in the late 1700's from the northeast, and still perpetrating massacres of Pawnee in 1843. This is actually ''why'' other tribes, such as the Pawnee, Arikara and Absaroka[[note]]known to outsiders as the "Crow" people[[/note]], were allies of the US government against the Lakota (not that it helped them later), since the Lakota had been pushing them out of their land. While the Pawnee could be brutal, they were no more so than the Lakota. This is due to the SlidingScaleOfAntagonistVileness, in order to define clearly good and bad guys based on their respective tribal affiliation, without complicating matters.
** Fort Hays (misspelled as "Fort Hayes") is featured. The film starts in 1863, but Fort Hays wasn't established until two years later, and didn't receive its current name until the following year.

* TheGhost: Captain Cargill, the first commander of Fort Sedgwick is this in the final cut, being absent when Dunbar returns. He does appear in the extended version, and the original novel, which show his command being plagued by squalor, and desertion, and Cargill eventually giving up any hope of relief, and deciding to take his remaining men home ([[AFatherToHisMen thanking them for staying as long as they did]]) and accept any potential consequences for the decision, with them leaving, out of one valley, [[MissedHimByThatMuch at the same time Dunbar and Timmons are arriving with the supplies, through an adjoining valley]].

** Oh, but the special place in Hell should be reserved for Corporal Spivey. If it wasn't for him, Dunbar would have his journal, and therefore a record of all of his activities. Without it, there's no proof that Dunbar was at Fort Sedgewick, let alone what he did to make peaceful contact with the local Sioux. And why does Spivey steal the journal in the first place? No reason. Especially since '''he can't even read'''. And if it wasn't enough already, he had the ''nerve'' to try to steal from the imprisoned Dunbar for the second time, thinking he's sleeping. Worst of it all, Spivey has no reason to keep the journal hidden once its importance is explained nor it wouldn't be hard for him to find an excuse why he kept if for himself. He never returns it, not even considering doing so, despite knowing Dunbar is going to be hanged without the notebook supporting his story.
* HiddenDepths: John would make an amazing ethnographer with his insight on many subjects, keen observations and the way he tries to document as much as possible. Yet, to the Army he is mostly valuable as someone actually ''willing'' [[ReassignedToAntarctica to be posted at the frontier]].

* KickTheDog: The Pawnee shoot dogs with arrows, and the soldiers that eventually occupy the fort never miss an opportunity to kick any dog they find. [[spoiler:Their opening act is to kill Dunbar's beloved horse, leaving the body to be picked by crows. Eventually, they kill Two Socks in front of John just for the fun of it.]] And it's completely ignored that the [[MagicalNativeAmerican magical]] Sioux ate dogs in religious festivals.
* LaserGuidedKarma: The squad of soldiers who abused Dances with Wolves [[spoiler: and killed Two Socks and Cisco]] are dispatched in particularly brutal fashion by the Sioux rescue party [[spoiler:who unknowingly avenged the two animals that were cruelly killed]]. [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Lt Elgin's]] fate is a somewhat positive example-- he's rewarded for his fair treatment of Dances with Wolves with a swift and almost instantaneous death.

* MightyWhitey: Subverted with a vengeance. Rather than being superior to the Sioux, John works for the entire span of the story to get acknowledged by them as part of the tribe, struggling with their culture and language while adapting. He never takes any special position and, in several particular instances, is given inferior role and duties due to being an outsider. [[spoiler: By the end of the story, he needs to be saved by the rest of the tribe, in the process also endangering its existence.]]
* ManlyFacialHair: Elgin's escort has one SpearCarrier sergeant with a prominent mustache who gets an impressive showing in the movie despite being unnamed and uncredited. He is scouting ahead with Elgin when the other soldiers started shooting at Two Socks and abusing Dunbar, and joins the lieutenant in making them stop at gunpoint. When the Indians attack the wagon, he's also the only man to really put up a fight, taking an arrow to the chest, but riding forward, firing, before a second arrow strikes him.

* PoorCommunicationKills: Lieutenant Dunbar was deployed to Fort Sedgewick by Major Fambrough, as the Major's last order, since the Major immediately committed suicide once Dunbar was away. The only copy of said order was given to Dunbar to give to the CO of Fort Sedgewick, which turned out to be Dunbar himself, when he found the fort deserted. The only other person who knew about the deployment of Dunbar was Timmons, a local frontiersman who was killed by Pawnee warriors on the way back from dropping off Dunbar's supplies. Further complicating matters, when forces finally came to Fort Sedgewick to relieve it, Dunbar was gone, and the only proof he was even there, his diary, was stolen by a corporal of the relief contingent, so when Dunbar returned, there was no proof of him not deserting, but in fact forging strong ties with the locals.
* RaceLift: The Comanche of the book were replaced with Lakota Sioux due to the scarcity of buffalo in New Mexico and the difficulty of finding people who could speak Comanche. The greater abundance of buffalo in South Dakota, and the larger number of people who could speak the relevant language, made the Lakota Sioux more ideal for the film's purposes. Not that it mattered. The so-called 'Comanche' of the novel were actually generic Plains Indians.

* RunningGag: The Sioux's repeated attempts to steal Cisco, John's horse. [[spoiler: The first time, with Kicking Bird, ends with a buck-naked John chasing him away. The second, a trio of Sioux children try it. The third time brings Wind in His Hair's war party. They all end the same way - when Cisco shucks the Sioux, usually leaving at least one of them injured, and runs back to the fort to be with John.]]

* ToiletPaperSubstitute: Corporal Spivey uses John Dunbar's journal, that could save John's life, as toilet paper.

* WarIsHell: Unfortunately, John learns too late that it really doesn't make that much of a difference if it's Union vs. Confederates or Sioux vs. Pawnee. It's always messy, brutal, senseless waste of human life. However, he also notes that while the "modern" war seemed utterly pointless, the battles on the plains have a more immediate and understandable reason, such as getting food or defending your friends and family against an attack.

** Ten Bears produces a conquistador helmet to explain that Spaniards once invaded them, but were all killed by the native counterattack. While it's possible that the tribe's oral memories have become embellished over generations in-universe until picturing an entire invasion, it's still needed to mention that the Spanish expansion didn't reach so far north, with the 1540-1542 expedition of Francisco Vázquez de Coronado being the only entry in the territory where the film takes place.

* AwesomeMcCoolname: Dances With Wolves, Stands With a Fist, Ten Bears, Wind in His Hair.

The film also stars Mary [=McDonnell=] as Stands with a Fist, Graham Greene as Kicking Bird, Floyd ''Kanghi Duta''[[note]]Dakota for "Red Crow"[[/note]] Westerman as Ten Bears, and Rodney A. Grant as Wind in His Hair.

[[quoteright:323:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dances-with-wolves_2107.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:323:...Tatanka...[[note]]"Bison" in Lakota.[[/note]]]]

* MenOfSherwood: The men and boys of the Native American tribe prove to be a brave and well-coordinated fighting force and only lose one person in the two battles they engage in.

** The parents of Stands With A Fist, all things considered. [[spoiler: From what little is shown, they've decided it a wise choice to antagonize a group of Pawnees and treat them like dirt, despite the tense situation, while essentially squatting on the tribe's land. It escalates into TooDumbToLive when they face the natives unarmed, trying to shoo them away like dogs and then turn their backs on the Pawnees]].
** [[spoiler: No tears were shed over Spivey (Who gets strangled and drowned by Dunbar) and Sergeant Bauer (Who gets a Tomahawk to the heart from Smiles a Lot), considering they abused Dunbar as a captive and killed Two-Socks during the transport. Not to mention Spivey lied and stole Dunbar's journal and uses it as toilet paper.]]
* AwesomeMcCoolname: Dances With Wolves, Stands With A Fist, Ten Bears, Wind in His Hair.

* BaitAndSwitch: John makes a huge bonfire to burn the rotted deer corpses he finds. The next scene shows a Pawnee warrior saying, "Only a white man would make a fire for everyone to see!" as they prepare to attack. But it turns out they were watching [[spoiler:Timmons, who had built a campfire]]. His end is suitably horrifying.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Dances With Wolves is saved by the Sioux, but Cisco and Two Socks are dead, and he feels that he has to go off Stands With A Fist to live on their own away from the tribe. If that weren't enough, the Sioux have already gone when the military's Pawnee scouts find their winter camp, but we are then told that 13 years later, the last of the free Sioux were forced to surrender to the United States Government.]]

* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Major Fambrough, whom John Dunbar gets reassigned to, addresses those around him in medieval terms and soils himself in front of John while declaring that no one can do anything about it [[spoiler: and then shoots himself in the head as John is leaving]].

* DressHitsFloor[=/=]ToplessnessFromTheBack: Mary [=McDonnell=] shows off a damn good combo trope.
* DrivenToSuicide: John in the beginning, after learning he's going to have his foot amputated. The Confederates manage to miss him even though he charges right past them. May appear to be TruthInTelevision on account of older weapons, but muskets issued at the time were rifled, not the inaccurate smoothbore weapons of previous decades. Even then, smoothbore muskets would be accurate at those ranges.

* HateSink: The film doesn't really have a true villain, but you can definitely hate the squad of Union soldiers that captures John Dunbar (especially Corporal Spivey). With the exception of [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Lt. Elgin]] and the mustached sergeant, they're a bunch of sadistic [[JerkAss Jerk Asses]] who [[spoiler: kill Cisco right underneath John, and later kill Two Socks just for fun]]. To a lesser extent, the Pawnee, who are also mostly depicted as [[KickTheDog dog-kicking machines]] as they kill innocents and shoot dogs with arrows.
** Oh, but the special place in Hell should be reserved for Corporal Spivey. If it wasn't for him, Dunbar would have his journal, and therefore a record of all of his activities. Without it, there's no proof that Dunbar was at Fort Sedgewick, let alone what he did to make peaceful contact with the local Sioux. And why does Spivey steal the journal in the first place? No reason. Especially since '''he can't even read'''. And if it wasn't enough already, he had the ''NERVE'' to try to steal from the imprisoned Dunbar for the second time, thinking he's sleeping. Worst of it all, Spivey has no reason to keep the journal hidden once its importance is explained nor it wouldn't be hard for him to find an excuse why he kept if for himself. He never returns it, not even considering doing so, despite knowing Dunbar is going to be hanged without the notebook supporting his story.

* IndianMaiden: Played with. Stands With A Fist is a white woman who was taken by the Pawnee as a small child and has lived with the Indians (first the Pawnee, then the Lakota) most of her life.

* InsatiableNewlyweds: Implied with John/Dances With Wolves and Stands With A Fist. Kicking Bird teases him about not having seen him much since their wedding--"we call you the busy bee". John sheepishly admits that aside from being an example of this trope, that they are trying for a baby.
* {{Jerkass}}: The soldiers at Fort Hayes especially Corporal Spivey who lies about finding John's/Dances With Wolves' journal, and then later [[CrossesTheLineTwice uses it to help out at the latrine]] however, Lt Elgin is the exception.

* KickTheDog: The Pawnee shoot dogs with arrows, and the soldiers that eventually occupy the fort never miss an opportunity to kick any dog they find. [[spoiler:Their opening act is to kill Dunbar's beloved horse, leaving the body to be picked by crows. Eventually, they kill Two Socks in front of John just for the fun of it.]]
** And it's completely ignored that the [[MagicalNativeAmerican magical]] Sioux ate dogs in religious festivals.

* MagicalNativeAmerican: Averted with Kicking Bird, the tribe's medicine man, who goes off in a sulk if something happens that he doesn't see coming, [[EveryoneCanSeeIt like Dances With Wolves hooking up with Stands With A Fist]].
* MightyWhitey: Subverted with a vengeance. Rather than being superior to the Sioux, John works for the entire span of the story to get acknowledged by them as part of the tribe, struggling with their culture and language while adapting. He never takes any special position and, in several particular instances, is given inferior role and duties due to being an outsider. [[spoiler: By the end of the story, he needs to be saved by the rest of the tribe, in the process also endangering its existence]].

* MirrorCharacter: It is chilling when you realize that Lieutenant Elgin (young, dashing, heroic, dutiful, compassionate) is almost a carbon copy of Lieutenant John Dunbar not so long ago. (He is the first killed in the Sioux ambush/rescue)

* OneManArmy: Subverted. After the ''third'' attempt by the Sioux to steal his horse, John determines to ride out to the Sioux encampment in full colors to make a spirited resistance. [[spoiler:Instead he runs into Stands With A Fist, wounded and bleeding, and carries her back to the Sioux encampment, not as a soldier but as a ''rescuer.'']] This does ''not'' go unnoticed by Kicking Bird, who makes sure John is allowed to leave unmolested.

* OscarBait: And it worked, bringing home seven awards including Best Picture.
** Subverted during production where the media and most of Hollywood thought the film would crash and burn, dubbing it 'Kevin's Gate' in reference to ''Film/HeavensGate''
* PoorCommunicationKills: Lieutenant Dunbar was deployed to Fort Sedgewick by Major Fambrough, as the Major's last order, since the Major immediately committed suicide once Dunbar was away. The only copy of said order was given to Dunbar to give to the CO of Fort Sedgewick, which turned out to be Dunbar himself, when he found the fort deserted. The only other person who knew about the deployment of Dunbar was Timmons, a local frontiersman who was killed by Pawnee warriors on the way back from dropping off Dunbar's supplies.
** Further complicating matters is that, when forces finally came to Fort Sedgewick to relieve it, Dunbar was gone, and the only proof he was even there, his diary, was stolen by a corporal of the relief contingent, so when Dunbar returned, there was no proof of him not deserting, but in fact forging strong ties with the locals.

* RaisedByNatives: Stands With A Fist.

* [[SuicideByCop Suicide By Enemy Army]]: John enlists the aid of the enemy army to help him deal with his life situation. They succeed, but not in the way he imagined they would.

* ThatManIsDead: (In Lakota language) ''"My name is Dances With Wolves, and I have nothing to say to you."''