Dances with Wolves with a Native American recipe (2024)

Dances with Wolves with a Native American recipe (1)

Starring Kevin Costner, Mary McDonnell & Graham Greene

Rating 10/10

Film

It’s 1863; the American Civil War is raging. Injured First Lieutenant John Dunbar (Costner) escapes the incompetent field surgery, choosing his own fate. He ends up doing something brave and, in return, he is offered any post he likes. He chooses to go West and ends up at the abandoned Fort Sedgwick.

In this lonely land, his only friends are his horse and a slightly wild wolf that visits him every day. Soon he encounters a Sioux tribe and decides to befriend them. He finds a Sioux woman, Stands With A Fist (McDonnell), bleeding and returns her to her tribe. Friendship is soon established with Kicking Bird (Greene). It is revealed that Stands With A Fist is actually a white woman who was rescued after her family was attacked by the Pawnee when she was a kid. Then there’s buffalo, battles, gross stuff, love and snow. The plot rocks so I won’t ruin it for you if you haven’t seen this masterpiece.

Review

Beautiful, historical, watchable, soulful, this film is a true Best Picture winner. It’s not often you get a great story with brilliant storytelling skills, especially from a first-time director. With minimal dialogue, Director, Kevin Costner and the gang use music, images and space in such a simple way to make a breathtakingly beautiful film.

I must admit, monotonal Costner was born to play this part. He’s a much better actor when he’s not talking so this was a perfect role for him. McDonnell gave a convincing performance as the Sioux convert. Her translation of Sioux into English was convincing and that hair! Don’t get me started on the hair.

However, the stars of this masterpiece would have to be the Native American actors in the beautiful Sioux community. None of the performances were awkward or forced. It just seemed real. Grahame Greene, Rodney A. Grant and Nathan Lee Chasing His Horse (and of course many others) portrayed a noble peaceful people, threatened by the influx of white people. In comparison, caucasian people appeared rough and cold hearted, blood thirsty and ignorant.

I cannot rave enough about this film. Though it is long, it is so watchable – I can’t wait to see the four hour version. It’s disturbing but not devastating, soulful but not sappy, minimalistic but not boring. It harks back to the Gone With the Wind films without all that OTT melodrama.

It is simply a masterpiece and if you haven’t seen it yet, I highly recommend that you do – with matching food, of course!

Food

Super-simple and as authentic as can be, Native American Fry Bread is a MUST-EAT snack for this incredible movie. Join John Dunbar as he transitions from his life in the army, in the violent world of the white man, into the beautiful community of his new Native American family. Whip up a batch of Traditional Indian Fry Bread with this recipe from Norine’s Nest.

Dances With Wolves trivia

  • Budget – $22 million (worth every cent I tell ya!)
  • It took only four months to film but they experienced delays due to unpredictable weather in South Dakota
  • The buffalo scene had not CGI. There were very few animatronics. Most were real buffalo, during a real stampede.
  • Costner was thrown off his horse during the stampede and almost broke his back
  • The Sioux language has male/female gendered and the Sioux expert on the set was a woman, which meant that Costner was speaking female Sioux instead of male.
  • Water was brought in to fill up the pond as there was a drought on the Fort Sedgwick location
  • One of the wolves actually bit the trainer in the scene where Two Socks is being told to go home. When Costner is running away from him, he had to throw meat to the animal to keep him from nipping him too.
  • The buffalo in the charging scene was actually running towards a pile of his favourite snack, Oreo Cookies. Go figure!
  • With the film over budget, Costner had to kick in $3 million of his own money. But the film was so successful, he earned $40 million in return. A sound investment indeed.
  • Costner’s six year old daughter plays the young Stands With a Fist
  • McDonnell asked for the love scenes to be tamed down, as she wasn’t comfortable making tha lurve as explicitly as the script suggested.
Dances with Wolves with a Native American recipe (2024)

FAQs

What Native American tribe is in Dances with Wolves? ›

In the novel “Dances with Wolves,” Dunbar lives among the Comanche rather than the Lakota Sioux. Apparently, the Comanche tribe in Oklahoma offered only a small talent pool whereas South Dakota had many Sioux Indians who knew the Lakota language.

What does he eat in Dances with Wolves? ›

After the buffalo hunt, when Lieutenant Dunbar was offered the buffalo liver to eat raw, Costner was, in fact, eating cranberry jello. 4.

What part of the buffalo did Kevin Costner eat in Dances with Wolves? ›

Thirty-two years ago, Costner did similar. In Dances With Wolves, he kills a buffalo, and the Native Americans he's hunting with rip open the beast's belly and pull out its liver, telling him to take a bite. He hesitates and eventually agrees, and everyone celebrates enthusiastically.

How does Lieutenant Dunbar establish communication with the Native American tribe? ›

Believing that he should take the initiative in establishing communication with the tribe, Dunbar dresses himself in his Army uniform and rides out to meet them.

How do Native Americans feel about Dances with Wolves? ›

But not all Native Americans were happy with the film. Native activist Russell Means criticized the incorrect-gendered translation (see #4 below in trivia list). The Pawnee were troubled that they were depicted as vicious killers, when they felt that they were the tribe that had been savaged by the Lakota.

What products does Dunbar grind for the Native Americans? ›

Granted, Dunbar and the Sioux experience several misunderstandings, such as the scene where they are trying to communicate the word "buffalo," or when Dunbar is grinding coffee for his baffled Indian guests.

Was Two Socks a real wolf in Dances with Wolves? ›

Two Socks was performed by two different wolves originally owned by Michael Kane. One was called Buck and the other was called Teddy, and both were kept on set at all times.

What part of the buffalo does Dunbar eat? ›

Liver. The buffalo liver that Dunbar eats after the buffalo hunt is actually made of cranberry Jell-o.

How many buffalo were killed during the filming of Dances with Wolves? ›

The production company went to great effort and expense to stage realistic animal scenes without harming the animals. There is a huge buffalo stampede and hunt, which was partially achieved with the use of fake and mechanical buffalos. The cost of construction of these 23 fake animals was $250,000.00.

What happened to Cisco the horse from Dances with Wolves? ›

“Buck” (Cisco), one of the horses ridden in the movie, lived at 1880 TOWN until he passed away in 2008 at the age of 33. There is a memorial for him at his burial place in the 1880 TOWN.

Was Dances with Wolves historically accurate? ›

Dances With Wolves is not based on a true story but is rooted in historical events, people, and culture. Real Union bases existed at the time, and Chief Ten Bears was a fictionalized version of a real Civil War leader.

What do they call bison in Dances with Wolves? ›

If the tribe's survival revolved around bison they had many names for bison. The movie, “Dances with Wolves,” took the Lakota Sioux name “tatanka” making bison forever cinematically known by this name.

What happened to the soldiers at Fort Sedgwick in Dances with Wolves? ›

Why were the men living in the small caves instead of Fort Sedgwick? The men were in caves because he had provided no (or totally inadequate) leadership after having been abandoned/forgotten by the Army and because they no longer felt safe in the fort, fearing Indian attacks at any time.

What are the criticisms of dances with wolves? ›

The portrayal of white cruelty, such as in the scene with rotting buffalo carcasses littering the prairie, invert the classic narrative, both in the genre of Westerns and in how history is often taught. The film identifies who the real savages were, and Kevin Costner should get a lot of credit for that.

Why did Dances with Wolves leave the tribe? ›

At the winter camp, Dunbar decides to leave with Stands with a Fist because his continuing presence would endanger the tribe.

What tribe was Dunbar adopted into in Dances with Wolves? ›

Union Lieutenant John Dunbar finds himself stranded in the wilderness and comes to live with a tribe of Lakota Sioux people, soon taking the name Dances with Wolves.

Who is the Pawnee in Dances with Wolves? ›

Wes Studi: Toughest Pawnee.

How do you say dance with wolves in Sioux? ›

Dunbar “Sunkmanitu Tanka Ob Waci” translation Dances with Wolves.

What does Sioux mean? ›

Background Info: The name "sioux" is short for Nadowessioux, meaning "little snakes", which was a spiteful nickname given to them by the Ojibwe, their longtime foe. The fur traders abbreviated this name to Sioux and is now commonly used.

References

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