Starring and directed by Kevin Costner in 1990 with Mary McDonnell, it is rated Rated PG13 (violence, profanity, vulgarity, nudity, sex).
Based on Michael Blake's novel of the same title (Blake also wrote the screenplay), "Dances With Wolves"" is a scintillating Western epic that treats both Native Americans and the frontier itself with great respect. This isn't the first film to do so — "Little Big Man" and "Windwalker" are examples of movies that treated Indians as multidimensional human beings or used native Indian languages with English subtitles. The Western as environmental statement is nothing new, either. However, Costner's movie combines all these elements in a compelling story, creates fascinating characters we care about and gives the film a scope and proportions we see all too infrequently.
Costner stars as Lt. John Dunbar, an inadvertent Civil War hero who can choose his own assignment. He soon finds himself in an outpost in the middle of "Indian territory," where he keeps a journal of his experiences as he rebuilds the fort, encounters a friendly wolf and eventually meets with Sioux tribal leaders. It is the friendly wolf enounter that earns him his Indian name..."Dances With Wolves".
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