Review of Dances with Wolves (1990) by Zack S — 17 Dec 2009

This film gets viewed through a very unfair lens, and I think a lot of complaints about it have little to do with the film itself. For one, 'Dances' had the misfortune of beating 'Goodfellas' for Best Picture in 1990 -- admittedly an Oscar blunder, but certainly not the greatest.

And secondly, after this film, Kevin Costner's career went into a downward spiral and he is only beginning to find footing again now. Apparently someone thought an eye-candy, meat and potatoes, deadpan delivering American actor could play Robin Hood (admittedly a guilty pleasure of mine), and then he did 2 bad sci-fi films (admittedly guilty pleasures of mine) back to back.

Thus the sad story of Kevin Costner's post-Oscar career.If Kevin Costner has a knack for something in this business, it's for directing westerns. In both this film, and in 'Open Range' (which he directed 13 years later), Costner has shown that he can master the tone, pacing, beautiful landscape, language and the attention to detail in a way that reminds us of John Ford and Sergio Leone.

'Dances' is a rich in detail with a strong emotional core, and is a true American epic -- just think, that buffalo hunt scene was done before the days of CGI.Maybe if Costner had spent the last 17 years directing one or two more westerns and appearing in a few more sentimental baseball movies, his career would be in better shape, and people would view this film in a much different light.