Lt. John Dunbar (Costner), about to have his foot amputated in a Union field hospital in Tennessee, runs away in protest and rides in a suicidal dash toward Confederate lines, accidentally leading a charge and becoming a decorated hero. Asked for whatever posting he wants, he asks to be sent to the Dakota territory. The remote Western outpost turns out to be deserted, but he makes a friend of a lonely wolf he names "Two-Socks," and gradually gets to know the local Sioux tribe, who eventually accept and name him "Dances with Wolves." One of the members of the tribe is a white woman, Stands With a Fist (McDonnell) who was taken in and raised by the Sioux after her parents were killed by the Pawnee. She and Dunbar gradually fall in love, and as the white settlers and Army move into the territory, Dunbar has to make some hard choices. This sweeping, sensitive, nuanced 1990 film, which featured a full third of its dialogue in authentic Lakota Indian dialect, was Costner's directorial debut, and won 7 Oscars, including Best Picture (the first Western so honored since "Cimarron" in 1931!), Best Direction, and Best Screenplay.
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