If you were visiting the cinema between 1987 and 1994, you had the opportunity to witness the 7 solid years of Kevin Costner’s acting career. Starting with The Untouchables and continuing to Bull Durham, Field of Dreams, Dances with Wolves, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, JFK, The Bodyguard, and finally ending with Wyatt Earp, Kevin Costner made a name for himself as a solid respectable actor with a penchant for playing the loner that made women swoon and men cry (assuming it’s Field of Dreams). These films represent the pinnacle of his career and are the successes he tried to repeat over and over again in the 17 years that followed his golden streak’s end. Though he has since made another great western in recent memory (Open Range), Dances with Wolves and Wyatt Earp are the two westerns for which he’ll be remembered.
Of those two, Dances with Wolves seems to hold the highest regard. Should it though?
This 4-hour epic director’s cut (a full hour longer than the theatrical version…suck on that, paltry 8 minutes of added Avatar footage) takes its time in laying out its characters and story across the sweeping plains of the gradually shrinking wild west. After showing near foolhardy bravery in a battle of the Civil War, First Lieutenant Dunbar (Costner) gets to select the post assignment of his choice. He arrives at his post in the middle of vast fields, only to find it deserted by the soldiers who left it only days before out of frustration. Before long he encounters the neighboring Sioux tribe and is endeared to them when he guides Stands with a Fist (Mary McDonnell), a Caucasian woman adopted by the tribe’s medicine man (Graham Greene), back to the tribe’s encampment. Dunbar spends increasing amounts of time with the tribe and eventually falls in love with Stands with a Fist, and essentially goes native. Upon returning to his military camp months later, he finds the military has returned and he’s captured and accused of treason.
For such a simple story, Dances with Wolves takes its sweet time fleshing it out. A large part of this has to do with Costner’s direction, which seems equally intent on telling the story as it does on soaking in the countryside and attempting to make it a character equal in importance to Dunbar or Stands with a Fist. He never succeeds completely in this goal, but he does capture some beautiful scenery. Of the seven Academy Awards Dances with Wolves won, it’s no surprise that one of them was for cinematography, as that might be the film’s biggest accomplishment, because God knows it isn’t the performances. Costner’s recurring journal entry voiceovers come across as a crutch to support the incredible weight of 4 (or 3) hours of storytelling. Granted it’s a story about a man living alone at a military base, so short of talking to his horse or his wolf pal “Two Socks” a little bit of expository voiceover is necessary to break up what would otherwise have been an hour of Costner riding about the Great Plains.
The film’s transfer to Blu-ray makes you appreciate the cinematography. The picture is beautiful, whereas in contrast the soundscape is never quite as rich. The soundtrack certainly is beautiful, but when it comes to the rumbling thunder or winds blowing across the grains, it all seems so muted. The film is definitely a visual feast, but it leaves the ears feeling neglected by comparison.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
Comically, the bulk of the extras on the first disc consist of 55 additional minutes of deleted footage. Even if it took Costner 5 years to put his images to celluloid, to think that this could actually be a 5-hour film is mind boggling. There are two audio commentaries: the first features Costner and producer Jim Wilson, whole the second features Director of Photography Dean Semler and Film Editor Neil Travis (I’d recommend the second commentary before I would the first). The two Blu-ray exclusive featurettes cover the social hierarchies of the military as it was understood in the Civil War era and a comparative look at the true reality of the time and how it’s portrayed in the film. The two featurettes are entertaining, substantial, and informative, a nice change of pace from typical extras.
It’s always a plus in the favor of a Blu-ray release when the studio takes the extra time to produce new featurettes specifically for the newest iteration.
Finally, the second disc contains all of the non-feature-based extras (non-commentaries) that were included in previous releases of the film including “A Day in the Life on the Western Frontier”, the original making-of featurette, the retrospective documentary on the film’s five-year production period, a theatrical trailer, and a photo montage.
"Dances with Wolves (20th Anniversary Extended Cut)" is on sale November 30, -0001 and is rated .
