The Big Picture

  • Kevin Costner's 1990 epic Dances with Wolves is one of the greatest Western films and is credited with sparking interest in the genre in the '90s.
  • The protagonist, Lt. John J. Dunbar, is a fictional character, but the events portrayed in the film are plausible and inspired by historical events.
  • Dances with Wolves combines fiction with historical and cultural realities, featuring accurate costuming and the use of Native American languages, making it more authentic than most films about Native Americans from that time.