Editing Dances With Wolves (section)

==Reception==
{{as of|2023|12|07}}, the film holds an approval rating of 87% on [[Rotten Tomatoes]], based on 131 reviews, with an average rating of 8/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "''Dances With Wolves'' suffers from a simplistic view of the culture it attempts to honor, but the end result remains a stirring western whose noble intentions are often matched by its epic grandeur."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dances_with_wolves/ |title=''Dances With Wolves'' (1990) |publisher=[[Fandango Media]] |work=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |access-date=2023-12-07 |archive-date=October 6, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241006010537/https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dances_with_wolves |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Metacritic]] gave the film a score of 72 out of 100 based on 20 critical reviews, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.metacritic.com/movie/dances-with-wolves |title=''Dances With Wolves'' Reviews |work=[[Metacritic]] |publisher=[[CBS Interactive]] |access-date=2018-03-01 |archive-date=March 22, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180322111224/http://www.metacritic.com/movie/dances-with-wolves |url-status=live }}</ref> [[CinemaScore]] reported that audiences gave the film a rare "A+" grade.<ref name="CinemaScore">{{cite web |url=https://www.cinemascore.com/ |title=CinemaScore |publisher=[[CinemaScore]] |access-date=2018-03-01}}</ref>

''Dances With Wolves'' was named one of the top ten films of 1990 by over 115 critics and was named the best film of the year by 19 critics.<ref>{{cite web |title=Best Movies of 1990 |url=https://criticstop10.com/best-movies-of-1990/ |website=CriticsTop10 |access-date=August 5, 2020 |archive-date=May 11, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200511234539/https://criticstop10.com/best-movies-of-1990/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

Because of the film's popularity and lasting impact on the image of Native Americans, members of the Lakota Sioux Nation held a ceremony in Washington, D.C., "to honor Kevin [Costner] and Mary [McDonnell] and Jim [Wilson] on behalf of the Indian Lakota nation", explained [[Floyd Westerman]] (who plays Chief Ten Bears in the movie). [[Albert Whitehat]], a Lakota elder who served as a cultural adviser on the film, adopted Costner into his family, and two other families adopted McDonnell and Wilson. Westerman continued, that this is so "They will all become part of one family."<ref>{{cite news | last = Weinraub | first = Judith | title = Costner's Sioux Ceremony | newspaper = [[Washington Post]] | date = October 20, 1990 | url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1990/10/20/costners-sioux-ceremony/97212524-2825-4227-b4cb-b97e6374046c/ | access-date = October 6, 2021 | archive-date = July 3, 2022 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220703092746/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1990/10/20/costners-sioux-ceremony/97212524-2825-4227-b4cb-b97e6374046c/ | url-status = live }}</ref> At the [[63rd Academy Awards]] ceremony in 1991, ''Dances With Wolves'' earned 12 Academy Award nominations and won seven, including Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (Michael Blake), Best Director (Costner), and Best Picture. In 2007, the Library of Congress selected ''Dances With Wolves'' for preservation in the United States [[National Film Registry]].<ref name="registry">{{cite web|date=December 27, 2017|title=2007 list|url=https://www.loc.gov/film/nfr2007.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080131121632/http://www.loc.gov/film/nfr2007.html|archive-date=January 31, 2008|access-date=August 1, 2018|work=[[National Film Registry]]|publisher=[[Library of Congress]]}}</ref>

Some of the criticism of the film centered on the lack of authenticity of the [[Lakota language]] used in the film, as only one of the actors was a native speaker of the language. [[Oglala Lakota]] activist and actor [[Russell Means]] was critical of the film's lack of accuracy. In 2009, he said: "Remember ''[[Lawrence of Arabia (film)|Lawrence of Arabia]]''? That was Lawrence of the Plains. The odd thing about making that movie is that they had a woman teaching the actors the Lakota language, but Lakota has a male-gendered language and a female-gendered language. Some of the Natives and Kevin Costner were speaking in the feminine way. When I went to see it with a bunch of Lakota guys, we were laughing."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.russellmeansfreedom.com/2009/russell-means-interview-with-dan-skye-of-high-times/ |title=Russell Means Interview with Dan Skye of ''High Times'' |publisher=Russell Means Freedom |access-date=2011-03-02 |archive-date=July 15, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110715214524/http://www.russellmeansfreedom.com/2009/russell-means-interview-with-dan-skye-of-high-times/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Michael Smith ([[Sioux]]), the director of San Francisco's long-running annual [[American Indian Film Festival]], said that despite criticisms, "there's a lot of good feeling about the film in the Native community, especially among the tribes. I think it's going to be very hard to top this one."<ref name=WhiteMansIndian146/> However, [[Blackfeet]] filmmaker George Budreau countered: "I want to say, 'how nice',... But, no matter how sensitive and wonderful this movie is, you have to ask who's telling the story. It's certainly not an Indian."<ref name=WhiteMansIndian146>{{cite book|last=Aleiss|first=Angela|title=Making the White Man's Indian: Native Americans and Hollywood Movies|year=2005|publisher=Praeger|location=Westport, Conn./London|isbn=027598396X|page=[https://archive.org/details/makingwhitemansi00alei/page/146 146]|url=https://archive.org/details/makingwhitemansi00alei/page/146}}</ref>

Though promoted as a breakthrough in its use of an indigenous language, earlier English-language films, such as ''[[Eskimo (1933 film)|Eskimo]]'' (1933), ''[[Wagon Master]]'' (1950), and ''[[The White Dawn]]'' (1974) also have native dialogue.<ref>{{cite book|last=Aleiss|first=Angela|title=Making the White Man's Indian : Native Americans and Hollywood Movies|year=2005|publisher=Praeger|location=Westport, Conn./London|isbn=027598396X|page=[https://archive.org/details/makingwhitemansi00alei/page/165 165]|url=https://archive.org/details/makingwhitemansi00alei/page/165}}</ref>

[[David Sirota]] of [[Salon (website)|Salon]] referred to ''Dances With Wolves'' as a [[White savior narrative in film|"white savior" film]], as Dunbar "fully embeds himself in the Sioux tribe and quickly becomes its primary protector". He argued that its use of the "[[noble savage]]" character type "preemptively blunts criticism of the underlying White Savior story".<ref>{{cite web | last = Sirota | first = David | author-link = David Sirota | date = February 21, 2013 | url = http://www.salon.com/2013/02/21/oscar_loves_a_white_savior/ | title = Oscar loves a white savior | website = [[Salon (website)|Salon]] | access-date = July 11, 2013 | archive-date = April 10, 2014 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140410110258/http://www.salon.com/2013/02/21/oscar_loves_a_white_savior/ | url-status = live }}</ref>

===Accolades===
{{main|List of accolades received by Dances With Wolves}}
In addition to becoming the first Western film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture since 1931's [[Cimarron (1931 film)|''Cimarron'']],<ref name="1001Movies">{{cite book| title=[[1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die]] |author=Angela Errigo |editor=Steven Jay Schneider |year=2008 |isbn= 978-0-7641-6151-3 |volume=5 |page=786 |location=London |publisher=Quintessence}}</ref> ''Dances With Wolves'' swept the Motion Picture [[Academy Awards]] that year, with a record, for the genre, of seven Oscars (including [[Academy Award for Best Picture|Best Picture]]), by far the most of any Western film in history.<ref name="ten_great_collider">Urquhart, Jeremy: [https://collider.com/westerns-that-won-oscars/ "10 Great Westerns That Ruled the Oscars,"] February 11, 2024, ''[[Collider (website)|Collider]],'' retrieved December 14, 2024</ref> It also won a number of additional awards, making it one of the most honored films of 1990.<ref name="Oscars1991">{{cite web |url=http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1991 |title=The 63rd Academy Awards (1991) Nominees and Winners |access-date=2011-10-20 |work=oscars.org |archive-date=April 2, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402004341/http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1991 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Home media===
The film was released on home video in the United States in September 1991 by [[Orion Home Video]] and beat the rental record set by ''[[Ghost (1990 film)|Ghost]]'', at 649,000 units.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|page=22|date=January 6, 1992|title=Rentals Reap Bulk of 1991 Vid Harvest|last=Berman|first=Marc}}</ref> The extended Special Edition was released on [[DVD]] on May 20, 2003, in a two-disc set.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Dances With Wolves: Special Edition|author=ManaByte|url=https://www.ign.com/articles/2003/05/22/dances-with-wolves-special-edition|date=May 23, 2003|access-date=2023-01-06|website=[[IGN]]|language=en|archive-date=January 6, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230106105123/https://www.ign.com/articles/2003/05/22/dances-with-wolves-special-edition|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Dances With Wolves DVD (Special Edition)|url=https://www.blu-ray.com/dvd/Dances-with-Wolves-DVD/25315/|access-date=2023-01-06|website=Blu-ray.com|language=en|archive-date=January 6, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230106105123/https://www.blu-ray.com/dvd/Dances-with-Wolves-DVD/25315/|url-status=live}}</ref> ''Dances With Wolves'' was then released on [[Blu-ray]] and DVD on January 11, 2011, and was re-released on Blu-ray on January 13, 2015, and again on November 13, 2018.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Dances With Wolves DVD Release Date|url=https://www.dvdsreleasedates.com/movies/604/Dances-with-Wolves-(1990).html|access-date=2021-02-25|website=DVDs Release Dates|language=en|archive-date=January 26, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126193556/https://www.dvdsreleasedates.com/movies/604/Dances-with-Wolves-(1990).html|url-status=live}}</ref>