Dances With Wolves (novel)

Last updated

Dances With Wolves
Dances with Wolves (novel).jpg
AuthorMichael Blake
LanguageEnglish
GenreHistorical fiction
Publication date
1988
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint
Pages304

Dances With Wolves is a 1988 American Civil War novel by Michael Blake. Originally written as an unsold spec script, it was converted into a novel at the behest of Kevin Costner; [1] it was adapted into a film of the same name, directed by Costner, in 1990. [2] Set during the Civil War, the protagonist, Lieutenant John Dunbar, is sent to establish an outpost in the unsettled West but finds himself stranded when his wagoner is killed. Isolated and increasingly haunted by his memories of war, Dunbar abandons his post and settles with a tribe of Comanche people he has befriended, soon taking the name Dances With Wolves. The novel and the film later came under criticism for similarity to Elliot Silverstein's A Man Called Horse . [3]

On September 4, 2001, Michael Blake published The Holy Road, a sequel to Dances With Wolves; the story is set eleven years later, and deals with the increasing conflict between the Plains Indians and the white man, with tragic outcomes. [4] [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Comanche</span> Plains Native North American tribe

The Comanche or Nʉmʉnʉʉ is a Native American tribe from the Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the federally recognized Comanche Nation, headquartered in Lawton, Oklahoma.

<i>The Searchers</i> 1956 film by John Ford

The Searchers is a 1956 American epic Western film directed by John Ford and written by Frank S. Nugent, based on the 1954 novel by Alan Le May. It is set during the Texas–Indian wars, and stars John Wayne as a middle-aged Civil War veteran who spends years looking for his abducted niece, accompanied by his adopted nephew. It was shot in VistaVision on Eastmancolor negative with processing and prints by Technicolor.

<i>Dances With Wolves</i> 1990 film by Kevin Costner

Dances With Wolves is a 1990 American epic Western film starring, directed, and produced by Kevin Costner in his feature directorial debut. It is a film adaptation of the 1988 novel Dances With Wolves, by Michael Blake, that tells the story of Union Army Lieutenant John J. Dunbar (Costner), who travels to the American frontier to find a military post, and who meets a group of Lakota.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kevin Costner</span> American actor and filmmaker (born 1955)

Kevin Michael Costner is an American actor and filmmaker. He has received various accolades, including two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kiowa</span> Nation of American Indians of the Great Plains

Kiowa or CáuigúIPA:[kɔ́j-gʷú]) people are a Native American tribe and an Indigenous people of the Great Plains of the United States. They migrated southward from western Montana into the Rocky Mountains in Colorado in the 17th and 18th centuries, and eventually into the Southern Plains by the early 19th century. In 1867, the Kiowa were moved to a reservation in southwestern Oklahoma.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cynthia Ann Parker</span> American kidnapped by Comanche Indians (1827–1871)

Cynthia Ann Parker, Naduah, Narua, or Preloch, was a woman who was captured, aged around nine, by a Comanche band during the Fort Parker massacre in 1836, where several of her relatives were killed. She was taken with several of her family members, including her younger brother John Richard Parker. Parker was later adopted into the tribe and had three children with a chief. Twenty-four years later she was relocated and taken captive by Texas Rangers, aged approximately 33, and unwillingly forced to separate from her sons and conform to European-American society. Her Comanche name means "was found" or "someone found" in English.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peta Nocona</span> Comanche chief (c. 1820–1864)

Peta Nocona, also known as Puhtocnocony, or Tah-con-ne-ah-pe-ah, the son of Puhihwikwasu'u, or Iron Jacket, was a chief of the Comanche Quahadi band. He married Cynthia Ann Parker, who had been taken as a captive during the Fort Parker massacre in 1836 and was adopted into the tribe by Tabby-nocca's family. Among their three children was Quanah Parker, the last war chief of the Comanche.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Blake (author)</span> American writer

Michael Lennox Blake was an American author, best known for the film adaptation of his novel Dances with Wolves, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Fred Grove was a Native American author and winner of five prestigious "Spur Awards" from Western Writers of America for his western novels. He was born in Hominy, Oklahoma.

<i>Dances with Wolves</i> (soundtrack) 1990 soundtrack album by John Barry

Dances with Wolves is the original soundtrack of the 1990 Academy Award and Golden Globe winning film Dances with Wolves produced, directed, and starring Kevin Costner. The original score and songs were composed and conducted by John Barry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Pease River</span> Raid against Comanche Indians by Texas Rangers and militia

The Battle of Pease River, also known as the Pease River Massacre or the Pease River fight, occurred on December 19, 1860, near present-day Margaret, Texas in Foard County, Texas, United States. The town is located between Crowell and Vernon within sight of the Medicine Mounds just outside present-day Quanah, Texas.

<i>Custers Last Stand</i> (serial) 1936 American film

Custer's Last Stand is a 1936 American film serial based on the historical Custer's Last Stand at the Little Bighorn River. It was directed by Elmer Clifton, and starred Rex Lease, William Farnum and Jack Mulhall. It was produced by the Poverty Row studio Stage & Screen Productions, which went bust shortly afterwards as a victim of the Great Depression. This serial stars many famous and popular B-Western actors as well as silent serial star Helen Gibson playing Calamity Jane, Frank McGlynn Jr. as General Custer, and Allen Greer as Wild Bill Hickok.

The Texas–Indian wars were a series of conflicts between settlers in Texas and the Southern Plains Indians during the 19th-century. Conflict between the Plains Indians and the Spanish began before other European and Anglo-American settlers were encouraged—first by Spain and then by the newly Independent Mexican government—to colonize Texas in order to provide a protective-settlement buffer in Texas between the Plains Indians and the rest of Mexico. As a consequence, conflict between Anglo-American settlers and Plains Indians occurred during the Texas colonial period as part of Mexico. The conflicts continued after Texas secured its independence from Mexico in 1836 and did not end until 30 years after Texas became a state of the United States, when in 1875 the last free band of Plains Indians, the Comanches led by Quahadi warrior Quanah Parker, surrendered and moved to the Fort Sill reservation in Oklahoma.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Petalesharo</span> 19th century Pawnee leader

Petalesharo was a Skidi Pawnee chief or brave who rescued an "Ietan" girl, that is Comanche girl, from a ritual human sacrifice around 1817 and earned publicity for his act in national newspapers. In 1821, he was one of numerous Great Plains tribal chiefs to go to Washington, D.C. as part of the O'Fallon Delegation where they met President James Monroe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Spears</span> American actor (born 1977)

Michael Spears is an Indigenous American actor. He is a member of the Kul Wičaša Lakota from the Lower Brulé Sioux Tribe of South Dakota.

Jim Wilson is a film producer. He won the Academy Award for Best Picture for Dances with Wolves (1990).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kevin Costner filmography</span>

American actor, director, and producer Kevin Costner started his acting career in 1981 by starring in the romantic comedy independent film Sizzle Beach, U.S.A. He went on to appear in the films Testament (1983), and Shadows Run Black (1984) before co-starring in the 1985 ensemble western film Silverado alongside Kevin Kline, Scott Glenn, and Danny Glover. The same year, he starred in the comedy film Fandango with Judd Nelson, as well as American Flyers with David Marshall Grant. In 1987, Costner starred as Eliot Ness in the crime film The Untouchables with Robert De Niro and Sean Connery. The following year, he starred as Crash Davis in the romantic comedy sports film Bull Durham with Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins. The film is on AFI's 10 Top 10 for Greatest Sports Movies. Costner then starred in the sports fantasy drama film Field of Dreams with James Earl Jones. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, and was nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Original Score and Best Adapted Screenplay. In 2017, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". It is also on AFI's 10 Top 10 for Greatest Fantasy Movies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Dunbar (missionary)</span>

John Dunbar (1804–1857) was a missionary who tried to Christianize the Pawnee Indians of Nebraska during the 1830s–1840s.

References

  1. "Dances With Wolves". South Dakota Midwest Movies. Archived from the original on February 15, 2006. Retrieved August 1, 2018.
  2. Andreychuk, Ed (1997). The Golden Corral: A Roundup of Magnificent Western Films. McFarland. p. 154. ISBN   9780786403936.
  3. Herzberg, Bob (2008). Savages and Saints: The Changing Image of American Indians in Westerns. McFarland. p. 279. ISBN   9780786451821.
  4. "THE HOLY ROAD". Publishers Weekly. July 16, 2001. Retrieved November 8, 2022. Eleven years after winning an Academy Award for the film screenplay of his novel Dances With Wolves, Blake offers this dramatic sequel to his tale of army Lt. John Dunbar and his life with the Comanche Indians on the Great Plains. It is now 1874, 11 years after Dunbar deserted from the army to live among the Comanche. He has married Stands With A Fist, the captive white woman raised by Indians, and they have three children. [...]
  5. "The Holy Road. A Novel". book-info.com. 2022. Retrieved November 8, 2022. Eleven years have passed since Lieutenant John Dunbar became the Comanche warrior Dances With Wolves and married Stands With A Fist, a white-born woman raised as a Comanche from early childhood. [...]