Twenty-Eight Things You Didn’t Know About Dances With Wolves

It was on this date twenty-eight years ago, March 25^th, 1991, that Dances with Wolves won the Oscar for Best Picture at the 63^rd Academy Award ceremonies, becoming only the second western film to earn that honor - the first being Cimarron (1931), directed by Wesley Ruggles. To honor the occasion, here are twenty-eight things that you didn’t know about Dances with Wolves:

• Author, Michael Blake, wrote Dances with Wolves as a novel after Kevin Costner convinced him to do so. Blake originally tried to sell the idea as a screenplay, but Costner believed that it would generate more studio interest as a novel.
• Three other prominent directors were offered the project, but each one turned it down. Finally, Costner decided to direct the film himself in his directorial debut.
• The scene involving the buffalo hunt utilized an amazing 3,500 buffalo and took two weeks to shoot. Only one take could be made each day for the scene because the buffalo would run up to ten miles and had to be rounded up for each take.
• Two-Socks, the wolf in the film, was actually played by two different wolves – Buck and Teddy.
• Costner’s six-year-old daughter, Annie, appeared in the film, playing Stands-With-a-Fist as a child.
• The novel upon which the film was based was rejected by over thirty different publishers before it was picked-up by Fawcett Books.
• Dances with Wolves was nominated for twelve Academy Awards, winning seven including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Sound, and Best Original Score. 

Kevin Costner and Michael Blake - Photo credit Ron Galella WireImage

• Although Dances with Wolves has earned over 424 million dollars and is the top-grossing western in movie history, it never topped the box office charts while in theaters.
• In 2007, the film was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry.
• The buffalo liver that Wind-in-His-Hair offers to Dunbar after the buffalo hunt is actually made of cranberry Jell-O.
• One of the doctors who is preparing to amputate Dunbar’s (Costner’s) leg in the opening scene is actually played by Costner. His face is never seen and his voice is dubbed over.
• Blake based the character of Stands-with-a-Fist on Cynthia Ann Parker, who was kidnapped and adopted by the Comanche at age ten in 1836. Her story was the basis of another Western classic, The Searchers (1956). 
• To add authenticity to the film, a Lakota language tutor was brought in to teach the cast how to speak the Lakota Sioux language. The gendered aspect of the Lakota language made the male language much harder to learn than the female language, so all of the Sioux in the film are speaking the female gendered Lakota, even the men.
• Because of the films sympathetic depiction of the Indians, the Sioux Nation made Kevin Costner an honorary member.
• The buffalo hunt scene made use of a specially built animatronic buffalo that cost a quarter of a million dollars.
• During the buffalo hunt scene, a buffalo charges a young brave named Smiles-a-Lot who had fallen off of his horse. The charging animal is really Cody, a domesticated buffalo. In order to get Cody to charge toward the camera, his handler enticed him with his favorite treat – Oreo cookies.
• Another domesticated buffalo was used for close-up shots. His name was Mammoth, and he belonged to singer Neil Young.
• The film had an initial budget of fifteen million dollars. It ran over budget, so Costner put in three million dollars of his own money. This investment earned Costner an estimated forty million.
• Graham Green played Kicking-Bird, a Sioux holy man. In order to best portray an older man with poor posture, Green put a slice of bologna in each of his moccasins, believing that the slimy sensation would help him to project the proper bearing.
• There is a sequel to the book. It is titled The Holy Road. It is in development for a movie and is rumored to have Viggo Mortensen playing the part of John Dunbar. Viggo was originally considered for the part of John Dunbar in Dances with Wolves.
• Tom Berenger was also considered for the part of John Dunbar.
• The first cut of the film ended up being five and a half hours long.
• The producers had a “garage sale” where props and costumes were sold off in order to raise money for the two-month long post-production.
• John Dunbar’s jacket has yellow epaulets signifying the cavalry. He gives his jacket to Wind-in-his-Hair. Later in the movie, after the battle with the Pawnee, the epaulets have changed to blue, signifying the infantry.
• The Lakota language tutor who taught the cast the Lakota language was named Doris Leader Charge. She was given a speaking role in the film as Chief Ten Bears’ wife, Pretty Shield.
• Dunbar reports to Fort Hays (which is misspelled “Hayes”) sometime in 1863-64. However, Fort Hays did not exist until 1865 and was not named “Fort Hays” until 1866.
• The films beautiful symphonic score (especially the John Dunbar Theme), composed by John Barry, was a personal favorite of Pope John Paul II. Barry won his fifth Oscar and his fourth Grammy for Dances with Wolves.

• For a while, Michael Blake, the author of Dances with Wolves, slept on Kevin Costner’s couch while working on his manuscript. He later moved to Arizona to continue his writing and supported himself by washing dishes in a Chinese restaurant for $3.35 an hour.

DON'T KILL THE DOG! by Meg Mims

What's with western movies where the dog ends up a victim? At an early age, I cried buckets when a Civil War family rescued Old Yeller (in the movie by the same name) but had to put him down after the dog fought a rabid wolf and contracted the disease. AUUUGH! At least Old Yeller is a hero, having saved the family. Yes, it's part of the "rite of passage" for the young kid - learning to face life and death. But... it still stinks like old dog breath.

By the way, Spike - the dog who played Old Yeller in the movie - was purchased as a pup from the Van Nuys Animal Shelter in California by trainers Frank and Ruddy Weatherwax of Lassie fame. And he starred in other movies as well. Good old Spike! Good dog.

I didn't even like when Jack the brindle in the Laura Ingalls Wilder Little House books died - but that was a natural death from old age. When it comes to violence toward animals, though - we've seen the "no horses were harmed in the making of the film" - but what about the dogs? Isn't it bad enough that westerns have so many gunfights? Native Americans and Chinese are mistreated, women are ordered around, expected to rustle up the grub, are slapped, spanked, beaten up, you name it.

Yes, I suppose that reflects what Hollywood believes "the way things were" back then - but why kill the DOG? I mean, LOOK AT THOSE PRECIOUS FACES!!

So in that vein, as a treat (pun intended), here are a few western films where the dogs are victims - some heroic, others tragic. I have never seen a good reason for the plot to include pooch target practice. I rescue dogs and cats in my books and they always have a Happily Ever After. No apologies, either. In the way the Duke might say, "You can call me a PETA lover, you can call me a big baby, you can call me a wimp - but you don't EVER call me a dog killer!"

BIG JAKE - Jacob McCandle's heroic friend (and secret weapon) Dog, who is a hero throughout the movie for keeping the bad guys at bay, is shot and then killed (with a machete!! AUUGH) in the final gunfight. I didn't cry, but I kept yelling, "Don't kill Dog! Don't you kill Dog!" Man, that villain didn't listen. I'm glad he got it in the end. He deserves to rot in hell. By the way, two collies named Silver and Laddie (Lassie, Jr.) played Dog (trained by Bob and Ruddy Weatherwax, in fact) and their coats were darkened by an aerosol product. And Laddie won a 1971 PATSY award for his performance. So there. Good dog!

DANCES WITH WOLVES - While "Two Socks" is actually a wolf, Dunbar played by Kevin Costner has a strong bond with him like man/dog. I loathed the way soldiers kill poor Two Socks. Tragic and senseless! Yes, I suppose it furthered the story, but it was like killing Harry Potter's owl. NO! I was so mad. Good thing it came at the end of the movie, or I would have hated Kevin Costner and his movie - Oscar winner or not.

OPEN RANGE - I have this DVD. I have not watched it, mostly because Boss and Charlie's dog Tig is shot and killed by the villain (okay, yes, so is Mose the cook, and the poor boy is nearly dead) when their campsite is raided. Do I want to subject myself to seeing this senseless act? NO! Look at that ADORABLE dog! Waaaah! One day I'll have to watch it. But I'll be gritting my teeth.

HONDO - Hondo's dog Sam dies after being speared. Another one I've never watched, because WHY? Why does the DOG have to die?? I just don't get it.

Pal, the dog that played Sam, was the son of Lassie. In the movie, he is supposed to be vicious and ill-tempered, but the temperatures during filming were so hot, Pal simply panted instead of snarling when on camera. In order to overcome this, the dog was kept in a special air-conditioned crate while on set and was only brought out for his shots. Good dog! Fight against being a bad dog, and what a shame you had to be sacrificed. Boo hisss!

PALE RIDER - I have seen this one. I was so mad when Megan's dog got shot. That poor thing was used as a device to get her to pray for a miracle - and then Preacher (Clint Eastwood) shows up. Nothing else can be found about this poor dog. Perhaps Clint didn't want to share the limelight? Double boo hiss.

THE ARTIST - Since the story about the transition from silent films to "talkies" takes place in Hollywood, I'm considering it a "western." And the sweet Jack Russell terrier is also a hero, saving the life of George Valentin from a disastrous fire. Also, the dog LIVES!! Hooray! So there, Hollywood. It can be done.

Uggie had been rescued from being sent to a shelter by Omar Von Muller, an animal trainer, and found fame in Water For Elephants before The Artist. Uggie did not qualify for an Oscar, however, since a precedent was set in 1929 when Rin Tin Tin actually received more votes for Best Actor - but the Oscar went to Emil Jannings that year. Hmph. Uggie recently crossed the Rainbow Bridge (this month) at 13 years old. Such a great dog!

Kudos to all the dogs in these films! They all deserve a "Pawscar" for their efforts. Good dogs! Give 'em a box of treats each.

Mystery author Meg Mims earned a Spur Award from WWA and also a Laramie award for her western historical mystery series, Double Crossing (still 99c!) and Double or Nothing. Meg -- also one-half of the writing team of D.E. Ireland for Agatha-Award nominated mystery series featuring Eliza Doolittle & Henry Higgins for Minotaur books -- lives in Southeastern Michigan with her husband and a sweet Malti-poo. She loves reading and writing novels, novellas and short stories, both contemporary and historical.

AND THE OSCAR GOES TO... -- Meg Mims

Last weekend, the Oscars were awarded to films, directors, actors, writers, musicians, etc., nominated earlier this year. Fashion is huge, but so are the winners and losers. And let's face it -- it's an annual ritual that many love.

Usually, when that envelope is opened, the film or actor has not starred in a "genre" style flick. Dramas, epic blockbusters, war films or biopics have earned the most statuettes for Best Picture. Romance and musicals have fared so-so, depending on the era and Hollywood's mood. Despite the popularity of the other types of films - mystery/crime, fantasy, science fiction, horror, adventure, and especially westerns with American audiences (proof in the pocketbook), the Academy often withholds their votes.

Sorry, but it's true. You'd think, given the number of westerns that Hollywood has churned out since its earliest days, that there'd be a TON of golden statuettes lined up along the trail. Not hardly, pardner. Oh, don't get me wrong. There's been PLENTY of nominations - 129 westerns, in fact. Check out the list.

BUT only three, count 'em, THREE, won a Best Picture Oscar. Can you name them? Yes, the answer is below, but try to guess. I'll give ya the first one -- 1930's Cimarron, a "pre-code western", whatever that means, based on the Edna Ferber novel.

Start guessing! My first try, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and one of my favorite films (okay, it might have played fast and loose with history, but it sure was fun!), didn't fare so well.

It earned plenty of nominations (and as I can attest, it's an HONOR to be nominated!), but only won the Best Original Screenplay (William Goldman, who also wrote The Princess Bride), Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, and Best Song. What film won Best Picture that year? Midnight Cowboy. Hmph. Controversy claimed the big prize.

My second guess, the 1956 film The Searchers, based on the book by Alan LeMay, received ZIP. Nada. Nothing! No nod to John Wayne, director John Ford, not a even a Cinematography nomination! That's criminal!

But it has withstood the test of time and is considered a masterpiece, plus one of the most influential films - inspiring David Lean in making Lawrence of Arabia and probably many other sweeping epics. So there.

How about Little Big Man, with Dustin Hoffman? Based on the book by Thomas Berger, by the way, but only Chief Dan George received a nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Hm. Okay, maybe it was "revisionist" history, but still.

Let's try another guess - one of my favorites, True Grit, based on the Charles Portis novel. Yes, John Wayne won a Best Actor Oscar in 1970 for portraying Rooster Cogburn (he deserved it, even though some people believed it to be a 'sympathy vote'). In fact, after accepting the golden statue, he said, "If I'd known that, I'd have put that patch on 35 years earlier." Ha!

Okay, skip a few decades. How about 1990's Dances With Wolves, based on the Michael Blake book? Kevin Costner, a Hollywood favorite. Come on! It had to win something out of TWELVE nominations. And it did pretty well - seven out of twelve. Best Picture. Best Director for KC. Best Adapted Screenplay for author Blake. Best Cinematography. Best Sound. Best Film Editing. Best Original Score. This was the HIGHLIGHT of the western Oscars! Surely it meant Hollywood was falling back in love with the genre? Er...

Two years later, Clint Eastwood claimed this 1992 film as his last western. Oh boy, talk about predicting the death of the genre. So how did Unforgiven fare? I mean, he's Clint Eastwood! CLINT EASTWOOD, best known for riding a horse, for heaven's sake. The film received NINE Oscar nominations, pretty decent, but claimed not even HALF that number. Hm. It did win four - Best Picture and Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Film Editing. Sigh.

Dare I mention this 2005 western film, which earned eight nominations and won three Oscars, for Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay (from the short story by Annie Proulx), and Best Original Score? Sure spurred controversy, so maybe that's why... Let's see how did the Coen Brothers remake of Charles Portis's True Grit fare six years later in the 2011 Academy Awards.

The film received TEN, count 'em, TEN nominations. Lost every time. Hmph. Does this mean Hollywood has given up on western films? Well, Christoph Waltz received a Best Supporting Actor for Django Unchained in 2012. But when it comes to Best Picture? Three. Cimarron (1956). Dances With Wolves (1990). Unforgiven (1992). Sigh. Only three Best Picture Oscars. We'll see if Quentin Tarantino can pull off any nominations next January for The Hateful Eight.

Let's hope Best Picture #4 for a western is coming soon.

Mystery author Meg Mims lives in Southeastern Michigan with her husband and a 'Make My Day' Malti-poo dog. Meg loves writing novels, short novellas and short stories, both contemporary and historical. Her Spur and Laramie Award winning books - Double Crossing and Double or Nothing - are now among the Prairie Rose Publications book list. Meg is also one-half of the D.E. Ireland team writing the Eliza Doolittle & Henry Higgins Mystery series for St. Martin's Minotaur. Wouldn't It Be Deadly, Book 1, has been nominated for a 2014 AGATHA AWARD for Best Historical Mystery! Book 2, Move Your Blooming Corpse, will be released on September 22, 2015. You can find Meg (and D.E. Ireland) on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest. 

LOVE AND THE WESTERN HERO - Meg Mims

It may be January, but in two weeks everyone's thoughts will be drenched with loooooove.

Valentine's Day brings hearts, flowers and chocolate (of course!) to mind, but to any lovers of the western genre, it may also bring a fluttering for their favorite cowboy or soldier hero. Today I'll explore some of the movies set in the west that the ladies consider real heart-throbbers.

Look at that baby face to the left. What I found interesting was seeing images of the actors when they were young, versus being portrayed as western heroes. Oh, the manliness! Oh, the chiseled jaws! Oh, the *muscles*... er, sorry.

I'd like to start with THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS, which for its time was set in "the western frontier" of the United States as depicted in James Fenimore Cooper's day of 1757 during the French and Indian War.

Notice the change wrought in Daniel Day-Lewis' face after he takes on the role of Hawkeye, or Natty Bumpo, or Long Rifle... whatever you want to call him. He looks worried. He's got major diplomatic troubles dealing with the French and British, plus the Huron scout Magua. He's supported by Chingachgook and his son (as the last of the Mohicans) and then the Delaware tribe -- since the measly British won't send reinforcements for poor Colonel Munro and his soldiers. All that worry! He looks exhausted too.

Thankfully the movie plot simplifies the book (for the better, imo) by boiling down the war between the French and British, setting up a four-way romance with the Munro daughters, Hawkeye and Chingachgook's son. When Wes Studi (Magua) is determined to kill Munro and take his daughters captive -- well, let's just say I'd jump off a cliff too. That Magua scared me to death!

Hawkeye gets the girl, that's the important point of a romance. It's all about the HEA -- happily ever after. Come on! Who wouldn't want to end up with DDL in that costume? But being a western hero sure changes a guy. Really.

As a bonus, I found this image of Daniel Day-Lewis and Russell Means.
Both of them are pretty hot here.

Every single time I watch Mohicans, I weep when Russell Means is killed and Alice chooses to fall off the cliff after him rather than remain Magua's captive. When I met Wes Studi last summer in Albequerque at the WWA convention, I changed my mind about choosing that same fate. Wes is a great actor -- funny, warm and sweet, very generous about taking photos and giving autographs. He sure fooled me when I first saw the movie! That's fabulous acting.

Let's move on to Elmore Leonard's HOMBRE with Paul Newman. Ooooh, those baby blues! Who can resist those, or that manly chiseled jaw, or those muscles... er. Ahem.

The book and movie are pretty strong (I saw the movie, but must confess I have not read the book) for the "revisionist" western genre -- meaning the underlying issues of race are brought to the surface, in this case, the hero was raised as an Apache and faced big-time prejudice after he returns to the white man's world. I guess the blue eyes didn't matter much. I had trouble believing Newman as a Native American, but his acting is decent in the film.

Still, I much prefer him as Butch Cassidy. Sorry.

How about the book DANCES WITH WOLVES by Michael Blake? Oddly enough, the Comanche tribe is switched to Sioux, and Kevin Costner acted and directed this epic western into a real classic.

Once again, portraying a hero takes a toll on youthful men. That's a very young and hot Kevin Costner on the right, versus portraying Lieutenant John Dunbar (see the photo to the left below.) He looks tired. And worried, especially given the problems he's facing...

Oh, all right -- enough of that. Kevin portrays a disillusioned Civil War soldier who wants to die and ends up an unlikely hero during a battle. He then requests a transfer to a remote western fort -- apparently to redeem his burden of guilt and serve his country after an attitude adjustment. Alas, he "goes native" after seeing how unfair the government treats "the people."

I'd say the gorgeous cinematography of the prairie along with the portrayal of the natives by wonderful actors, and even the wolves and teeming herds of buffalo (which bring to life what the early post-Civil War era of the west) are as much Western heroes as Costner's character.

Kevin also gets the girl, a white woman who was taken in by the tribe he befriends. Like I said before, HEA is what makes a real romance. They go off together into the sunset.

Next up, let's see how portraying a hero took a heavy toll on another famous western actor... the Duke. Talk about manly! Talk about a chiseled jaw!! Talk about muscles - oh, fine. On to the gallery of photos. First up, the young Marion Morrison himself.

 Such a baby-face here. He was born in Iowa but his family soon moved to California. Marion intended to play football on a USC scholarship - but a bodysurfing accident put an end to that dream. All the better for us romantics, I say! Who knows what would have happened to Duke if he hadn't turned to small bit parts at the Fox studio.

Marion's first leading role was in the western The Big Trail which came out in 1930. He kept working in other roles, a few leading, until he became a superstar in 1939 in John Ford's Stagecoach.

Based on a 1937 short story titled "The Stage to Lordsburg" by Ernest Haycox, it features several strangers who travel by stagecoach through Apache territory. I saw the film long ago and it was okay. Sorry, just my opinion! But it boosted John Wayne's career, that's for certain.

See the photo on the right - the Duke looks worried, if not tired. He portrays Johnny Ringo, a fugitive, and is attracted to the prostitute who was run out of the Arizona town and is heading east on the stagecoach to New Mexico, along with a seedy doctor, the pregnant wife of a soldier and a whiskey salesman. The stage driver and a lawman make up the "company" that meet hardships along the way, including an Apache raid, before the cavalry rides in to the rescue.

Filmed in the Monument Valley, the movie became a classic and was selected for preservation by the Library of Congress for their National Film Registry.

Let's take a look at another significant western featuring the Duke - The Searchers. Also directed by John Ford, the film is based on a novel published in 1954 by Alan LeMay, set during the Texas-Indian Wars, featuring a Civil War veteran on a quest to find his nieces kidnapped by Comanches.

The Searchers is one of the favorites of many Western Fictioneers and WWA colleagues of mine. I liked this one better than Stagecoach, although the setting is fairly similar, so perhaps it's the worry, the tiredness of hero John Wayne along with his adopted nephew (Jeffrey Hunter, who caught my eye as a hot hero - see photo).

That was one looooong search, and Natalie Wood didn't seem all that appreciative of their efforts. Yeesh.

The Searchers earned some great top honors. In 2008, the film was  named the GREATEST AMERICAN WESTERN OF ALL TIME (yep, you heard that right!)  by the American Film Institute. This after it climbed to 12th place on the AFI's 2007 list of the 100 Greatest American movies ever! Besides a few other awards, the film was named the Best Western of all time by the magazine Entertainment Weekly. Not bad! 
And BOTH heroes look like they went through HELL, all for love and loyalty. Sigh.

Here's several other young studs who looked fabulous -- until becoming heroes in famous western films. I tell you, being a hero out west is bad for your health. Look at these manly guys, the chiseled features, those muscles! Clint Eastwood looks great until he turns into a scruffy, worried, tired Man With No Name. Robert Redford looks spiffy in that uniform until he grows a thatch of beard and long hair, dons buckskin and then scalps people and eats their livers. See how Tom Selleck looks so happy, healthy and hot in Hawaii as Magnum, the ultimate private eye, until he goes FURTHER west to Australia and gets all worried, tired and grungy.

Of course, this is all tongue-in-cheek. We LOVE these hot western heroes. They're worried for good reason -- the situation needs changing! The heroine needs loving! And they can prove just how much of an American manly man they are by saving the day.

God bless American heroes!

Meg Mims is an award-winning author with two western mysteries under her Eastern belt. DOUBLE CROSSING earned the 2012 WWA Spur Award for Best First Novel, and the sequel DOUBLE OR NOTHING was recently named the First Place Winner in the 2013 Laramie Awards for Western Mystery. Her story, "A Savior Is Born," is included in the Western Fictioneers' anthology A WOLF CREEK CHRISTMAS. Meg lives in Michigan, where the hills are like driveway slopes and trees block any type of prairie winds. LIKE her on Facebook, follow her on Twitter or check out her books on her website.

Writing about Indians When You're Not One, part 3: Indians Are People

by Troy D. Smith


Notice I said "Indians are people," not "Indians were people." That is an important distinction. In this blog I'm going to talk about some enduring stereotypes about American Indians, and that's one of the biggest ones: that they are extinct.

The U.S. American Indian population declined precipitously between 1800 and 1900. But it is now back to those 1800 levels, or higher (though nothing like it was before Europeans and their diseases first arrived.) There are numerous vibrant -and very much alive -American Indian communities around the country.

Ah, some would counter, those aren't authentic Indians so they don't count.

A) What is an "authentic Indian"? B) What gives you the right to decide who is one?

Those of us who work in the western genre, or just enjoy it, are very familiar with Indian stereotypes and how they have changed over the past century. For decades, the Indian was the fierce savage in western tales -the threat, the obstacle to be overcome. Sometimes he (or she) was still treated as having an innate nobility, but that nobility was doomed because the Indian, being "uncivilized", was doomed to fall before the advancing tide of "progress", for the good of everyone (well, except them.)

Then, sometime around 1970, the Indians became the good guys. Their lifestyle was presented, not as inferior, but rather as superior to the wasteful, hateful ways of the white folks (much of this was a reflection of the counter-culture and a reaction against Vietnam, even movies based on books that predated that conflict.)

In that one year, in fact, three movies were released that featured a white character who comes to appreciate, perhaps even prefer, the Indian lifestyle. Two of them are justifiably classics, and one of them sucks (see if you can tell which one I mean by looking at the posters!)

A year later, people in my hometown were lining up around the block to see BILLY JACK, about a half-Indian karate-fightin' hippie-lovin' Vietnam vet who took on the establishment, kicking butt and taking names.

My point is, Hollywood's view of Indians shifted away from the traditional view of them as animalistic, evil savages, and never shifted back. But both approaches are still stereotypes, because they treat Indians as symbols rather than as human beings.

Side note:  You ever notice how, in the 1950s and 1960s, in movies that did portray Indians positively, and make them the hero, the lead Indian was always played by a white actor?

Then in the 1970s, you started seeing Indian actors playing Indian characters (Jay Silverheels, of course, was way ahead of the curve on this one)...

But ever since then... with Indian actors finally playing Indian heroes... all of a sudden, even in movies ostensibly about those Indian heroes, the Indian character is never the main character anymore? (Notice how Wes Studi, playing Geronimo, has fourth billing in a movie CALLED GERONIMO.)

But I've let myself be sidetracked by one of my biggest pet peeves. My point is -both positive and negative stereotypes are still stereotypes. And they're not new- both the "Red Devil" and "Noble Savage" tropes go back to the sixteenth century.

In Hollywood... and many traditional western novels... Indians are always portrayed as stoic and wise, unless they are angry young men. Sometimes, as mentioned before, they are portrayed as natural aggressors (do we ever find out why the Mohawks in Drums along the Mohawk decided to side with the British?) or as inevitable victims.

I have sort of a love/hate relationship with Dances with Wolves. I think it is a great story, well-written and directed -but also see it as one of a long line of "white savior" movies in which a white guy decides to ally with some minority culture and just naturally rises to a leadership position within it. That's probably a topic for another day.

But one thing I absolutely love about this movie (and also about Little Big Man, which I think is far superior)... the Indians act like honest-to-goodness real human beings. They LAUGH. They have sex together, and enjoy it. They tell jokes. They cry. They are PEOPLE. That is the single biggest thing, I believe, that non-Indian writers miss when writing Indian characters. Do you know any real Indians? They can be funny as hell, and fun to be around.

And in history, Indians were not always either viciously, unreasoningly evil, or passive, saintly victims. They had what academics like to call agency... maybe, in the long run, not enough, but they had it just the same. They made their own decisions, based on their own human motivations... and often on their own internal politics. On their individual or communal best interests. They were people, in other words. Sometimes they were good, sometimes they were bad... sometimes they were alternately both. Just like everybody else. They weren't all the same.

I'm going to close with the story of Squanto. I bet you've heard of him. He was a Patuxet Indian from what is now New England. He was captured by English slavers, and sold initially to Spaniards, then winding up in England, where he learned the language. By the time he escaped slavery and made his way back home, working on an English ship for passage, he learned his entire village had been wiped out by disease. Then some weird new Englishmen showed up, calling themselves Pilgrims, and clearly had no idea how to survive the winter... so Squanto helped them, taught them a few agricultural tricks, and served as their interpreter when dealing with the powerful Wampanoag Confederation of Indians... some of whom came over to the Pilgrim settlement for a feast, as you may have heard.

And, so far as most people know, that was the end of the story. Except it wasn't.

You see, Squanto got kind of full of himself due to his close relationship with the Pilgrims, and started pushing the other Indians around...and they resented it. Nor did they completely trust his interpreting... they suspected he was trying to help the Pilgrims screw them over.

So they killed him.

You probably haven't heard this story (and that was an extremely oversimplified version of it, by the way), because you only know Squanto (real name: Tisquantum) as the "good Indian," or "noble savage," that American folklore has enshrined him as.

But, truth to tell, Squanto... was human.

I'll have more next month.