Dances WithWolves

“KEVIN’S GATE.” THAT’S HOW MOVIE industry “experts” described Dances With Wolves prior to its release, especially after its star, Kevin Costner, had to invest $3 million of his own money to finish the film.

Bad enough he was making a western in 1990, when cowboy movies that had just crashed into Alaska. But a three-hour western with subtitled Indians where U.S. soldiers were the bad guys? A movie with such limited box office prospects that Costner directed only because no one else wanted the job? Talk about a bloated vanity project — and box office poison.