The Oscars Project: Dances with Wolves (1990)

In this episode, we return to our ongoing Oscars project—watching every Best Picture winner from 1960 to today—with a deep dive into Dances with Wolves (1990). Was it truly worthy of Best Picture… or should Goodfellas or Ghost have taken the crown? We unpack the film’s sweeping scope, its surprising moments of humor, and the stark tonal shift that leads to a much darker, more sobering final act. Along the way, we explore the film’s themes of cultural identity, integration, and the uneasy collision between harmony and chaos on the American frontier. The conversation digs into: Whether the film’s ending earns its bleakness—or leans too hard into it The portrayal of both sides of history and what each culture views as “barbaric” Kevin Costner’s everyman performance and whether it works in the film’s favor The role of hope, naivety, and inevitability in historical storytelling And the bigger question: could a film like this even get made today? We also reflect on the nature of long-form historical epics, how they’ve changed over time, and what makes Dances with Wolves still resonate—even with its flaws. As always, we wrap up with where this film lands in our rankings and tee up the next stop in our journey: The Silence of the Lambs.