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By
STEVEN D. SEGAL
Just for the record, Kevin Costner has always considered the original 181-minute theatrical
version of "Dances with Wolves" to be his final "director's cut." He was contractually obligated to oversee the longer
236-minute version for television (it was shown theatrically overseas and had been originally released stateside on VHS
and laserdisc). That's one of the reasons why when "Dances with Wolves" was released as a THX-approved DVD in 1998 it
was as the 181-minute version and not the expanded version; the other is that Orion couldn't locate 6-track audio
masters of the expanded scenes to be used for the Dolby Digital soundtrack.
Well, now MGM owns the Orion catalogue and the 236-minute version has remastered and released as a two-disc Special
Edition. The image on this DVD is magnificent, somewhat sharper and stronger than earlier versions. The letterboxing
does not seem to perfectly represent the film's Panavision ratio of 2.35:1 (it's closer to the aspect ratio on the
previous laserdisc version, I'd say about 2.20:1). Released on a DVD-18, the film is split in two, with each disc side
holding about two hours and a few extras.
Since the original 181-minute version is not included, I suggest you keep your '98 disc epic if you have it, or wait for
an inevitable dual-version release. Whether the original or longer cuts are preferable is a very close judgment call.
Unlike with the reedited "Star Wars" none of the extra scenes change the story in any significant way.
The soundtrack, highlighted by John Barry's wonderful, Oscar-winning score, is a knockout. The buffalo hunt sequence
particularly will shake and rumble your living room and the dialogue levels, which I always felt overpowered the music
on the initial laserdisc version, are clear and strong. I'd hoped MGM might offer an isolated music-only soundtrack, but
to no avail.
On the previous DVD version the only extra feature was a running commentary by director Kevin Costner and producer Jim
Wilson and, when they weren't cutting each other off in mid-anecdote, they offered a wealth of behind-the-scenes
information about the conception, adaptation, production, marketing and reception of this film. They repeat their audio
performance here, but there's also another commentary by director of photography and Dean Semler and the editor Neil
Travis. "The Creation of an Epic - A Retrospective" is a new and quite informative 82-minute documentary in on disc two,
and several promotional features complete the package: A 10-minute, 100-still montage introduced by set photographer Ben
Glass, 4 posters, a couple of TV spots, trailers for "Dances with Wolves," "Platoon" and "Windtalkers,"
and a music video with John Barry (some extras are on the second side of the first disc).
Once dubbed "Kevin's Gate" by cynics who lacked the vision of its director, the sweeping revisionist western silenced
all critics forever when it took home seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, 1990. |
