Dances with Wolves

Factual error: In a scene where Dunbar is at the fort and a Henry 1860 rifle is lying on a firing port, there appears to be a long cartridge similar to 45/70 or.50 Govt with the rifle. The Henry 1860 rifle at the time used .44 Henry cartridges which were significantly shorter. (00:41:55)

Factual error: When Lt. Dunbar is preparing for his meeting with the Indians, you can see the rubber sole of his boot as he is putting it on. There is also a stamped logo on the boot heel. Rubber bottomed boots did not exist during the Civil War.

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Suggested correction: True enough officially, but it often happened during war or in remote areas or in this case Both, unconvential materials would be used in improvised solutions.

dizzyd

Factual error: The Henry Repeating Rifle seen in 1865 is impossible, because it's the "King's Patent Henry Rifle" which wasn't out until 1866. The original Henry had a loading tube under the barrel, not one on the side of the breech. Plus the ammo used is the larger, more modern rounds.

Factual error: We see and hear geese flying overhead toward the end of the film, a sure sign that winter is approaching, but the birds in the shot are sandhill cranes, which do not "honk" like Canada geese.

Factual error: When Lt. Dunbar gets to the Fort, they show a dove in the rafters. It is a domestic Ringed Turtle-Dove or domesticated Barbary (African Collared) Dove. They likely did not have those doves at the Fort, but rather should have been a Mourning Dove. Rock Doves and chickens were common domestic animals brought for food.

Factual error: When Dunbar saves the native American boy from the charging injured buffalo he jumps off, asks if he's all right then makes two repeated shots from his Henry rifle without cocking the lever. Only special safari guns did that, at a later date.

Continuity mistake: The piece of meat that Dunbar offers the wolf changes shape and size dramatically throughout that scene.

More mistakes in Dances with Wolves

John Dunbar: The strangeness of this life cannot be measured: in trying to produce my own death, I was elevated to the status of a living hero.

More quotes from Dances with Wolves

Trivia: For his portrait of the Indians (which was radically different from all the earlier movies), Costner was made an honorary tribe member of the real-life Sioux.

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Question: Why did Dunbar's superior kill himself as Dunbar was being taken to his new post?

Answer: He was mentally disturbed and was depressed about being assigned to a "dead end" post with no chance at advancement. Dunbar, the hero, choosing to be assigned to the frontier, just pushed the poor soul over the edge.

Mark English

In a word, the disease syphilis. The urinary tract problems and the Insanity are possible side effects.

What are you basing this on? What in the movie indicates that he has syphilis?

Answer: Dunbar's superior supported the British ("The King is dead... Long live the King" said with a heavy British accent) and was likely a closet-case Redcoat his entire US military career. It was not rare and many suicides were a result of that.

This claim is not supported by the movie. "The King is dead. Long live the King" is a common idiom referring to the passing of power to someone new. It most definitely does not literally refer to the English King. The movie is set in the middle of Queen Victoria's reign. As for your assertion that there were a large number of English loyalists in the Union Army three generations after the Revolutionary War seems highly unlikely. Can you cite evidence of this?

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