Which Best Picture winner stars Kevin Costner as Lieutenant John J. Dunbar?

Which Best Picture winner stars Kevin Costner as Lieutenant John J. Dunbar? The answer is Dances with Wolves.

Dances with Wolves is a 1990 Western directed by and starring Kevin Costner. Costner plays Lieutenant John J. Dunbar, a Union Army officer who is posted to an isolated frontier outpost during the American Civil War and gradually forms relationships with members of the nearby Lakota community.

The film won seven Academy Awards at the 63rd ceremony, including Best Picture and Best Director for Costner. Its other wins included Adapted Screenplay, Film Editing, Cinematography, Original Score, and Sound Mixing. The success was notable because the film helped revive the large-scale Western at a time when the genre was no longer considered a dependable mainstream choice.

The title is the English translation of Dunbar’s Lakota name, reflecting his growing connection to the community. The film is sometimes confused with Unforgiven, another Best Picture-winning Western, but Clint Eastwood’s film was released in 1992 and stars Eastwood as William Munny.