When DWW is captured why didn't he just lie to the soldiers and tell them he was kidnapped by indians and held captive and was forced to dress like that. His story would be believable especially since the soldiers were out to retrieve white captives held in raids. Then when they released him he would escape and return to the sioux.
shareWould have been a smart move...
Will Graham: ‘I don’t find you that interesting.’
Hannibal Lecter: ‘You will.’
I think he was supposed to be so disdainful of white culture at that point that he just didn't even want to deal with them - hence why he was never forthcoming with answers. He could easily have lied his way out of that situation, especially as a decorated war hero. You're right, it doesn't make a lot of sense if he wanted to escape.
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Years ago, I asked a similar question, like why Dunbar didn't just tell the truth and say he had no choice but to adapt to Indian culture in order to live peacefully, or something along those lines. One person responded, "Because that would have been a cop-out and the movie would have pretty much been over at that point." Same here, sfgiantsboy. Lying and claiming to be held captive by Indians would have also been a "cop-out." And also in that case, the "movie would have pretty much been over at that point."
shareYou have to remember one thing : Dances With Wolves went back to the fort to retrieve his journal.
Why? Because the journal tells every step of his "going Native" story, and at this point, he believes that they have found it, so there would be no point in lying to them about this. He could not know at that point that Spivey was using it for toilet paper instead... And then it's too late to start lying. Also the way he is dressed, he does not really look like a captive, but rather like someone who has willingly adopted the Native ways.
Turned injun, didn't yeh?
I got news for 'em. There's gonna be hell to pay. 'Cause I ain't Daddy's little boy no more.
After 20 years, we still remember that line. That's good writing, folks. :)
shareThis picture is replete with good lines!
"Put THAT in your book!"
"I have just pissed in my pants...and nobody can do anything about it!"
"Somebody back east is sayin' 'why don't he write?'"
One of my gaming buddies and I quote the Timmons scenes constantly, back and forth, when we play "Battlefield."
-Rod
It reminds me of an episode of "Walker, Texas Ranger". Where Walker is being tortured and the head of the gang says something like: Be careful with him --this one has got injun blood.
share"...he believes that they have found it"
Actually, he doesn't... because he tells them that it exists and where to find it when they ask for some evidence of who he is.
The very fact that they don't know who he is would probably indicate to a sharp person that they hadn't found it, but Lt Dunbar never struck me as being very smart on the uptake - e.g. a couple of attempts to steal his horse and he takes no measures to protect it, breaks up an Indian ritual shouting "Buffalo" and has not the sense to say "Tutunka" when they attacked him and was being shot at by soldiers who believe he is an Indian without making any attempt to call out to them in English to cite just three examples.
"Oh good, my dog found the chainsaw..."
I think Dunbar could have fooled them by saying he was just coming home from a costume party. But seriously, I think the biggest reason he didn't level with the soldiers is because they never gave him the chance. When they first spotted him, they immediately started shooting at him and killed Cisco, before knocking him unconscious. At that point, on top of the revelation his journal was missing, all diplomacy was out the window. Once it was clear the soldiers would react with the same hostility towards his new family, John Dunbar ceased to exist, and like Ten Bears said, all that remains is Dances With Wolves.
shareGood answer however he was given a little bit of a chance especially by Lieutenant Elgin who was nicer than the rest. He was asked why he was out of uniform and then could have leveled.
shareSeeing as Dunbar had come to love and embrace the Sioux people I don't see why he'd want to antagonise the Union soldiers by telling them that he'd been kidnapped and forced to wear 'Injun clothes'.
shareAlso, had he claimed he was kidnapped, the soldiers would have gone after the Sioux Indians for revenge. They probably would have made John show him where they were.
shareOh no - you haven't understood John Dunbar - Dances With Wolves as a person at all (and missed the beauty of this movie)...
One of the beautiful things about DWW is how genuine and honest a person he is.
He is not a liar, and especially if that lie is to preserve himself, at the detriment of the people he's become, to his wife, his friends.
For him to lie would be such an awful thing.
All that is true. Also, you have to remember that long before he met the Sioux tribe, he was already developing a strong disdain for his own people. Which is why he tried to commit suicide at the beginning of the movie, and then requested to be transferred to the farthest, most remote outpost. After other experiences shown throughout the movie, not the least of which is how his own people slaughtered the buffalo for only their pelts, it's completely understandable why he had no inclination to cooperate with the soldiers at the fort.
shareI didn't think the Indians would hold a white man - I thought it was just women and children that they could adapt to Indian ways or just treat as slaves. A white man was too much trouble to adapt.
This positively infantile preoccupation with bosoms!Terry-Thomas about US 1963.Hasnt changed much!
I think a good idea would be to not dress like an Indian and be more stealth in his approach of the fort in the first place, like the Indians were.
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