Visible crew/equipment: In the scene where the Sioux discover the rotting dead buffalo lying in the valley, as they are riding by them, right after they show a Sioux woman crying, in the background you can see a man with dark hair in a white shirt lying on the ground. In the special edition DVD, if you watch this scene with the commentary on you will hear Kevin Costner and Jim Wilson admit that it is an assistant cameraman trying to get out of the scene. (01:49:55)
Dances with Wolves (1990)
1 visible crew/equipment mistake - chronological order
Directed by: Kevin Costner
Starring: Kevin Costner, Mary McDonnell, Graham Greene, Rodney A. Grant
Revealing mistake: In the extended version of the film during the buffalo hunt, there is a shot of a buffalo making a turn and in the distant horizon, you can briefly see a modern radio tower on top of a hill.
Major Fambrough: Sir knight? I've just pissed in my pants... and nobody can do anything about it.
Trivia: Kevin Costner had a nasty fall from his horse during the buffalo hunt scene, and everyone freaked out, because since he was the director, the star, and the producer, production would have shut down. Fortunately, he was fine.
Question: Maybe I just missed something, but what's going on with Dunbar's military superior that he meets at the fort out west? He seems to think he's a king or something, referring to the frontier as the "realm" and Dunbar's travel companion as a "peasant." At the end of the scene he salutes Dunbar very sarcastically and then shoots himself. What does any of that have to do with the story?
Answer: So why was his journal so important to him? He knows lots of soldiers and many other whites are coming.
Answer: Because it documented his time at the fort and with the Indians and also what he learned from them during the period when he arrived before the Army did show up - This would have been crucial if there had been any trial which there was not as the Sioux rescued him from the situation.
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Chosen answer: It shows that the officer was mentally disturbed, and he was the only one in the fort who knew about Dunbar's assignment. It sets the story up so that Dunbar could live with the Indians without the Army interfering with his life (No one expected any communications to or from Dunbar).
Twotall