Dances With Wolves

Yes, he can hit.No, he is not a threat to Cal Ripken Jr. at shortstop.Such were the reviews yesterday at Memorial Stadium for Kevin Costner, star of such recent blockbuster movies as "Robin Hood" and "Dances With Wolves."And despite his baseball background in "Field of Dreams" and "Bull Durham," he was not altogether comfortable with his pre-game role on 33rd Street yesterday."I went into the clubhouse and I wasn't even sure I was putting the uniform on right," Costner admitted. "I had to look around at the other guys to see how they did it."

A mere 2 1/2 months ago, Kevin Costner was a golden boy who could do no wrong.Casual in speech and manner, he was handsome in a way that infatuated female audiences without alienating the male constituency of moviegoers. As the star, director and creative force behind "Dances With Wolves," he seemed politically correct and terribly earnest.Then "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves" was unleashed upon an eager public. Its box-office response is not a point of concern. Audiences seem to love it. During its opening weekend, it grossed a spectacular $25.6 million.

New Orleans - Kevin Costner is in a bad mood. He does not want to be trivialized. He does not want to be analyzed. He does not want to be criticized. He does not want to be "titillized," as he puts it, much less titillated.He stalks down a street on the cusp of the French Quarter, wearing jeans and a bright green shirt, his hair slicked back and his scorching blue eyes shaded behind dark sunglasses. The heels of his brown cowboy boots tap an impatient tattoo, and he is annoyed when a group of middle-aged women hesitantly beg him to pose for a photograph while he waits at a red light.

DANCES WITH WOLVES.Michael Blake.Newmarket Press.324 pages. $18.95.Published three years ago in paperback and reissued ihardcover after the success of the movie of the same name, "Dances With Wolves," the book, is a screenplay in novel form. It's simple and direct, written in short chapters broken into shorter scenes, with no attempt at soaring language or literary style.This is not criticism. The story of the transformation of a Civil War-era soldier named John Dunbar into a Comanche warrior named Dances With Wolves needs no embellishment.

The motion picture "Dances With Wolves" opens with a Civil War battle sequence filmed in Georgia, but the rest of the movie's locales are in western South Dakota.From the Southern battlefield the action moves to the bleak Dakota Territory outpost to which a young cavalry lieutenant (Kevin Costner) has been assigned -- a ramshackle corral and sod hut built by location crews on a ranch northeast of Rapid City not far from the airport. (Months later, an assessor making her rounds saw a distant building where none had been before.

As expected, "Dances With Wolves," the majestic story of a cavalry officer's interaction with the Lakota Sioux in 1863, won the lion's share of awards at last night's 63rd annual Academy Awards with seven Oscars, including best picture and a best director award for first-time director Kevin Costner.But Costner did not win best actor, for which he was also nominated; that went, instead, to the British actor Jeremy Irons, for his role as Claus Von Bulow in "Reversal of Fortune," Barbet Schroeder's icy yet amusing version of the alleged poisoning of the still comatose heiress Sonny Von Bulow, Claus' wife.

So, it was 11:27 on a Monday night. Did you know where your children were?Well, if they had any sense, they weren't listening to the director of "Journey of Hope" thanking the Turkish crew that worked on this Swiss movie that won the Academy Award for best foreign film.Hey, nothing against "Journey of Hope," probably a great film, but it's getting close to Ted Koppel time. We're talking late. If it was a Monday Night Football game, halftime would almost be over.Maybe it's written somewhere that the Oscar telecast has to be longer than the film that wins best picture.

Critic Lou Cedrone picked five winners in the 10 categories of the annual You vs. Lou contest. For the tie-breaker, the length of the Oscar telecast was 3 hours, 29 minutes and 20 seconds, according to television critic Michael Hill. Here are the winners in the top categories. Other winners are listed on Page C5PICTURE: "Dances With Wolves," Kevin Costner and Jim Wilson, producers.ACTOR: Jeremy Irons, "Reversal of Fortune."ACTRESS: Kathy Bates, "Misery."SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Whoopi Goldberg, "Ghost."

Here are Sun Film Critic Stephen Hunter's picks in the major Oscar categories:Picture: "Dances With Wolves"Director: Kevin Costner, "Dances With Wolves"Actor: Jeremy Irons, "Reversal of Fortune"Actress: Joanne Woodward, "Mr. and Mrs. Bridge"Supporting actor: Graham Greene, "Dances With Wolves"Supporting actress: Whoopi Goldberg, "Ghost"Screenplay -- Adaptation: "Dances With Wolves"Screenplay -- Original: "Avalon"Foreign Language Film: "Cyrano"Cinematography: "Dances...

LOOK FOR ''Dances With Wolves'' to take most of the Oscars when the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences holds its 63rd annual awards ceremony tonight in Los Angeles.''Dances With Wolves'' should take the best picture, best actor (Kevin Costner), best director (Costner), best supporting actor (Graham Greene) and best adapted screenplay awards. The film has been nominated in other, lesser, categories, but at the moment, we're only concerned with the top 10, and ''Dances'' will take at least five of those categories.