Dances with Wolves (1990)

Kevin Costner's directorial debut, Dances with Wolves (1990), starts out on a less-than-cheery note—Kevin, as Union lieutenant John W. Dunbar, is off on a suicide mission trying to get himself snuffed. Things don't work out the way he'd planned, though, and instead of ending up six feet under he becomes a hero. He's then reassigned to a remote post in South Dakota, where he takes a liking to the local Lakota. The tribe's simple style is just his thing, so Kev decides to hang up his whitey hat and go native. Luckily the Lakota don't mind hanging with the paleface race—in fact, they've already got a comely cracker in their midst. Her name is Stands with a Fist, and she'll have your little fist standing at attention, because she's played by none other than Mary McDonnell! Mary catches Kev's eye too, but we're going to have to burst his bubble and let him in on a secret—those eyefuls of delightful McDonnellage actually belong to a body double.