October 19, 1990: "Dances With Wolves" Premieres

October 19, 1990: Dances With Wolves premieres, starring and directed by Kevin Costner, who wanted to make what's known as a "revisionist Western," taking the side of the Native Americans.

A decade earlier, another revisionist Western, Heaven's Gate, saw its costs run out of control, nearly put United Artists out of business, and became the standard by which all subsequent box office flops have been measured. When the price tag for Dances With Wolves grew, people began joking that it was Kevin's Gate.

But it not only made money, it was nominated for 12 Academy Awards. It won 7. Costner won for Best Picture and Best Director, but not for Best Actor. Graham Greene (the Native American actor, not the British novelist born Henry Graham Greene) was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, and Mary McDonnell was nominated for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1995, having had this success, and those of the baseball-themed films Bull Durham and Field of Dreams, Costner began to think he was commercially bulletproof, and made Waterworld. It became the 1st film ever to cost $200 million, and the Kevin's Gate jokes started again. But Waterworld made money, too.

So he really pushed the envelope: His next project was The Postman, based on a novel that was half-Western, half-post-apocalyptic story, set in 2013 Oregon. Released on Christmas Day 1997, this one did flop. Costner has made more movies, but he's never again been the big star that he was.

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October 19, 1990 was a Friday. Actress Ciara Renée was born.

Game 3 of the World Series was played at the Oakland Coliseum, and the Cincinnati Reds beat the Oakland Athletics, 8-3. Tom Browning outpitched Mike Moore, and Chris Sabo hit 2 home runs. Harold Baines and Rickey Henderson hit home runs for the A's, and former Yankee Willie Randolph went 3-for-4, but Mark McGwire only went 1-for-4, with a single, and Jose Canseco went 0-for-4. The Reds completed the surprising sweep the next night.

The NBA season began 14 days later. There were 6 games played in the NHL:

* The New Jersey Devils beat their arch-rivals, the New York Rangers, 3-2 at the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands.

* The New York Islanders lost to the Washington Capitals, 4-3 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Buffalo Sabres and the Pittsburgh Penguins played to a tie, 4-4 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditoirium.

* The Winnipeg Jets beat the Vancouver Canucks, 7-5 at the Winnipeg Arena.

* The Edmonton Oilers beat the Boston Bruins, 8-1 at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton. This was a rematch of the previous season's Stanley Cup Finals, with the same result.

* And the Los Angeles Kings beat the Hartford Whalers, 5-2 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

And in New Jersey high school football, my Alma Mater, East Brunswick, in Middlesex County, playing at home at Jay Doyle Field, defeated the school now known as West Windsor-Plainsboro South, of Mercer County, 35-7. It was the 1st time we had ever held Homecoming at night.