Dick TracyIt's a dirty job cleaning up the city from the criminal element, and Dick Tracy (Warren Beatty) has got the right broom for the job. Adapted from the classic syndicated comic strip from the 1930s by Chester Gould, Dick Tracy is an adaptation which pops on the screen, thanks to a selective color palette and style evocative of the era from which it originates. It is an altogether lighter fare than more serious comic book adaptations, relishing in the caricatures of gangsters with absurd names "Flattop" (William Forsythe), but weaves a yarn full of action, suspense, romance, and daring-do.
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Dick Tracy features the eponymous plainclothes detective, armed with his two-way wrist radio and his two fists, going after the mob led by "Big Boy" Caprice (Al Pacino), a hot-headed capo with a Napoleon complex who favors walnuts and tends to wax philosophic. Big Boy's grand scheme is to usurp the Club Ritz from his rival, Lips Manlis (Paul Sorvino), in the first step to bring the whole of the mob under his grasp--if only Dick Tracy wasn't such a thorn in his side. Between Dick Tracy's efforts to dethrone the little gangster king, he saves a young boy, known simply as "Kid" (Charlie Korsmo) from a life of crime, and struggles to find the courage to finally pop the question to his beloved girlfriend, Tess Trueheart (Glenne Headly). Following Lips' disappearance and Big Boy's serendipitous acquisition of the Ritz Club, Tracy builds his case--but needs the help of the key witness to foment the charge, a seductive chanteuse called "Breathless" Mahoney (Madonna), who oozes more sexuality than one could fathom escaping the censors, a femme fatale with a liberal dose of Marilyn Monroe. Breathless Mahoney plies at the steel cage encasing Tracy's cool exterior, coercing him to be hers in exchange for her testimony. But while Tracy pursues a variety of tasks to undermine Big Boy's burgeoning empire with varying degrees of success, when an unknown quantity calling himself "Blankface" emerges to play both sides against the middle, all bets are off as to who will come out on top, leaving the players toppled like dominoes. And before long, Tracy finds himself caught in the tempest of Tess and his relationship going nowhere, the Kid being forced to dodge being dragged off to the orphanage, and Tracy himself getting framed for a crime he didn't commit, all while the city goes to the dogs. What's the tough cop with the square jaw to do?
Dick Tracy was a film long in development, trading hands frequently, finally finding its footing and opportunity in the wake of the success of Tim Burton's adaptation of Batman. Dick Tracy shares more than a few similarities with that property, not least of which is the inclusion of a musical score by Danny Elfman and the stylized, pre-World War II aesthetic, with gangsters, fedoras, and Tommy Guns. The look of Dick Tracy is like a colorized serial comic come to life, in sound and image; even musical numbers written by Stephen Sondheim recall the kind of glitz and glamour of that era. Dick Tracy makes no assertions as to naturalism, with numerous crooks and criminals adorned with prosthetic makeup to make them appear as outlandish caricatures. This is ironic, because the film is also a genuine embarrassment of talent, with a cast of virtuoso performers--even in minor roles--many of whom could headline a movie in their own right, including Dustin Hoffman as the stammering "Mumbles", James Caan as Spaldoni, and Dick Van Dyke as the District Attorney, Fletcher. Dick Tracy is also in part a satire of comic book movies by its extreme presentation, and these gifted actors even play roles which recall other recognizable roles from their career, as though it were a "greatest hits" send up to these performers, not least of which is Al Pacino's turn as a kind of demented cross between Michael Corleone and Tony Montana. Similarly, there are several actors from the excellent film, Bonnie and Clyde, set in the same era and also starring Warren Beatty, who have small parts in Dick Tracy, including Estelle Parsons as Tess' mom, and Michael J. Pollard as "Bug Bailey". Although published by Disney--under their Touchstone Pictures distribution label--Dick Tracy dances the line between mature content and Sunday funnies. Aside from Breathless Mahoney's innuendo and revealing outfits, the film boasts a bevy of fully-automatic firefights, explosions, and a couple of "cement overcoats" administered by Big Boy, what he calls "a bath". But even here, the film is more concerned with the fantasy of cops and robbers, of gangsters and dames, as though pulled from the imaginative dreams of someone just like the "Kid". It would be no stretch to say that it is "his" fantasy of what it would be like to chase the bad guys, running through the streets and getting orders from HQ via a sophisticated gadget on his wrist. That is the magic captured in Dick Tracy, a sonorous sonata which is in tune with that essence of youthful adventure which makes the film so enduring in its spirit.
Recommended for: Fans of a potent spoonful of nostalgia and bold filmmaking in the hyper-stylized fashion ripped right from the funnies of the golden age of newsprint comics. The charming mixture of many elements makes the film enjoyable by virtually all audiences.
Dick Tracy was a film long in development, trading hands frequently, finally finding its footing and opportunity in the wake of the success of Tim Burton's adaptation of Batman. Dick Tracy shares more than a few similarities with that property, not least of which is the inclusion of a musical score by Danny Elfman and the stylized, pre-World War II aesthetic, with gangsters, fedoras, and Tommy Guns. The look of Dick Tracy is like a colorized serial comic come to life, in sound and image; even musical numbers written by Stephen Sondheim recall the kind of glitz and glamour of that era. Dick Tracy makes no assertions as to naturalism, with numerous crooks and criminals adorned with prosthetic makeup to make them appear as outlandish caricatures. This is ironic, because the film is also a genuine embarrassment of talent, with a cast of virtuoso performers--even in minor roles--many of whom could headline a movie in their own right, including Dustin Hoffman as the stammering "Mumbles", James Caan as Spaldoni, and Dick Van Dyke as the District Attorney, Fletcher. Dick Tracy is also in part a satire of comic book movies by its extreme presentation, and these gifted actors even play roles which recall other recognizable roles from their career, as though it were a "greatest hits" send up to these performers, not least of which is Al Pacino's turn as a kind of demented cross between Michael Corleone and Tony Montana. Similarly, there are several actors from the excellent film, Bonnie and Clyde, set in the same era and also starring Warren Beatty, who have small parts in Dick Tracy, including Estelle Parsons as Tess' mom, and Michael J. Pollard as "Bug Bailey". Although published by Disney--under their Touchstone Pictures distribution label--Dick Tracy dances the line between mature content and Sunday funnies. Aside from Breathless Mahoney's innuendo and revealing outfits, the film boasts a bevy of fully-automatic firefights, explosions, and a couple of "cement overcoats" administered by Big Boy, what he calls "a bath". But even here, the film is more concerned with the fantasy of cops and robbers, of gangsters and dames, as though pulled from the imaginative dreams of someone just like the "Kid". It would be no stretch to say that it is "his" fantasy of what it would be like to chase the bad guys, running through the streets and getting orders from HQ via a sophisticated gadget on his wrist. That is the magic captured in Dick Tracy, a sonorous sonata which is in tune with that essence of youthful adventure which makes the film so enduring in its spirit.
Recommended for: Fans of a potent spoonful of nostalgia and bold filmmaking in the hyper-stylized fashion ripped right from the funnies of the golden age of newsprint comics. The charming mixture of many elements makes the film enjoyable by virtually all audiences.