Preamble: If you are a new reader and you've been snooping around my blog then it's easy to tell that I am a comic book geek. I'm pretty sure I saw this movie before I even saw a Batman or Superman movie. This was one of the first movies I'd ever gotten obsessed with. Why? I love the Noir genre and I happen to have loved this particular comic strip since I was four years old. This is the movie that made me appreciate costume designing, the artistry of make-up in film as well as the importance of having a director with a firm vision and an appreciation for the material. As I grow older I do get a little wishy-washy about whether or not I still like actual film and not just all the love and attention to detail that went into this film.

I've grown cynical and jaded and at times when I rewatch this movie because all I see is a parade of what's wrong with Hollywood. But then there are times that I watch it and I'm blown away by the little things. In this day and age where comic book adaptations rule both the big and little screen, I don't think I could ever truly hate this movie now, even if I tried because now I know it could have been much worse.

This movie consequently in later years became a turning point in my appreciation for Danny Elfman. I realized all of his stuff sounds very similar and super repetitive. Not to mention for a long stretch he only worked on "zany" movies and TV shows.
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Year: 1990

Rated: PG-13

Summary - Hard-boiled detective Dick Tracy is searching for evidence that proves Alphonse "Big Boy" Caprice is the city's most dangerous crime boss. He may have found the key to unraveling the crime lord's illegal empire in Breathless Mahoney, an enigmatic bar room singer who has witnessed some of Caprice's crimes firsthand. However, she seems more set on stealing Dick away from his girlfriend, Tess, than helping him solve the case of his career.

Directed by: Warren Beatty

Written by: Jim Cash & Jack Epps, Jr.

Starring:

• Warren Beatty as Dick Tracy
• Al Pacino as Alphonse "Big Boy" Caprice
• Madonna as Breathless Mahoney
• Glenne Headly as Tess Trueheart
• Charlie Korsmo as The Kid
• James Keane as Pat Patton
• Seymour Cassel as Sam Catchem
• Michael J. Pollard as Bug Bailey
• Charles Durning as Chief Brandon
• Dick Van Dyke as District Attorney John Fletcher
• Frank Campanella as Judge Harper
• Dustin Hoffman as Mumbles
• William Forsythe as Flattop
• Ed O'Ross as Itchy
• James Tolkan as Numbers
• Mandy Patinkin as 88 Keys
• R. G. Armstrong as Pruneface
• Henry Silva as Influence
• Paul Sorvino as Lips Manlis
• James Caan as Spud Spaldoni
• Catherine O'Hara as Texie Garcia
• Robert Beecher as Ribs Mocca

Top Picks from the Soundtrack

• Dick Tracy [90's Mix]- Ice-T
• Ridin' the Rails - k.d. lang & Take 6

The Review
The best thing about this movie is that the whole premise of making a comic strip come to life was what dictated everything from casting, to set design to cinematography and even the soundtrack tried in a lot places to capture that 1930's vibe, though it failed miserably on that front in my personal opinion. I truly appreciated the fact this movie's color palette paid homage to it's roots and stuck with only using the seven color method that the comic strip did. I can only imagine that for movie goers of the time it truly looked like nothing they'd seen before. Though I remember reading that Beatty got lambasted at times for this by a lot of studio executives and even some movie critics.

I feel like this movie was a fresh attempt to add a touch of originality to a cinema. For me it works and actually still holds up. I'm not a fan of CGI so all the modeling and set design done in this movie really just makes me melt. I think this movie is very misunderstood probably because a lot of people my age and the general movie going public back in 1990 didn't understand or have access to the source material. As a kid, the simple and archetypes and intention one dimensionality of each character makes it a straight forward story filled with grotesque featured simpletons going up against a guy who you knew wasn't going to lose.

As an adult with an affinity for classic gangster flicks and a bonafided comic book geek that is quite literally a walking encyclopedia for the golden age of comics and the precursors that came before one of the best American art forms, I see something different, a dark and satiric story that went unappreciated and quite honestly, I think it had a lot to do with the over promotion of the movie. Nothing was going to live up to the Batman hype of the year before. That movie was a true cultural touchstone. Something like that can never be duplicated, only poorly imitated.

I was only like two and half years old when the movie hit theaters and I didn't see the movie until I was around 6 or so. But it truly grabbed my attention and kept it. I revisited the film quite often in my adolescent years as the Batman film franchise slowly started to self-destruct. I often think how odd and strange it is that a movie like Dick Tracy which was such a star studded extravaganza with excellent music, stunning special effects, fantastic costume designing and amazing make-up/prosthetic designs is so wholly and callously discarded and forgotten.

For me, Dick Tracy is a classic unto itself. Compared with other films of this decade, it makes a strong statement. It's a good, strong film that doesn't depend on blood, violence, profanity or nudity. Even though it is rated PG-13 I still think it is actually a good family film to watch, especially since most of the sexual innuendo and double entendres "should" go right over most small children's heads.

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Grade: B-

Aces for Acting

• Al Pacino

MVP

• Warren Beatty

Favorite Character

• Mumbles

Best Character Interactions

• Dick Tracy and Breathless

Best Scene

• Breathless meets Dick Tracy

Notable Quotable

Most Memorable Moment

• Big Boy Caprice: [after finding the bug in the ceiling, whispers] We're being bugged, we're being bugged. We're being bugged.

Fun Facts

• Robert Ebert gave this movie a four star review. 
• Dick Tracy movie is a Disney property (I forget that all the time myself).
• Dick Tracy was the first film to use digital audio.

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Did I whet your appetite to watch Dick Tracy for the first time or maybe just the first time in a long time?
Be sure to come back Monday when I discuss Election.
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