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Director: Warren Beatty
Genre: Action/ Crime
Back in 1990, people went from saying, “Whose Dick Tracy?” to “Wow! Dick Tracy!” It was practically overnight that the comic strip character by Chester Gould became a resurrected hit after the 1940’s and 1950’s.
This is one movie that pulled me in back when I was a kid; so much so that I dressed as Dick Tracy for Halloween that year. The movie's popularity was big but short lived. McDonald's had one of those meal games based off the movie. A variety of Dick Tracy action figures and accessories were released which were popular when I was in grade school. There was even a video game released for the original Nintendo one year later.
This movie is really a modern day film noir that keeps a taste of its comic strip nature. It also has some of Hollywood’s biggest stars in a variety of rolls.
Warren Beatty plays the yellow trench coat wearing detective who suspects the worst crime boss of the city, Al “Big Boy” Caprice after Caprice’s rival crime boss, “Lips” Manlis, disappears. Once Caprice suddenly becomes the owner of Manlis’s Club Ritz, Tracy is hard-set on putting Caprice away for a long time.
The drop-dead gorgeous singer of the Club Ritz, “Breathless” Mahony, ends up falling in love with Tracy as he encourages her to testify against her unwelcomed new boss, Caprice, for killing “Lips” Manlis. This struggle with Tracy makes his efforts to get his own life together more difficult.
His girlfriend, Tess Trueheart, is patiently waiting for Tracy to purpose. He’s reluctant to do so because being he doesn’t want to bring her into the danger he faces tackling the city’s hard core criminals ever day.
Tracy also befriends an orphan kid he finds living on the streets. Once “the Kid” takes to Tracy, Tracy finds himself taking on a father figure rule for “the Kid” who never had one in his life.
On the other end of the spectrum, “Big Boy” is trying hard to get all crime bosses in the city to band together to kill Tracy and get him out of the way.
If the plot sounds complicated or just plain stupid, it isn’t. This movie was a success when it came out and rightly so. It’s incredibly entertaining. The scenes do a good job giving that film noir feeling but with vibrant colors and camera angles.
Warren Beatty is great portraying the classic detective torn between his job and his private life. The casting is perfect, including Al Pacino, Dustin Hoffman, James Caan and even Madonna. Of course, Madonna’s character “Breathless” is rather riskee’.
There is one thing I like about her character. Despite the flashy get-up you’d expect from a lounge singer of the 30’s and 40’s, she does a fantastic job depicting “Breathless” as not just a body but as a mind with a yearning to do what she knows is right. Madonna portrays the conflict Breathless struggles with in doing what she knows is right and doing what she’s paid for- entertaining a bunch of criminals.
I’m sure this sounds like an adult film. Believe it or not, this is a Disney movie. Aside from the constant gun fire and criminals getting pumped full of lead, it’s worth watching with some reservations surrounding Madonna's flashy dress.
The variety of criminals, “Little Face”, “Mumbles”, “The Brow”, “Flattop” and “Itchy” to name a few were fun to watch. The make-up is nostalgic. If you’re in for a taste of classic film brought up to date, this is worth seeing.
