Dick Tracy (1990) - A Review

 

Underrated masterpiece, in my opinion.

Dick Tracy is an American comic book/action/crime/movie released in 1990 starring Warren Beatty, Madonna, Al Pacino, Dustin Hoffman, Mandy Patinkin, James Caan, Glenne Headley, and Charlie Korsmo. Warren Beatty directed the movie, based on the classic comic strip by Chester Gould.

Warren Beatty as Dick Tracy. So cool.

Warren Beatty plays Dick Tracy, the top detective in the city whose top mission is stopping organized crime. Big Boy Caprice (played by Al Pacino) is the top crime boss in the city and buying up small businesses to beef up his criminal empire. A young street kid (played by Charlie Korsmo) witnesses some gangsters being rubbed out by two of Big Boy's men. Coincidentally, Dick Tracy captures The Kid after he steals a person's watch.

The Kid, Tess Trueheart, and Dick Tracy bonding over food.

Seeing the situation The Kid is in, Dick Tracy takes him in until the paperwork is done to put him in the orphanage (which The Kid does not want to go to). Dick Tracy's girlfriend, Tess Trueheart (played by Glenne Headly) agrees to help take care of The Kid with him. Tess is as understanding of Dick Tracy's position as she can be, but she can't help but feel like he cares more about his job than about her. Dick Tracy loves Tess, but has a hard time expressing that to her...

One of Dick Tracy's biggest challenges is rejecting Breathless Mahoney's advances!

Big Boy Caprice obtains the deed to Club Ritz, the biggest night club in the city, and obtains Breathless Mahoney (played by Madonna) in nefarious fashion. Dick Tracy comes in to investigate this, interrogating Big Boy's hired goons Itchy, Flat Top, and Mumbles, and also Breathless Mahoney. Tracy gets nowhere with them, with Mahoney trying to seduce him. Big Boy then gets all the mob bosses in town to join him; and those who don't, get killed. Dick Tracy is proactive about the situation and thwarts their plan until something goes wrong. Dick Tracy goes to save a colleague being held hostage, and is almost killed until a man with no face (The Blank) saves him.

Dick Tracy has to stop Big Boy from taking over the city, try not to get in too deep with Breathless Mahoney, take care of The Kid, keep his relationship with Tess from falling apart, and figure out whose side The Blank is really on. Can Dick Tracy do it?

Al Pacino as Big Boy Caprice is incredible in this!

I'm just going to say it: Dick Tracy is an underrated masterpiece. This movie is amazing. Warren Beatty kept the comic strip origins front and center in regards to the look of the movie. There are only seven colors in use in the movie, and they are all the same shade throughout. This movie is very colorful and beautiful to look at. The matte painting backgrounds are beautiful as well. A majority of the villains look almost exactly like their comic strip counterparts. So yes, Flat Top does have a flat top of a head. Pruneface is more wrinkly than a California Raisin. Big Boy Caprice, though not overweight, has that stocky physique and villainous face. The make up effects in this are excellent. Of course, Madonna needs no prosthetics, she's perfect as is in this.

Al Pacino's performance in Dick Tracy is over the top - in a good way. He plays the ambitious, abusive crime boss well. You hate him every time he pushes Breathless Mahoney around and slaps her in the face. He is ruthless. He is also funny; all his mumblings and rants when things are falling apart for him are hilarious. Al Pacino is a god! Also great in this is Dustin Hoffman as Mumbles. Great make up for his character as well. His mumbling is unintelligible, and his scenes are actually kind of eerie. Warren Beatty as Dick Tracy is great as well. He is in total control when facing off against gangsters, but he can't seem to openly express his feelings to Tess. He also shows signs of weakness against Breathless Mahoney. Very interesting! Madonna is great in this as a woman who uses her sensuality to get what she wants. She also just wants someone to truly trust and love her. There is some great music in this as well. Madonna and Mandy Patinkin sing some great songs in this! The legendary Stephen Sondheim wrote some really good and catchy songs for Dick Tracy, by the way. I need to buy this soundtrack!

I was way into Dick Tracy back when this movie came out. I couldn't watch it until it premiered on The Disney Channel (remember when the Disney Channel showed a wide variety of things? I miss those days). I loved it! Years go by, decades actually, and I see the Dick Tracy Blu-Ray at the store! I was broke, so I couldn't buy it (something I really regret). Finally, I found it on a streaming site (Tubi), and I immediately watched it! This movie is even better than I remembered! It looks great in HD, and the music really stood out to me this time. It's weird how I could remember exact dialogue from this movie, even though I hadn't seen it in decades! By the way, everybody was making a big deal about Madonna/Breathless Mahoney in this movie back then, but I was all about Glenne Headly/Tess Trueheart! Still am.

So, I highly recommend watching Dick Tracy! I feel this movie doesn't get the love it deserves. It's pretty true to the source material, it looks amazing, has great music, an interesting plot that doesn't drag, and some pretty good action. I always wished there was a sequel to Dick Tracy, but that will never be. Just enjoy this snapshot of early 90s comic book movies. It is great that this movie won some Oscars, it totally deserved them!

Reviewed by David Williams