Dick Tracy (1990)

[TomServoFan]

Anyone remembers this one? it's an excellent and highly underrated adaptation of the comics with an excellent all star cast, great production values and good performances.


This definitely pre-dates "Sin City" with the same style and stuff to make it look like the comics.

[lonewolf23k]

Well, I liked it. I loved Al Pacino's performance as "Big Boy".

[Toku King]

I saw it a good while ago, but I remember loving it. Very dark and sinister, but filled with color and action.

[TomServoFan]

I remembered when i was 8 years old in 1990 and i remembered all the hype! i had some of the Mcdonald plastic cups, trading cards, action figures, t-shirt, and a magazine on the movie. I saw it twice in a theater and i loved it! it became one of my favorite movies ever, i also enjoyed watching the classic animated series on Nick at that age.

[rick]

I enjoyed Beatty's low cost technical trick of only using four colors for costumes, sets, vehicles etc.

It added a subtle comics page feel.

[Thorlief]

I liked it, funny flick. Not exceptional but use of primary colors (as rick said) was a genius touch

[TomServoFan]

Do you think this movie influenced the recent "Sin City" flick with the same style?

[rick]

Do you think this movie influenced the recent "Sin City" flick with the same style?

I think whatever similarities in style there are between the two films is based more coincidentally on the fact that both are completely “On Set” films that use big, dirty cities, as their location.

Still, Sin City was trying to use the same color palette as its original comics source, and it does seem that while I don’t quite think that Dick Tracy was an actual influence on Sin City, I do think that it is quite fair to say that Tracy definitely foreshadows what Rodriguez would do 15 years later.

[Scorpion13]

I didnt like it all that much.

Sure, the set design and all that stuff was great stuff, but the movie itself was disappointing.

Tracy never got down to business. It was always stuff with his girlfriend, and that kid. And then he got framed, which would have been interesting in a sequel, but not in the first movie.

I was hoping to see him to some actual detective work, have some gunfights and car chases and whatnot. More than what was in the movie to begin with.

Of course, it being a Disney movie about a guy fighting deformed, bloodthirsty gangsters in the 1930' sure didnt help

[TomServoFan]

Well how about a remake then?

[Scorpion13]

Well how about a remake then?

Id see it.

Theyd have to fix some of the problems with the first, though.

[Tobias March]

I really enjoyed it. Beatty did some very clever things with it and the dialogue scenes with Pacino were wonderful. Strapping down Tess Trueheart to a huge set of gears "Can't you see I love you".

I rediscovered it ten years ago and was glad to see I enjoyed it even more than when I saw it in the cinema aged 10.

And I didn't hate Madonna!? What the frick?

[ultramandingo]

........ida liked it better if some one with less power and ego did it - and didnt cast all his movie star pals - circa 90s era sam rami or coen bros woula been perfect - dark man meets hudsucker proxy - staring bruce cammbell ofcourse

[mattx110]

It's a fun movie. And the kyle baker comic version is fun too.

[Tobias March]

It's a fun movie. And the kyle baker comic version is fun too.

Oh I remember that. It was intense - at least Breathless Mahoney's origin. Brrr. Disturbed me.

That was the issue with Moleman wasn't it?

[TomServoFan]

I thought Madonna was hot in this movie as Mahoney.

[mattx110]

........ida liked it better if some one with less power and ego did it - and didnt cast all his movie star pals - circa 90s era sam rami or coen bros woula been perfect - dark man meets hudsucker proxy - staring bruce cammbell ofcourse
Isn't that another director with an ego that would cast his pals?

[GRANT!]

It's a fun movie. And the kyle baker comic version is fun too.

That's one of the first comics I owned. I loved it.

The movie was all right. I was a big Dick Tracy fan when I was a kid (though I grew up on the Collins strips from the 80s). I think I was looking forward to that one more then Batman.

[lonewolf23k]

I didnt like it all that much.

Sure, the set design and all that stuff was great stuff, but the movie itself was disappointing.

Tracy never got down to business. It was always stuff with his girlfriend, and that kid. And then he got framed, which would have been interesting in a sequel, but not in the first movie.

I was hoping to see him to some actual detective work, have some gunfights and car chases and whatnot. More than what was in the movie to begin with.

Of course, it being a Disney movie about a guy fighting deformed, bloodthirsty gangsters in the 1930' sure didnt help

Well, apparantly it was true to the source material, according to Wikipedia. Dick Tracy was never really about fine detective work, but more about the Chase.

[Scorpion13]

Well, apparantly it was true to the source material, according to Wikipedia. Dick Tracy was never really about fine detective work, but more about the Chase.

Well, I dont mean REAL detective work, I meant cinematic detective work. Like, car chases, fist and gunfights and stuff like that.

You know, REAL detective work.

[BoosterBronze]

I loved this movie. The 1940's sensibility, the dance numbers, the hyper-stylized world, and frankly, I loved the all-star cast. It made it seem fun.

[The Zapper]

For some reason I always liked Flat Top. He had a really cool death in the novelization. The novel was pretty damn good. At least I remember it being pretty damn good.

[the goddamn batman]

I liked that there was only one shade for every color.

Beyond that it wasn't a very good movie.

I don't think it's at all an influence on Frank Miller's comics, and the Sin City comics were the only influence for the Sin City film. I don't really see any similarites between them.

[The Batman]

I've always really like this movie. I thought Beatty did a great job in the director's chair of bringing the feel of the strip to the big screen. I thought it was too bad that they went through so much of Tracy's rouges gallery all at once, but there's also the reality that they'd probably never really be able to build a movie around Littleface or the Brow.

Those Baker comics were great stuff too. First thing I'd ever seen by Baker, I hope I still have them around somewhere. Those were published by Disney weren't they?

[MakeshiftHero]

Well how about a remake then?

There are plans for another movie but there are ownership rights being argued over. And I think that has been going on for years, so it doesn't look hopeful.

As for the movie I found a new copy at Hastings the other day and bought it right then and there. It's a good movie for when it was made and it helps me get my noir fix every now and then.

[MakeshiftHero]

Isn't that another director with an ego that would cast his pals?

Yes, yes he is. He needs to go live in a log cabbin up in the mountains with no working phone lines.

[Shellhead]

I definitely didn't like this movie. I tried to watch it once back when it came out, but ended up walking down the hall at the multiplex and watching Bird on a Wire instead. That was a much better movie, more action and more humor, plus no ridiculous-looking villains. The worst about Dick Tracy was the unusually bad acting by Beatty, who looked dazed in nearly every scene that I saw before I bailed. A couple of years ago, Dick Tracy was on network tv, so I tried it again, and this time lasted a little longer before switching channels. It was like the whole thing was one big insult to comics, making everything too obvious and completely shallow.

[JohnPopa]

The movie looked good, the villains looked good and were played with the proper vigor, the movie was drug down by Warren Beatty's flaccid and seemingly disinterested performance and the equally yawn-inducing performance of Glenn Headly as Tess Trueheart.

[hoffmandu]

Great flick, from start to finish. I felt they really captured the feel of DT on film. Not too mention the star-studded cast............easily the most star-studded comic flick ever. kind of sucks that it's been sort of forgotten as of recent.

[Thorlief]

The movie looked good, the villains looked good and were played with the proper vigor, the movie was drug down by Warren Beatty's flaccid and seemingly disinterested performance and the equally yawn-inducing performance of Glenn Headly as Tess Trueheart.

that's one thing that always bugged me. Everyone is great in this movie but Warren Beatty just looks asleep the whole time. Why? He wanted the movie, directed it and delivers such a insipid performance? Meh

[jesse_custer]

It's a good movie, but not a great one by any means. I also agree it laid the foundation for Sin City, but Sin City was a much better film overall.

[Shellhead]

that's one thing that always bugged me. Everyone is great in this movie but Warren Beatty just looks asleep the whole time. Why? He wanted the movie, directed it and delivers such a insipid performance? Meh

Beatty was probably exhausted from those late-night meetings with Madonna.

[SPAfreak]

I just caught part of this movie earlier today and I've got to ask: How did this movie get a PG rating when Madonna's nipples are on display early on in the movie? She wasn't topless but they were pretty clearly visible through her dressing gown.

What about the children? Didn't anybody think of the children?

[jesse_custer]

Clash of the Titans is PG but showed off some pretty big knockers, no clothing at all. The ratings are sometimes a little inconsistent, to say the least.