Hello & welcome back to A Look at Disney. And this month, we will looking at the characters that uphold the law (Do note , that not every character featured will be wielding a badge) as they crack down the cases that need to be solved. Now, let me clarify, while most of the characters in these can qualify as detectives or something along the way, not everything I'm not looking at exactly falls under the mystery genre. Such as the case with this movie but it does feature an iconic police detective. Today, we are looking at Warren Beatty's big screen adaption of Dick Tracy. Now, I had never seen this movie before but I had known of it and well, it's not bad but two other movie's seemed to loom over this one. The first being Who Framed Roger Rabbit, which you can kinda see the comparisons as they have a similar feel and vibe to it with them being period pieces that focus on a detective character. The other movie that really seems to loom over this movie is Tim Burton's Batman. This movie really seems to want to copy the visual style and flair of the '89 Batman. With how big and colorful, it wants to be, and I know Todd In The Shadows made this joke in his review of Dick Tracy but it really does seem like Danny Elfman just copied his score from Batman for this movie. Is this movie bad? I'm not exactly sure.
The Plot
We open as a young boy that calls himself Kid (who really doesn't have much of a personality beyond eating) is watching an illegal card game and soon, Kid sees the gang members playing the card game are gunned down by Flattop and Itchy. Two of Big Boy Caprice's top goons, and okay I gotta bring this up as I'd be remiss This movie is filled with a lot of great actors on the mob side and they did some great makeup to make them stand out but save for Pacino, you can't recognize any of the actors as they buried so much under the makeup. I'm torn on this, on one hand, this shows dedication but on the other hand, I don't think you needed these big name actors. This also brings me to my second issue in terms of the cast. This movie is overstuffed, there are too many characters in this movie. This movie really could've trimmed down the number of characters that were featured in the movie. Honestly, I think that would have helped to keep track of some of the characters a bit easier.
Police detective Dick Tracy shows up at the scene of the crime and see spelled out in bullets, that someone has told to him to eat lead. I'm not so sure, that's good for a diet. Here, Tracy catches the Kid in a act of petty thievery and rescues him from one ugly looking gang member. He decides to take him in and leaves him with his gal, Tess Trueheart. Who Beatty has no chemistry with at all. And of course, he has better chemistry with the femme fatale, Breathless Mahoney as A. Madonna gives the best performance in this movie and when you consider when this movie came out, Beatty and Madonna were an item. And it really shows, and you wanted Tracy and Breathless to end up together at the end of the movie.
While all of this is going on, Big Boy Caprice (Tracy's # 1 enemy) tricks his mentor, Lips Manlis into signing over his club, Club Ritz and then gives him what is known as The Bath.
This was easily, one of the eeriest moments as this was rather quite graphic for a PG movie. It's at this point, that Big Boy steals Lip's girl, Breathless and this sends Tracy into quite a search for Lips Manlis. Tracy starts by interrogating Flattop, Itchy, & Mumbles. Three of the men that work for Big Boy and outta these Dustin Hoffman as Mumbles turns in probably the best performance. Tracy goes to the Club Ritz to arrest Big Boy for Lips' murder but Breathless is the only witness and isn't willing to testify as she instead tries to seduce Tracy. So, Big Boy can't be indicted and is released from jail and Big Boy is successfully released from jail. Big Boy's next plan is to bring together all of the big criminals of the city. Which, the movie never says where it's set but I got a Chicago vibe from the designs of the movie. One refuses by Big Boy for refusing as he walks out to his car. And it blows up as he enters it. Yeah, this movie doesn't hold back on the deaths. Tracy goes to investigate and wonder what is going on. The day after this, Big Boy and his men kidnap Tracy. And Big Boy attempts to bribe Tracy by promising him half of the city but Tracy is such an upright citizen that he will not take it. So, instead Big Boy tries to kill Tracy but Tracy is saved by Kid. And Kid is rewarded with an honorary detective certificate. Which will only be temporary until he chooses a name.
Breathless shows up at Tracy's apartment that night in the hopes of seducing Tracy once again and Tracy allows Breathless to kiss him. Yeah, his gal Tess isn't gonna be happy about that. And what do ya know, I was right. As Tess shows up and witnesses this and this causes her to want to leave town. Yeah, so we get a bit of turmoil for the relationship but it's honestly the least interesting part of the movie. Tracy decides to lead a raid on the Club Ritz and while it appears to be unsuccessful but it is actually a diversion so that officer Bug Bailey can operate a listening device, so that they can more intel on Big Boy and his activities. However, Big Boy captures Bug and traps him as an ensuing gun battle takes place and a mysterious stranger known simply as The Blank and kills Pruneface, one of the men that had been working for Big Boy. Big Boy's other me escapes as Tracy saves Bug from taking the second bath of the movie. Tracy once again attempts to get a testimony from Breathless but she'll only agree to it if Tracy'll give into her advances. Tess suddenly has a change of heart and decides to come back to Tracy but she is kidnapped by The Blank with the aid of Club Ritz's piano player, 88 Keys. The Blank sets up Tracy for the kidnapping and murder of a corrupt DA, John Fletcher played by an all too brief cameo by Dick Van Dyke. And Tracy is put behind bars because of the set up and Kid is now sent to the orphanage but he comes to visit Tracy and reveals that he's chose the name, Dick Tracy Jr.
Big Boy's business is thriving and things are going better than ever for him. However, it all comes crashing down, when The Blank frames Big Boy for the kidnapping of Tess. Tracy is released by his colleagues on New Year's Eve. Tracy goes to interrogate Mumbles and gets the intel that he had been looking for. Which leads to a shootout outside the Club Ritz. Which results in some of Big Boy's men being casualties. Big Boy flees from the club and leaves his men to die with Tess in tow and this leads to a warehouse, where Big Boy ties to a gear and this leads to a fight between Tracy and Big Boy but the fight is halted as The Blank appears and holds both men at gunpoint and offers to share the city with Tracy after Big Boy is dead. Big Boy takes advantage of this distraction and opens fire on Tracy but Tracy catches notice of this and sends Big Boy falling to his death. So, this just leaves The Blank. The Blank is now mortally wounded and is revealed to be none other than Breathless Mahoney. And she passes but not before getting one more kiss on Tracy. Okay, this is perhaps one of the worst kept twists in any movie ever as this is the big thing that people always seem to bring up in reviews of this movie. It seems to split people on whether or not, it's a good thing or not. Me, I had known the story and reveal for some time before watching the movie but even with that, I think the reveal works really well.
Characters
Main Character
Dick Tracy played by Warren Beatty
Beatty as Dick Tracy was alright. He fit the character perfectly well but didn't really bring much in terms of screen presence. He was surrounded by more interesting looking characters, even if they didn't have in much of personality. Still, he was fun to watch as this pulpy detective.
Supporting Characters
Now, I won't be looking at all of the supporting characters and instead only focusing on the three/four that actually mattered for the story.
Tess Trueheart played by Glenne Headly
There is seriously nothing to this character. She is so boring and unneeded in the movie. Tess comes across as more of an afterthought than a fully thought out character in the movie. You could take this character out of the movie and lose nothing.
The Kid played by Charlie Korsmo
The Kid is an okay character but he comes across as really nothing more than the kid sidekick. We do see him get Tracy outta some jams here and there. And he does contribute more to the plot than Trueheart.
Breathless Mahoney/The Blank played by Madonna
Easily, the best performance in this movie belongs to Madonna. She nails the character of Breathless Mahoney with the sex appeal and seductress nature of the character. Playing a femme fatale is a natural fit for Madonna. Because, and I mean no disrespect to Madonna but from everything that I've seen of Madonna in the real world, she comes across with the similar traits of that of what you see with femme fatale characters.
The Blank
The Blank was such a cool anti-hero character. Now, I've not been able to confirm whether or not Madonna voiced the character but seeing as it is revealed that Breathless is The Blank, I'm going to group the two together. Seriously, I would love a spinoff focused on The Blank. Granted, kinda hard considering that Breathless died towards the end of the movie. But maybe, a one-shot comic. Hey, I know Beatty has wanted to do a sequel for years. Which would be kinda fun and if The Rocketeer can get an upcoming sequel, I don't see why Dick Tracy can't. Granted, there are some legality issues but Beatty did get the film rights back. And it can't be any weirder than The Dick Tracy TV Special.
Villain
Big Boy Caprice played Al Pacino
I have two questions regarding Pacino in this movie. 1, What movie was he in? Because his acting did NOT match with the rest of the tone of the movie, and he was just awful as the big bad in the movie. I get the want to play this character like a cartoon character as this film is based on a comic strip but the rest of the cast was pretty straightforward. 2. how the heck did this performance garner him an Oscar Nod? I'm not kidding as Pacino got a nomination for Best Supporting Actor at the 63rd Oscars. WHY? This performance is atrocious. It's impossible to ever take Pacino as Big Boy seriously as a threat. My only guess is that he got the nod because of the clout that his name carried at the time and still carries to this day.
My Final Thoughts
This movie is okay. Some of the cast members could have used a little work and Pacino made an awful acting choice with Big Boy. Granted, the look of the movie is great and that does help with some of the flaws of the movie. It's not perfect but it is pretty enjoyable. Join me tomorrow as we look at the 2002 Disney Channel Original Movie....
Get A Clue
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