Hello & welcome back to A Look at Disney and ah, it is that time of year, Halloween is upon us and that means Villians Profile has made its return. This year, we're doing something a bit different as none of the villains that we are looking at, come from the animated Disney Canon. Instead, I have looked to Disney's biggest moneymaker for inspiration.
However, as you can see by the villain, we are looking at, he is not a Marvel villain. Rather, we are looking at villains from Disney's non-MCU comic/superhero theatrical releases. So join me, during this event as we look at the villains of Dick Tracy, The Rocketeer, The Incredibles, and Sky High, and Big Hero 6. I'm doing that way as a way to include Yokai from Big Hero 6. With that out of the way, let's begin as we look at the main villain of Warren Beatty's adaption of the hardboiled detective from the comic strips, as we look at Big Boy Caprice. Now, I'll freely admit that when I reviewed this movie, I hated this character and he brought the movie quite a bit. Has my opinion changed? We will find out.
Actor
Al Pacino
I don't exactly think I need to go over who Al Pacino is, as he's been acting longer than most of us have been alive and had more than proven himself a capable actor in many great roles. I wish this was one of them. But it really isn't, I get that this is a comic book movie and there are a lot of garish designs for the baddies and Big Boy is no different and that they are basically playing cartoon characters but Pacino dialed it up to 11 and then some while playing Big Boy and that was rather annoying.
First Appearance
Big Boy technically first appeared in the Dick Tracy comic strip in 1931 and looking at the Dick Tracy Wiki, Pacino's look was a bit different from the character that he portrayed in the movie.
Now I know that I haven't brought up the source material for other characters that have had a Villains Profile as there isn't much trace of the source material left in those characters except for the names whereas with something like Dick Tracy, it seemed like Beatty was hewing very close to the characters from the original source and I feel that it's important to bring that up Now, for some characters during this event such as Syndrome and Royal Pain, that is not doable as they are original characters inspired by the superhero tropes. The latter especially taking inspiration from the silver age but I did want to touch on this before actually looking at Big Boy's first appearance in the movie.
Let's move onto that now. In the movie, Big Boy is first seen committing one of his many deeds as he gives his mentor, Lips Manlis, The Bath.
Yeah, this does help to establish how evil Big Boy really is and that he is a corrupt gangster that wants to run the town. Oh, and this is after he coerces Lips into signing over the rights to his club.
Personality
Big Boy isn't that interesting of a character when it comes to personality as he's played as an eccentric and over-the-top cartoon character that never feels like a real threat. I hate doing this because this movie has constantly lived in the shadow of Burton's Batman. It was marketed like Batman and Disney/Touchstone wanted to be the next Batman. Well okay then, let's bring in Jack Nicholson's Joker.
Nicholson's Joker is funny while also being intimidating and as you watch the movie, you can actually believe that The Joker could win and defeat Batman at any point in the movie. You never get that sense with Big Boy. He just comes off as a buffoon that somehow stumbled his way into power. Not once while watching this movie, do you get the sense that Big Boy could win. Sure, he does have some success handed to him, when The Blank sets up Tracy and has him arrested and kidnaps Tess but even then, that wasn't his own doing. And that moment is made even stupider because he knows that he didn't kidnap Tess and that he's being set up for it, so what does he do? He decides to kidnap Tess. There seems to be conflicting information here about whether or not, Big Boy hired The Blank to do the kidnapping but I don't think so as The Blank was working to take down Big Boy.
Seriously, that is just a stupid move. e knows that he didn't commit this crime and this let to his big downfall. Just, just, just ugh...
Lackeys
We'd be here all day if I tried to cover all the minions that fall under Big Boy. But I did grab this screengrab to show how many people worked under Big Boy.
As you can see, Big Boy was able to wrangle up quite a few people underneath him and that does show that there is something about him that makes these other gangsters want to work for him. And really the two that seem to be the most important underneath Big Boy seems to be Flattop and maybe Mumbles. Maybe, but Flattop really seems to be the right hand to Big Boy.
At the same time, that presents another issue with this movie altogether. There's just too many villains and none of them except Big Boy get any real development because they are just there to serve under Big Boy and that doesn't allow these villains to be their own characters.
Grand Desire
Again, there seems to be some confliction here as the Disney Wiki states it as wanting to kill Tracy and he does eventually get to that point but it isn't until after Tracy has usurped Big Boy more than once because it originally seemed like he wanted to take over the town and have all the control of the town. Which hey works and it does eventually lead to wanting Tracy dead but before that when the other gangsters want to kill Tracy, he's against that as he knows that killing Tracy will be pinned on him.
Most Evil Deed
I actually think that Big Boy's Most Evil Deed has nothing to do with Tracy as it happens when we first see Big Boy at the beginning of the movie, when he gives Lips, The Bath. That does set up Big Boy as a villain that you think would be threatening but man, is he a disappointment after that moment.
Demise
His demise is a little exciting.
Dick corners him and is about to arrest him, when the Blank, whom Dick has learned is none other than Breathless in disguise, emerges from nowhere and tries to kill Big Boy, who shoots and mortally wounds her. Dick lands a haymaker punch to Big Boy's jaw, sending him plummeting to his death in the drawbridge's gears.
I think the setting of where his death takes place really helps because it is a fun takedown but I contribute that more to the other characters involved more than Big Boy.
Is Big Boy Caprice A Good Villain?
No, he really isn't. He's not fun, he's not threatening and he's not a villain that can be taken seriously as a threat. Quite simply, he's probably the worst villain that I've covered on Villains Profile. There is nothing about his character that is really all that interesting. Join me next time as we head to Hollywoodland to look at...
Neville Sinclair
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