Cheap Dick Tracy (DVD) (Warren Beatty, Madonna) (Warren Beatty) Price

Related Products

Customer Reviews of Dick Tracy

Colorful Comic Caper Delivers
DICK TRACY is one of the best comic book films ever. It adapted what was for many years a tired, one-note comic strip into a colorful, masterful, funny film. Much of this accomplishment goes to Warren Beatty as director and his entire production team who have created a believable primary color world where Tracy and the hideously physical villains can thrive. Yes, the viewers are thrust into the comic strip world for a couple of hours. True to this, most of the characters are very one dimensional, quite often based on their physical appearance. The only place where the story goes into a more complex area is in Tracy's relationship with Breathless Mahoney, (the passively powerful Madonna). In scenes with her, the color pallette is muted and Tracy reveals an inner conflict well beyond any comic strip characterization. Beatty is very able to carry that device through, both as director and performer. Other standouts in the film are William Forsythe as "Flattop", Mandy Patinkin as "88 Keys", Dustin Hoffman as "Mumbles" and the scene stealing Al Pacino as "Big Boy Caprice". The film is filled with great cameo roles totally adding to the enjoyment. The film is given a brilliant musical score by Danny Elfman (BATMAN, GOOD WILL HUNTING, PLANET OF THE APES), offering the final grace notes to Beatty's vision. Also of note are several songs written by American theatre composer Stephen Sondheim who has written some of his most melodic work ever for this film. He was even honered with an Academny Award. The songs are often used to cover brilliant visual montages that pepper throughout the film. The film was also acknowledged for the make-up which needs to be seen to be believed. The closing credits are as enjoyable as teh film as you discover who was under all those latex faces. In my opinion, this is one of Warren Beatty's best, most focused contributions to the film industry. My yellow fedora is off to Beatty and his crew...

---

Decent Music, Disturbing Movie
This movie has its ups and downs - Warren Beatty does a solid job as Dick Tracy, Madonna does a good job as Breathless (you can tell she really worked hard to get it right), Glenne Headly does ok with the faithful Tess, and Pacino plays a great over the top villain.

The thing about this film is that it could have been really good with everything it had going for it. But the very tricks that Beatty (as director) tries to use to draw us further into the comic world are distracting, and keep reminding us that we're watching a movie. This is particularly seen in the villains - many of them have comic features - watermelon heads, completely flat heads, no face, etc - an interesting approach. However, they are so completely grotesque and bizarre that it's hard to not flinch every time you see one - it's very much like watching a nightmare you think you might have one day.

Steven Sondheim's music is, of course, fabulous - you can buy the soundtrack for this movie used on Amazon for about $2 - check it out.

With a stronger plot, and better writing and scripting, it could have been good. But instead it feels like something Tim Burton would have made when he was in the 4th grade.

See it if you like comic book movies. Otherwise, if you're in the mood for a dark movie that relates to comic books, check out something like Unbreakable or Batman.

Sincerely,

Thomas

---

Almost Excellent
This film comes together much better than I expected. I think that Warren Beatty, an otherwise terrific actor, lacks something as Dick Tracy. He's too sober. I once read that someone thought Bruce Willis would have been perfect as Tracy. I think that that casting would have made this film a classic....a missed opportunity. I still recommend it as great fun.