Batman may lay claim to the title of "the world's greatest detective," but that only accounts for superhero comics. When it comes to crime comics, no detective can top Dick Tracy. The creation of cartoonist Chester Gould, the square-jawed Tracy debuted in a comic strip published by the Detroit Mirror newspaper on October 4, 1931. The syndicated strip grew in popularity (due largely to the bizarre-looking villains Gould would have Tracy regularly face), being adapted into a radio drama and movies during the '30s and '40s, a TV show in the '50s, and a series of five-minute cartoons in 1961.
But while the original strip is still being published to this day, it's been decades since Dick Tracy has had any sort of real mainstream notoriety. He did make something of a comeback in 1990, however, in the form of a live-action movie starring and directed by Warren Beatty. Perhaps in an attempt to capitalize on the success of Tim Burton's Batman a year prior, the movie was promoted like crazy upon its release. It had its own video game and toy line, a tie-in with McDonald's, and even a midnight release decades before midnight releases for summer blockbusters became the norm. But while the movie was a huge success at the box office, and was nominated for seven Oscars (three of which it won), it was met with only moderate critical approval. But I enjoyed the movie a lot, and I'll tell you why.
Some cops are just cops. But Dick Tracy (Beatty) is a force of nature, an unstoppable warrior dispensing justice in a city overrun by organized crime. Tracy's determination has nearly put the city's various mob bosses out of business, which gives ambitious gangster Big Boy Caprice (Al Pacino) an idea. He proposes that the remaining mob bosses pool their resources and snuff out Tracy for good. Not all of them agree to his terms, but soon find Big Boy violently taking their turf for himself. But it primarily brings him more attention from Tracy, who ramps up his attempts to bring Big Boy to justice.
The ordeal with Big Boy isn't the only thing Tracy must deal with, though. He's become the temporary guardian of a nameless street urchin (Charlie Korsmo) who answers only to "Kid." He gets some help in dealing with Kid from his devoted girlfriend, Tess Trueheart (Glenne Headly), though their relationship has hit a rough patch due to the flirtatious advances of a sultry lounge singer named Breathless Mahoney (Madonna), And when a mysterious, faceless figure called "The Blank" begins eliminating members of Big Boy's gang, things couldn't get hairier for Tracy.
Okay, so Dick Tracy might not be the best movie it could have been. It has its share of flaws, sure. But even at its worst, it's still a serviceable flick that's more entertaining that some might give it credit for. A lot of it is because of just how earnest the movie is. It never seems to want to be anything more than the sum of its parts. And that sum is a comic strip brought to a brightly-colored life, a 100-minute amusement park ride that's as fun as it could possibly be.
As I said before, Warren Beatty is not only Dick Tracy's star, but its director as well. And while it did not earn him an Oscar nomination for Best Director as his efforts on Heaven Can Wait and Reds did, I thought his work here was still pretty good. Beatty's extensive use of oversaturated primary colors and flat matte paintings are a little jarring at first, but they actually help to establish the comic strip atmosphere that Beatty was aiming for. It's apparent that he's a fan of the Dick Tracy property, because his enthusiasm shows. You can tell he wanted to make the best movie he possibly could. And to be honest, I think he succeeded.
But where I thought the movie struggles a bit was in the writing department. Written by Jim Cash and Jack Epps, Jr. (with uncredited rewrites by Beatty and Bo Goldman), the script is what I felt was the movie's weakest element. But it's primarily due to how fast-paced it is. The story moves along so quickly that it's hard for anything to sink in. And there's a lot of going on here, too. The movie is practically rendered a blur because it keeps moving from scene to scene without allowing the audience to catch up.
Outside of that, the script isn't wholly awful. It's obviously a simple tale of good vs. evil, as most comic book movies are. That sort of thing can be hackneyed if handled poorly. But Dick Tracy does it well enough for me. Dick Tracy might not be the brooding loner that Burton's Batman was, but his determination and devotion to justice make him a fine hero. And although the villains were basically one-dimensional gangster caricatures, the script still crafts those caricatures in such a way that they're perfectly acceptable bad guys.
The cast, meanwhile, all put forth very strong performances. Beatty is impressive, playing the titular detective with conviction. Though he doesn't quite match the hawk-nosed, square-jawed look that Dick Tracy's had since his creation, Beatty still does a fantastic job in bringing the character to life.
In the role of our primary villain, Al Pacino is as over-the-top as one could possibly get. Pacino goes beyond chewing the scenery; he practically devours it. Every second he spends on the screen is a lot of fun, as he plays Big Boy Caprice with everything he's got. But I'm honestly surprised that he was actually nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar. He didn't win, losing out to Joe Pesci's performance from Goodfellas, but the fact he was even nominated is still astounding. It just doesn't seem like the kind of movie or performance that would get the Academy's attention.
The rest of the cast put forth respectable performances as well. I don't think many people will argue with me if I say Madonna is a better singer than an actress, but her work here isn't bad at all. The role of Breathless Mahoney was pretty much built for her; it suits her sultry early-'90s persona so well that she's practically playing herself. Of course, it helps that having her play a lounge singer gives her a chance to display what made her famous to begin with. The three songs Madonna performs for the movie's soundtrack are catchy and entertaining, and Madonna belts them out like a champ.
I liked Glenne Headly a lot too. She provides the perfect counterbalance to Madonna's sexy "bad girl" personality, and was charming and likable to boot. Dustin Hoffman and William Forsythe also provided amusing yet sadly minor performances, while Mandy Patinkin isn't bad at all in his tiny role as Caprice's club's piano player and The Blank's sidekick.
The only performance I didn't really care for was Charlie Korsmo. It's actually not Korsmo's fault, as he completely throws himself into the role and makes a memorable effort. The problem I had was with how the character was written. Kid is an annoying little brat for a lot of the movie, to the point that I found it hard to like him. Again, that's no fault of Korsmo's, but still, it's annoying to have to deal with Kid so much.
Dick Tracy may have been made in an effort to ride Batman's coattails, but it totally works on its own efforts. It's actually a pretty hard movie to dislike. The movie's a bright, colorful affair where the good guys will always beat the bad guys no matter the odds against them. And what's wrong with a movie like that once in a while?
Final Rating: ***½
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