The comic strip detective finds his life vastly complicated when Breathless Mahoney makes advances towards him while he is trying to battle Big Boy Caprice's united mob.
A suicidally disillusioned liberal politician puts a contract out on himself and takes the opportunity to be bluntly honest with his voters by affecting the rhythms and speech of hip-hop music and culture.
A Los Angeles Rams quarterback, accidentally taken away from his body by an overanxious angel before he was meant to die, returns to life in the body of a recently murdered millionaire.
Johnny has just been released from prison, and gets a job in a café beside waitress Frankie. Frankie is a bit of a loner, but Johnny is determined their romance will blossom.
Director:
Garry Marshall
Stars:
Al Pacino,
Michelle Pfeiffer,
Hector Elizondo
A lawyer is forced to defend a guilty judge, while defending other innocent clients, and trying to find punishment for the guilty and provide justice for the innocent.
All Tess Trueheart wants is to settle down to a quiet life with her boyfriend, detective Dick Tracy. But there's something pretty rotten going on in town, with someone pretty rotten behind it, and Tracy has his hands full with the likes of villain Big Boy Caprice and with the almost irresistible Breathless Mahoney.Written by
Jeremy Perkins {J-26}
The "gangsters' boardroom" scene features an on-screen reunion between Al Pacino and James Caan, who played the Corleone brothers in The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather: Part II (1974). See more »
Goofs
When Dick Tracy jumps out of a window and slides down the lamp post, the stunt man, playing him, bangs his head on the curve of the pole towards the top. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Radio Announcer:
Gangland enforcers broke the arms of an elderly newsdealer this afternoon when he refused to share his week's receipts with them. Stacks of newspapers were tossed in the gutter as the thugs wrecked the business and made their getaway. Lunchtime crowds were paralyzed by the suddenness of the crime. Not a hand was raised in protest.
See more »
Crazy Credits
Touchstone logo appears in black and white in the opening credits. See more »
Labor of love for star and director Warren Beatty, Dick Tracy was a film I hated when it first came out. I was a kid and stupid, only caring about what's cool. What was cool then (and sadly still is) was "dark and gritty" heroes like Batman. Dick Tracy was considered corny and lame. When I first watched it I thought it was a kids' movie and I was at that age where anything like that I hated. Happily, I feel much differently about the film now that I'm older.
Dick Tracy is a live-action cartoon, with eye-popping visuals decked out in bright primary colors. It's a beautiful film to behold. Everyone involved in the stylized look of this movie should be proud. The sets, the lighting, the matte paintings, the makeup and effects are all superior to any CGI crap we get today. Real work and passion went into this and it shows.
The cast is great. Beatty is criticized by many for not being the right fit for Tracy or for being too old. While he's not a perfect representation of the character, I feel he does quite well and his age never occurred to me while watching it. Madonna gives easily her best performance in this movie. That's meant slightly as a slam I guess, as most of her other work is very weak. But it's also meant as a compliment. Here she plays to her strengths: sex appeal and "oomph." Her double entendres and skin-tight dresses make Breathless Mahoney a very memorable character. There's also some fine support from Glenne Headley and Charlie Korsmo. And who can forget the villains! Chester Gould's distinctive-looking villains come to life thanks to superb makeup, played in many cases by uncredited stars. The leader of the bunch is Big Boy Caprice, played by the wonderfully over-the-top Al Pacino. Pacino was having a lot of fun with the role and it shows.
My only real complaint lies in the music. Not the Stephen Sondheim songs -- they're great. But the Danny Elfman musical score is way too similar to the one he did for Batman the year before. It's very lazy and doesn't seem to fit the action of the film. Forget what you've read from naysayers about this movie and judge it for yourself. It's a fun movie with exceptional visuals and colorful ambiance.
14 of 17 people found this review helpful.
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Labor of love for star and director Warren Beatty, Dick Tracy was a film I hated when it first came out. I was a kid and stupid, only caring about what's cool. What was cool then (and sadly still is) was "dark and gritty" heroes like Batman. Dick Tracy was considered corny and lame. When I first watched it I thought it was a kids' movie and I was at that age where anything like that I hated. Happily, I feel much differently about the film now that I'm older.
Dick Tracy is a live-action cartoon, with eye-popping visuals decked out in bright primary colors. It's a beautiful film to behold. Everyone involved in the stylized look of this movie should be proud. The sets, the lighting, the matte paintings, the makeup and effects are all superior to any CGI crap we get today. Real work and passion went into this and it shows.
The cast is great. Beatty is criticized by many for not being the right fit for Tracy or for being too old. While he's not a perfect representation of the character, I feel he does quite well and his age never occurred to me while watching it. Madonna gives easily her best performance in this movie. That's meant slightly as a slam I guess, as most of her other work is very weak. But it's also meant as a compliment. Here she plays to her strengths: sex appeal and "oomph." Her double entendres and skin-tight dresses make Breathless Mahoney a very memorable character. There's also some fine support from Glenne Headley and Charlie Korsmo. And who can forget the villains! Chester Gould's distinctive-looking villains come to life thanks to superb makeup, played in many cases by uncredited stars. The leader of the bunch is Big Boy Caprice, played by the wonderfully over-the-top Al Pacino. Pacino was having a lot of fun with the role and it shows.
My only real complaint lies in the music. Not the Stephen Sondheim songs -- they're great. But the Danny Elfman musical score is way too similar to the one he did for Batman the year before. It's very lazy and doesn't seem to fit the action of the film. Forget what you've read from naysayers about this movie and judge it for yourself. It's a fun movie with exceptional visuals and colorful ambiance.