The 2022-2023 Film Journal Entry #69: "Dick Tracy"

The 2022-2023 Film Journal Entry #69: "Dick Tracy"

The 2022-2023 Film Journal Entry #69

By Xavier E. Palacios

"Dick Tracy"

3 out of 5

Directed by Warren Beatty

Rated PG

Adapting Chester Gould's 1931 titular comic strip star, scourge of the big city's criminal underworld, Dick Tracy, works with his fellow police officers to battle the forces of the crime lord, "Big Boy", whose arrest hinges on the testimony of the attractive dame, Breathless Mahoney, while acting as a foster father for an adventurous street orphan named Kid.

My vast knowledge of comic books and comic strips practically does not include anything to do with Dick Tracy for no negative reasons. Tis just the way life turned out. The most I ever knew about the character was a Looney Tunes short I loved as a boy, "The Great Piggy Bank Robbery", which parodied the detective. I distinctly recall this memory because, the next day at school, I tried drawing the exaggerated, gimmicky villains Daffy Duck was fighting the previous night. I loved their jokey gimmicks, just like Dick Tracy's foes had, especially "Hammerhead". He had a hammer for a face, just like The Tick's Chairface Chipendale had a chair for a face. Get it? I dig them.

Otherwise, I was always more of a guy for Wil Eisner's The Spirit. The most I know about this particular 1990 picture is the flick's place in the film history of the post-Batman (1989) comic book movie era and the strange reliance on and belief in the film's success from Dick Tracy' s production company, none other than Disney itself. So, I came to this film with no baggage save my understanding of the piece's history and legacy. I have long been curious to know the flick on its own terms.

Unfortunately, I will not have too much to write about in this entry as Dick Tracy inspires very little within me. Certainly, the film is not insulting, and its heart is in the right place. The filmmakers are clearly trying to make an old-fashioned cops-and-robbers tale on a grand scale, a delightful escapist fantasy. The film is another noble attempt at a live-action cartoon, like Popeye ten years before this film's release. One day, I would like to see and love a living-cartoon movie, but, so far, I have not had such luck. (The only successful film of this style that comes to mind is the feature-length adventure of Adam West's Batman from 1966). But, despite similar films vibing well enough with me, I could not emotionally groove with Dick Tracy.

Personally, the film has a kind of sonically and narratively muddled tone. The entire atmosphere feels too fast-paced, too rambunctious (particularly from Al Pacino's loud and very talkative performance as Big Boy), and too unfocused for me to fall into the tale's world, let alone the film's story, which is uncompellingly light. For example, I get that some of the characters are presented as their almost grotesque comic strip drawings given flesh and bone; a superb idea. But, by the off-kilter direction and rapid presentation, I could not clearly hear these gangster's on-the-nose nicknames spoken, so I did not get their visual gags.

There is really not much to Dick Tracy's plot, and so not too much to write home about. The characters just do not interest me enough to really care about them. A kid gets adopted by Tracy as he rages his war against Big Boy. Tracy kisses Mahoney. This infidelity is witnessed by his girlfriend, the sweet and lovely Tess Trueheart, who I liked the best in the film yet who, by the third act, is shafted to a silent, helpless damsel; her boyfriend's infidelity is never brought up, either. There are a few surprises, like the identity of the mysterious faceless man, whose ultimate goals in his machinations I did not really understand.

Not having a rich, detailed story is no problem, of course, but a cinematic theme park ride still needs to work for me as, well, a cinematic theme park ride. All I took away from the piece is that Dick Tracy does not strike me as an extraordinary character. He is not really much of a supercop, nor is he especially charming, distinguishable from every other fedora-and-coat wearing detective, or convincing. The cast is overall fine, but no one really stands out as supremely poor or wonderful. If the characters were more extraordinary, I would have accepted the mediocre plot.

Thusly, I kind of did not like Dick Tracy because the flick had nothing for me to emotionally connect with. Granted, there are aesthetic elements I liked. There is a clear likeability to the piece that I am just not getting but I totally understand why others do. Heck, I did not dislike Madonna as Mahoney, as I have heard some people do. One must also keep in mind that I initially really disliked Batman Returns but now I like that flick very much. Things can change. Nevertheless, for the time being, my main problem is not that the flick is cartoony and unbelievable, but that the story, characters, and execution of the picture did not excite me. Consequently, by the time Dick Tracy is framed for murder, I had somewhat checked out of the bland picture I really wanted to like. Ah, well, no one can win 'em all.

Naturally, Dick Tracy is best renowned and remembered for the weird and wonderful aesthetic splashed across nearly every shot of the film. Golly is the visual work here stellar! From the very instant the film begins, the audience gets to witness a film so unique I feel confident in saying that I have never seen a picture like this one before. I mean, just look at the very beginning of Dick Tracy! There are matte paintings that feel straight out of a gorgeous, illustrative comic book; soaring shots across the skyscraper-filled city through terrific stop-motion; and such rich colors! From the costumes, lighting, and shades of the buildings and even the very night sky, Dick Tracy is a colorful dream. Plus, there are prosthetics that make the more crazy-looking and impossible characters exist in this world, not just in the flat-pages of a comic strip. There is so much to admire, appreciate, and daydream about this film's presentation that all I can do is state one must see the flick for themselves to understand what I mean. Stellar stuff!

The filmmakers seem to have focused primarily on making a comic strip come to life, and, at least visually, they succeeded. While I cannot say the same for the characters and story, I totally understand, and more or less agree, why people argue that comic book movies just do not look, even feel, as spectacular and pure as Dick Tracy does; that people should be inspired by more than what has been released in the past fifteen years when making these kinds of movies. Indeed, this film offers an important lesson on cinema and art in general. Even if I did not care much for this picture, there are certainly obvious elements that got me to see a whole new world. Inspiration can be found anywhere and at any time.