Dick Tracy [Region 2] | ![Dick Tracy [Region 2]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/71X6HCZFB7L._SL500_.gif) | Director: Warren Beatty
Actors: Warren Beatty, Madonna, Al Pacino, Charlie Korsmo, Michael Donovan O'Donnell
Category: DVD
Buy Used: $55.04
as of 3/18/2010 14:49 EDT details
Seller: valleycd
Rating:  108 reviews
Sales Rank: 282951
Format: PAL
Languages: English (Subtitles For The Hearing Impaired), English (Subtitled), Croatian (Subtitled), Greek (Subtitled), German (Original Language), English (Original Language), Spanish (Original Language)
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Region: 2
Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
Running Time: 105 Minutes
EAN: 7321922345370
ASIN: B00004RYKQ
Theatrical Release Date: June 15, 1990
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com essential video
A flawed but stylish adaptation of the Chester Gould comic strip by director Warren Beatty, who also stars in the title role. The minimalist plot involves a battalion of baddies who confront the intrepid detective in a series of strung-together vignettes. Al Pacino is a comedic if overblown standout as Big Boy Caprice, and Madonna simply smolders as aggressive blonde bombshell Breathless Mahoney. It matters not that the plot is Spartan, as this dazzling eye candy is much enhanced by Stephen Sondheim's songs, including the Academy Award-winning ditty, "Sooner or Later (I Always Get My Man)." Beatty took his cue from the source material and concentrated on the relationships between these people, whether strained, romantic, or hateful. The performances are subtle and more amusing than you would expect from such a visually bold picture. Shot in bright, primary colors, this also won Oscars for Best Art/Set Direction and Makeup (for those inventively hideous criminals). Watch for well-known names, such as Dustin Hoffman and Dick Van Dyke, in cameo appearances and supporting roles. --Rochelle O'Gorman
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 108
 6, 2, & Even; Over and Out February 15, 2010
C. CRADDOCK (Bakersfield)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Here is how I would have produced Dick Tracy: First of all, I would fire Warren Beatty. He just isn't right for the role. Before the film was released there was a big publicity push which showed Dick Tracy in silhouette, and his chin was not the sharp, jutting chisel of Dick Tracy, but the chinless wonder or Mr. Beatty. When all of the other actors were in heavy make up, why not a prosthetic chin for Warren, too? Warren Beatty is too handsome to play Tracy, and too vain to ugly up for the role. His vanity prevented him from obscuring his vaunted Hollywood leading man profile.
Bulworth, Bugsy, George Roundy in Shampoo, Clyde Barrow or Mickey One. All great roles that fit Beatty like a glove. He was great as Milton Armitage on "The Many Loves of Doby Gillis." But Dick Beatty, Warren Tracy? No thanks.
Beatty was not believable as an inarticulate though loyal boyfriend, either. There was a bit of a triangle with Tess, Breathless, and Tracy, but it sure didn't work. Beatty was not believable paired with either corner of the triangle, and Madonna was neither attractive nor believable as Breathless Mahoney. Wasn't there a documentary about Madonna on tour where Beatty was kind of having an affair with her but it wasn't working so well there in RL, either. Truth, or Dare?
I would dump Warren and hire James Woods to play Tracy. Problem solved. By a fortuitous bit of serendipity I watched James Woods in "Cop" right after watching "Dick Tracy." Cop was grittier, less cartoonish, but essentially it shared the same plot as Dick Tracy. Woods already has an angular Tracyesque face, and with just a little bit of make up, the spitting image.
Now that James Wood is in place, you might find my next move controversial, but I would fire Glenne Headly, even though she was a good Tess Trueheart, and rehire Sean Young. Though she and Woods had their differences in the past, they were great together in The Boost. If they could work out their mutual restraining orders, it would be box office dynamite! Channel all of that tension between them onto the screen. Sean Young was originally supposed to play Tess Trueheart anyway but was fired. Not maternal enough, they said. Or was it casting couch retaliation by director Beatty? Glenne Headly had good rapport with "The Kid" but she wasn't so maternal, either. She called him the eating machine, and threatened to break his arm when he stole the tip. So the excuse that Sean Young wasn't maternal enough rings very hollow.
With Warren out of the way and the dynamic team of Wood & Young reunited, Madonna would be the next one to go. Madonna was really miscast. Bad acting, as usual. She was very unattractive, fragile looking, with frizzed out blonde hair and lots of pale make up. At one point she climbed on a table and stuck her bottom in the air like a cat on a hot tin roof, in Tracy's face--which betrayed a sense that something just didn't smell right. Just weird, not sexy, Madge. Desperately Seeking Susan seems to be her only movie success. Bomb after bomb, and meanwhile Sean Penn has two Oscars (for Mystic River and Milk; and three Oscar nominations for Sweet and Low Down, I Am Sam, and Dead Man Walking). Shanghai Surprise his only misfire, and whose fault was that?
Bernadette Peters is the only choice to play Breathless Mahoney. Bernadette is well versed in Sondheim (Into the Woods), and can be very sexy, funny, and musical simultaneously. Check her in Steve Martin's The Jerk if you want proof. Stephen Sondheim did some songs for Dick Tracy, but then Madonna had to go and sing them. Danny Elfman did the musical score.
Mandy Patinkin didn't work as 88 Keys, the piano player. He sang one of the Sondheim songs in a high, effeminate voice. He is a good singer with a strong musical theater background, but his character, 88 Keys, didn't work as either the piano player or an extortionist, IMHO.
Instead of Mandy Patinkin, how about a totally different direction with Tom Waits? Sure, his voice is gravelly, but he can sing just as well as Patinkin, and he would be infinitely more believable as a black mailer. Have you heard him do "There's a Place for Us" from West Side Story? That is Sondheim, too, and in spite of the gravelly tone, he hits the pitches, and brings out the beauty in the tune.
Al Pacino was really chewing up the scenery. Annoying, but funny sometimes. He was always giving out quotes that were obviously wrong. When he rehearsed Breathless Mahoney in her musical number it was funny, because he was so unmusical, yet he fancied himself a maestro. He told her how to sing, and inserted himself in the song, and it was just kind of funny, how unmusical people think they know it all. Simon Cowell? However, he should have held back a little, left 'em wanting more. Restraint is not Pacino's forte.
Dustin Hoffman was great as Mumbles. Even though the rest of the movie was kind of a shambles, Mumbles was quite an achievement. You could say he was just mumbling, and any fool could have done it, but he really brought a lot of character to his character.
The Kid (Charlie Korsmo) did good, but what a bunch of tired clichés he had to say. Catch him in "Hook" or better yet, as a young teen in Can't Hardly Wait.
The scene where Dick Tracy beat up the tough old man who abused the kid was great, with the tough old guy really grizzled and scary. He is hitting him and then there is a long shot where you see the walls of the shack tilting, and the whole shack collapses. That was a great visualization of the comic strip world of Dick Tracy. But it wasn't followed through.
Good art direction and they created a comic strip world, but Beatty, the director, just didn't know what to do with it. They used a color palette of mostly primary colors, like you would see in the Sunday Funnies of a newspaper. Edward Scissorhands used a similar color scheme, of pastels, the set the scene of bland suburban conformity. Tim Burton, in Edward Scissorhands or Batman, knows how to tell stories in a visual way. Beatty, clearly, does not. I like all the hoods, like Prune Face, Flat Top, and Little Face. Great make up and it is to be commended. But a weak story and poor understanding of how to work with strong visual elements doomed Dick Tracy, The Movie.
For director, fire Warren Beatty--again--and hire either Tim Burton or Terry Gilliam. Not only do they both share a strong visual sense, but they have a strong sense of how to best use visual elements in the service of the story. Batman, Brazil, The Fisher King, Edward Scissorhands.
Quick recap: Fire Warren Beatty, as actor and director. Hire James Wood as Dick Tracy and Tim Burton or Terry Gilliam as director. Fire Madonna, cast Bernadette as Breathless. Dump Glenne Headly just to get that dramatic tension between Wood and Sean Young. Have Pacino dial it back a notch, and leave Hoffman's Mumbles exactly the same. Mandy Patinkin: Out. Tom Waits: In. The Kid stays in the picture.
Sidebar: [Wrist band radios sure are annoying. There is a scene where Tracy was at the opera and he got a call on his wrist band radio. Kind of funny, what with the proliferation of cell phones and how annoying they have become. Tracy was the prototype for the 'loud cell phone talker' of the early part of the 21st Century].
Bottom line is that Dick Tracy was one of Warren Beatty's most commercially successful films and it won Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration for Richard Sylbert and Rick Simpson; Best Makeup for John Caglione Jr. and Doug Drexler; Best Music, Original Song for Stephen Sondheim for the song "Sooner or Later (I Always Get My Man)"; and was nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Al Pacino; Best Cinematography for Vittorio Storaro; Best Costume Design for Milena Canonero; and for Best Sound for Thomas Causey, Chris Jenkins, David E. Campbell, and Doug Hemphill.
Who cares though? IMHO, it was lame.
Bulworth (1998) Warren Beatty was Sen. Jay Billington Bulworth
Bugsy (1991) Warren Beatty was Ben 'Bugsy' Siegel
Ishtar (1987) Warren Beatty was Lyle Rogers
Desperately Seeking Susan (1985) Madonna was Susan
Reds (Special 25th Anniversary Edition) (1981) Warren Beatty was John Reed
Shampoo (1975) Warren Beatty was George Roundy
Bonnie and Clyde (1967) Warren Beatty was Clyde Barrow
Music From The Sound Track Of 'Mickey One' Played By Stan Getz Composed By Eddie Sauter (1965) Warren Beatty was Mickey One, title character of this Kafkaesque thriller {Don't know if it's available on DVD, but the soundtrack by Eddie Sauter and Stan Getz is, and it's gorgeous}.
Splendor in the Grass (1961) Warren Beatty was Bud Stamper
The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis 18 Volume Set - Warren Beatty was Milton Armitage (6 episodes, 1959-1960)
- The Fist Fighter (1960) TV episode - Warren Beatty was Milton Armitage
- The Smoke-Filled Room (1960) TV episode - Warren Beatty was Milton Armitage
- Dobie Gillis, Boy Actor (1959) TV episode - Warren Beatty was Milton Armitage
- The Sweet Singer of Central High (1959) TV episode - Warren Beatty was Milton Armitage
- The Right Triangle (1959) TV episode - Warren Beatty was Milton Armitage
- (one more)
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Dick Tracy [signing off on his 2-Way Wrist Radio] 6, 2, & Even; Over and Out.
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 he's a MAN...... January 29, 2010
Lucy (Florida)
this movie is fun to watch and perhaps one of my favs. it kinda reminds me of who framed roger rabbit? movie and breathless mahoney (some sort of marilyn monroeish) reminds me of jessica rabbit. i think this movie had madonna's most gorgeous look. i love the curly blonde hair. she falls head over heels for dick, but he is already devoted to his own girlfriend.i remember in the end breathless mahoney dies after dick finds out she's the master of this faceless disguise. i loved her line "i don't know whether you want to hit me or kiss me...i get alot of that."
Dick Tracy January 24, 2010
Arnita D. Brown (USA)
Legendary police detective Dick Tracy is the only man tough enough to take on gangster boss Big Boy Caprice and his band of menacing mobsters. Dedicated to his work but at the same time devoted to his loyal girlfriend, Tess Trueheart, Tracy find himself torn between love and duty. His relentless crusade against crime becomes even more difficult when he gets saddled with an engaging orphan and meets seductive and sultry Breathless Mahoney, a torch singer determined to get the best of Tracy. A faceless character, known as the Blank, threatens both Tracy and Big Boy, and it takes all of Tracy's skills to save the city. This is a fun movie, a cartoon strip coming to life in an incredibly colorful fashion like nothing you have ever seen. This is a perfect example of capturing the essence of a comic book, from style to eccentricity.
The Last of its Kind November 14, 2009
Scott (Texas)
This movie is like a violent combination of Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Toys. I think Disney had something to do with its production from all that stuff I saw at Disney MGM Studios Themepark back in the early 90's, but I just can't imagine Disney being involved with anything this violent. Not even five minutes into the movie, and we see a bunch of mobsters gunned down.
While most of the movie's features are quite average, the visuals are so incredible that I feel the need to rate the movie outstanding as a whole. From set design, to costumes, to make-up, it is one of the most artistic or maybe even the most artistic big budget movie I've seen. Everything is in bright wonderful colors, even ordinary factory machinery.
This is probably one of the last visually stunning movies to be made before the whole CGI computer special effects era. Jurassic Park came out three years later, and it seems like every big blockbuster afterward was absolutely saturated with computer special effects. Dick Tracy might very well represent the pinnacle of movie visuals without these effects. I doubt you'll ever see another movie like it in the future.
"Calling Dick Tracy! Calling Dick Tracy!" October 20, 2009
Eric S. Kim (Southern California)
Who would have thought that they could take the original Dick Tracy comics and faithfully turn it into a full-length movie? It's a fun movie, with some outstanding performances from an all-star cast. Warren Beatty, Madonna, Al Pacino, Dustin Hoffman, Kathy Bates, Paul Sorvino, James Caan, William Forsythe, and more. Many of them have excessive make-up in order for them to look exactly like the characters in the comics. Pacino is probably the only one that does not look like the original character ("Big Boy" Caprice), since he created the design himself! But the actors and the characters that they portray aren't the only good things in this movie. We also have some stunning set designs, provocative cinematography, a near-perfect score from Danny Elfman, and some pretty dark humor. Although it's not as epic as the original Batman by Tim Burton, it still is a fun and beautiful film. Kudos to Beatty and everyone else involved in the film.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 108
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