Dick Tracy

AlfaVitaY2K 6/2/2026 1:32:05PM 8.4

Dick Tracy is rooted in real (old-school) criminology: Psychiatrist Cesare Lombroso's theory based on ancient Rome and Greece fear of degenerates that serious criminals are often born degenerates succinctly put in a quote "Sane mind in sane body" and "All degnerates are born criminals, but not all criminals are born degenerates". Physical and mental throwbacks wired for evil. Chester Gould drew those villains accordingly: grotesque, deformed freaks who look like crime personified. No sob stories of psychologoical trauma cuses of evil, just natural born monsters that need stopping. Hard justice, science, and police work by Alpha male hero Dick Tracy perfectly cast as Warren Beatty. Recommended for 100%. I have no idea why this excellent movie is not popular.

talisencrw 6/23/2021 3:57:50PM 8.4

I'm heartily disappointed that this didn't produce sequels. If any fine actor/director of the period was perfect for the role of Dick Tracy, it was Beatty. He does very good work here. It's as if he took Tim Burton's template for 'Batman' and simply adjusted it for his comic-book picture. Madonna isn't bad here either, simply because she's pretending to be Marilyn Monroe, something she'd been wanting to do all of her career to that point. And the rogues gallery here is perhaps second in quality only to the aforementioned DC Caped Crusader. In retrospect, that perhaps was the picture's weakest link--no true criminal really dominated proceedings and stuck in one's mind. Had they tried the time-tested hookup of two baddies to get in Dick's hair just enough to rile him, it may have worked better. Still one of the most enjoyable, and underrated, comic-book pictures of the past three decades.

kevin2019 8/15/2025 4:00:50AM 8.4

"Dick Tracy" is an incredibly well paced film and Warren Beatty has done a terrific job in the difficult task of taking an extraordinarily popular comic strip and endeavouring to bring it to life on the screen. He achieves this by having some of the backgrounds (and indeed the city skyline itself) drawn in the comic book style and he also makes the task aesthetically pleasing by using a wonderfully striking and beautifully vivid colour scheme. The film is considerably helped by the splendid make-up effects - they are of an impeccable calibre which really brings the gallery of eccentric comic book characters to life in a sometimes amusing way - and by the superb musical score with Madonna singing a selection of engaging songs and composer Danny Elfman providing appropriately atmospheric music throughout.