Dick Tracy

Dir: Warren Beatty

1990

***

1990 was an exciting time for cinema as a child, special effects were getting bigger and better and loads of our favourite heroes from TV, cartoons and comics were finally getting big screen adaptations and many old favourites were getting their sequels. It really was a good time to be alive and just about old enough to go to the cinema unaccompanied by an adult. There was one film in particular that I couldn't wait to see, everyone was talking about it, it had an accompanying song in the charts and merchandise everywhere. It was the must see film that every kid in school had to see. It was called Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and it was great. Of course there was another film that had almost as much hype, a song and tons of merchandise, Warren Beatty's big screen adaptation of the classic 1930s cartoon strip Dick Tracy. As well as Warren Beatty playing the title character, the film boasted a cast list that is to die for (and remains one of the best ever of all time) including the likes of Al Pacino, Charles Durning, Madonna, Dustin Hoffman, William Forsythe, James Caan, Seymour Cassel, Glenne Headly, Paul Sorvino and Dick Van Dyke, as well as many actors noted for their recognizable contributions to the gangster genre and some old school greats of film and TV. Quite a few directors were sought to direct the film including Steven Spielberg, John Landis and Walter Hill but Beatty eventually got the job after Spielberg passed, Landis left (after the tragic Twilight Zone incident) and Hill - who was responsible for casting Beatty in the lead role, left due to a difference of opinion when it came to the style and tone of the film. Landis wanted it to be in the style of the 30's comics while Hill wanted it to be more realistic and violent. I'm not sure it ended up being quite what either director had imagined. Beatty had wanted to make a Dick Tracy film back in the 70s but the rights were unattainable, so when the opportunity came up he threw himself into the project and was pretty much left to do what he wanted. I think it's clear that no one really understood his vision until it was too late to change it. Writers Jim Cash and Jack Epps Jr were hired to write the screenplay and were told to keep it in the 30s comic style. They both read every Dick Tracy comic printed between 1930 and 1957 and later admitted that it was a painful process and that pretty much every story was terrible, with thin plots and rather camp humour, but they did what they were told to by the studio, so I'm not sure they can be held 100% responsible for the rather awful ending. Disney, who weren't that comfortable with Beatty as director, stated in his contract that he had to stick to the $25 million budget and any spending over that would come out of his fee. It ended up costing $47 million for the total shoot, but I fail to see where all the money went in the finished film. The $54 million spent on the marketing campaign however was hard to miss. It really was everywhere, although it's hardly ever discussed these days. 1989 was all about Batman, 1990 was 50% Turtles and 50% Dick. Cinema was a lot cheaper then but I still had financial limitations and I was allowed to see only one film that June and I chose Gremlins 2. I had a Dick Tracy lunchbox, note pad, school bag and pencil case but I didn't actually see the movie until years later. What an anti-climax. What on earth was Beatty thinking? The marketing was brilliant and the photos and poster were beautifully stylized but the film itself was this weirdly garish, neon noir, cartoonish headache. I'm a big fan of makeup artists such as Screaming Mad George but the effects in Dick Tracy are beyond awful. It's a fascinating film to look back at all these years later. As awful as it is though, and it really isn't great, I quite like it. It was the leader in what was a barrage of sickly colourful noir nightmares that followed, Batman can take some of the blame but Dick Tracy was the first. You can kind of see where they were coming from and what the intention was, it's just shocking that no one at any point said "This looks dreadful". You don't cross Warren Beatty though, I think everyone involved took the money and got on with it, although none of the performances are particularly bad, in fact some of them are quite good and rather fascinating. I'm giving it three stars because even though it's full of faults I have nostalgic feelings towards it.