There are times during this film that I just wanted
to be dropped into this stunning artificial world of eye-ball churning colors
and glorious 1930's sets. Decisions were made early on after Warren Beatty
took on the directorial duties (after years in development hell) about how
the look of the film should be. Using bright primary colors, shot inside
the studio and kept as faithful to the comic book from Chester Gould as possible.
It was not going to be brought into modern times, it was not going to be
ultra-violent and graphic, the romance between Tracy and Tess Trueheart would
be innocent, Tracy would be incorruptible and impersonal and all the theatrics,
personality and film bravado would be given to the villains that Dick Tracy
had fought in the comics over decades. As it turned out I think these were
all brilliant decisions. What would be the point of making a Dick Tracy film
and then turning it on its head with sex, gritty reality and gratuitous violence.
The only decision I had an issue with was the Kid. The damn Kid. Why do they
have this kid popping in all the time and saving Tracy's life twice. It took
a masterpiece of style and partly turned it into some weird child's fantasy.
At the end he is going off with Tracy to investigate a bank robbery like
he is a partner. It didn't need the kid.
The plot is what it is. Serviceable. It is mainly there to hang the style
on, to give it room to breathe, to give it a flash of inspiration. What matters
are the colors and the exuberant dash and style from Tracy's bright yellow
hat and coat to the cityscapes to the songs being performed in the elegant
nightclub. The sort of gorgeous nightclub that you can only dream about now.
But Beatty gives all the good material to the villains and sits back and
lets them go. In particular Big Boy Caprice as played by Al Pacino. It is
so ridiculously over the top and yet brilliant - funny and malignant as he
non-stop chatters and misquotes like a fire hydrant let loose. One scene
of him trying to teach the chorus girls in his club how to dance and sing
is worth the price of admission. I would love to know how much input Pacino
had for his character. He is hideous as all the bad guys are with the wonderful
names. Mumbles (Dustin Hoffman), Little Face, Shoulders, Rodent, Flattop
(William Forsythe), Lips Manlis (Paul Sorvino) slopping down platefuls of
oysters, Pruneface (R.G. Armstrong), Influence (Henry Silva), Bug Baily (Michael
Pollard) and James Caan as Spaldoni. None of them except Caan is easily recognizable
as their faces were taken and made to look just like Gould's characters out
of the comics. As if their corrupt lives slowly over the year corrupted their
faces, mutated them to evil.
Beatty was Beatty back then. The cock in the henhouse. He could get pretty
much anyone but Gene Hackman apparently to come in for at least a cameo.
So besides those, there are also small parts for Seymour Cassell, Charles
Durning, Allen Garfield, John Schuck, Kathy Bates, Dick Van Dyke, Estelle
Parsons and bigger roles for Glenn Headley as Tess, Mandy Patinkin as 88
Keys the piano player and of course Madonna. Madonna wanted the role as the
nightclub singer and part-time floozy so badly that she worked for scale.
She does her best Marilyn Monroe but adds just enough tart sauce and sexuality
to make it hers. She is great and never more glamorous. And the songs she
sings? Written by Stephen Sondheim for the film. And the Batman like score
came from Danny Elfman. The Kid is Charlie Korsmo and he is just fine but
why.
I have to give Beatty credit for giving everyone around him the best scenes.
He plays this absolutely straight, emotionless, humorless - staying true
to the Tracy of the comics. He is a man of action. No time for witticisms
or regrets. Point him at the bad guys and let him go. Just with a small slice
of Tess on the side. He clearly had this vision of the film. I was just looking
at his filmography and the guy made so few bad films. Once he had weight
and the ability to select his films he made such good or fun ones - Kaleidoscope,
Bonnie and Clyde, McCabe and Mrs. Miller, $ (Dollar), Parallax View, Shampoo
and Heaven Can Wait. Then when he had real control the remarkable Reds, a
three hour film about an American Communist in the Russian Revolution. Who
would ever have dared to make that film other than Beatty. I have to revisit
that one. Ok, there was Ishtar after that. I have actually never seen it.
And probably never will. Then Tracy, Bugsy and Bulworth. I think Bulworth
is fabulous, the most satirical take on race, politics and society ever.
Need to revisit that one as well. I am not sure why I decided to see Dick
Tracy again after 30 years but am glad I did. I love the
world he creates with the big colored cars, the diner with the Formica counters
and redder than red booths, the newspaper headlines and so many details that
skip quickly by.
