tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12380553.post1195994673598883854..comments2024-03-28T14:49:36.133-04:00Comments on John Kenneth Muir's Reflections on Cult Movies and Classic TV: The Films of 1990: Dick TracyJohn Kenneth Muirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15629979615332893780noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12380553.post-34672734489631816642016-02-20T12:58:30.850-05:002016-02-20T12:58:30.850-05:00Personally, I love this film and feel it is unjust...Personally, I love this film and feel it is unjustly overlooked. I think Beatty absolutely made the right decision in filming the movie the way he did. This truly felt like an old school, classic comic strip of the period made flesh. I do wish that they followed through with the original gimmick of making you guess who was behind the make up of all the villains. But I can understand why they didn't in the end. Always wondered if the Blank was a nod to Bava's "Blood and Black Lace?" For God's sake, Madonna was actually good! No mean feat. A wonderful film fantasy. Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03097420555737415471noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12380553.post-54248244945866899702016-02-18T10:18:50.495-05:002016-02-18T10:18:50.495-05:00When I was a kid, my two favorite characters were ...When I was a kid, my two favorite characters were Batman and Dick Tracy. In 1989, I was treated to a big screen treatment of my first hero and, while I wasn't crazy about the movie, I was happy that it was so successful and that so many people finally realized that Batman was more than the campy tv show. In 1990, I was really psyched to see my second hero have the same glorious treatment. It didn't work out that way. Not only was the movie weak, the public saw that weakness as well and didn't come through with the same box office success.<br /><br />I think part of the reason Dick Tracy failed with the public was that, while Batman offered many a new version of a character they thought they already knew, Dick Tracy was rooted in the very familiar confines of the era when he was most popular. The Dick Tracy I read in the 1970s and 80s was a man of the modern era, not the guy in this film. I understand the impulse to go with a 1930s gangster genre film, but as you pointed out, it's simply a gloriously painted 2-hour cliche. I remember watching the climax in the theatre and thinking how much it resembled an old silent movie serial. Pacino might as well have been tying Tess Trueheart to the train tracks.<br /><br />I also agree with your point about the scenes with Madonna. Beatty was one of Hollywood's innovators with movies like Bonnie and Clyde and Shampoo. He really knew how to present warts-and-all relationship moments. As a director, he seems to be in conflict trying to deliver some dramatic gravitas while creating a summer super hero blockbuster. There's so much good here that never comes together. I was not merely disappointed after I saw this movie; I was depressed for weeks. Neal Phttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17053148427058126745noreply@blogger.com