Dick Tracy

Amazing comic book style looks!

Continuing with the big screen comic book adaptations, we travel back in time from 1996's last entry to 1990, the birth of the Grunge & Alternative rock music rise to stardom. The name, Dick Tracy, the star & film maker Mr. Warren Beaty, a guy whose name I didn't before this 1990 movie, you know, I was a guy in his teens so my film history knowledge was somehow conditioned by my age. 

Dick Tracy dates back as far as 1931, so it is probably one of the oldest detective comic strips that we know of, besides it was one of the earliest comic strips that became a succesful cultural phenomena, spawning an NBC radio show, two movie serials and even cartoon shows.

"Get out my office! unless you're a horny bombshell of course"

I always liked Dick Tracy's suit.

Behind bad guys, there's always a bombshell.

Dick Tracy is a 1990 American pulp action film based on the 1930s comic strip character of the same name created by Chester Gould. Warren Beatty produced, directed, and starred in the film, which features supporting roles from Al Pacino, Charles Durning, Madonna, William Forsythe, Glenne Headly, Paul Sorvino, Dick Van Dyke, and Charlie Korsmo. Dick Tracy depicts the detective's love relationships with Breathless Mahoney and Tess Truehart, as well as his conflicts with crime boss Alphonse "Big Boy" Caprice. Tracy also begins his upbringing of "The Kid".

Development of the film started in the early 1980s with Tom Mankiewicz assigned to write the script. The project also went through directors Steven Spielberg, John Landis, Walter Hill, and Richard Benjamin before the arrival of Beatty. Filming was mostly at Universal Studios. Danny Elfman was hired to compose the film score, and the music was featured on three separate soundtrack albums.

Miss Tess Trueheart, Tracy's love.

Breathless Mahoney, Tracy's temptation.

The perfect combination, tits & drinks.

Dick Tracy was released in 1990 to mixed to positive reviews, but was generally a success at the box office and at awards time. It picked up seven Academy Award nominations and won in three of the categories: Best Original Song, Best Makeup and Best Art Direction. A sequel was planned, but a controversy over the film rights ensued between Beatty and Tribune Media Services, and the lawsuit continues, so a second film has not been produced.

The movie had its premiere at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. The film was released in the United States in 2,332 theaters on June 15, 1990, earning $22.54 million in its in opening weekend. This was the third-highest opening weekend of 1990. Dick Tracy eventually grossed $103.74 million in US totals and $59 million elsewhere, coming to a worldwide total of $162.74 million. Dick Tracy was also the ninth-highest grossing film of America in 1990, and number twelve in worldwide totals.

This is how Madonna got to America.

What real pop stars are made of.

Although Disney was impressed by the opening weekend gross, studio chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg expressed disappointment. He suggested that Dick Tracy had cost about $100 million in total to produce, market and promote. "We made demands on our time, talent and treasury that, upon reflection, may not have been worth it," Katzenberg reported. Disney, in particular, was expecting the film's earnings to match Batman (1989). By 1997, Dick Tracy had made an additional $60.61 million in rental figures.

Here's the movie trailer: