Synopsis of Movie

Dick Tracy was Warren Beatty’s ode to Chester Gould’s comic strip, a sharp, colorful world populated with handsome good guys, strange-looking bad guys, vampish vixens and damsels in distress. The film seemed like it had been actually set in a comic strip, thanks to the bright, bold set design, along with costumes and makeup faithfully translated from the printed page.

Warren Beatty stars as Dick Tracy, the square-jawed, yellow-suited lawman who fights and disposes of his city's villains with ease. The mobsters, tired of always being sent to the big house by Tracy, decide to band together and rid themselves of him once and for all. But Dick Tracy has other problems at the moment. He has recently met an orphan named The Kid that he grudgingly cares for, but is not sure he can be the father The Kid needs. Also, his relationship with his girlfriend, Tess Trueheart, is strained because he devotes more of his time to crimefighting than he does to her.

And then there’s Breathless. Pop superstar Madonna plays the seductive Breathless Mahoney, a beautiful and blond nightclub singer reminsicent of Marilyn Monroe. She has her eye on Tracy, and despite his better judgment, he finds himself increasingly drawn to her. Tracy must find a way to fight the corruption overtaking the city and come to terms with his complicated personal life.

Dick Tracy featured an impressive array of cameos, including Al Pacino as Big Boy Caprice and Dustin Hoffman as the mumbling Mumbles. Beatty infused Tracy with a surprising quality of vulnerability—shown through his relationship with The Kid and Tess—that is not often explored in one-dimensional comic strip heroes. In fact, beyond the car chases, explosions and gunfights that made Dick Tracy a kid’s paradise, the film also had heart.

Dick Tracy received seven Academy Award nominations, including a Best Supporting Actor nomination for Al Pacino. It won three awards, for Best Art Direction, Best Makeup and Best Song for Steven Sondheim’s jazz-tinged “Sooner or Later (I Always Get My Man).”

Movie Release History

1990 - Dick Tracy

Movie Sub Categories

live-action
action/adventure

Movie Studio

Touchstone, Silver Screen Partners IV, Mulholland Prods.

Cast

Dick Tracy   Warren Beatty
Kid   Charlie Korsmo
Mr. Gillicuddy  Michael Donovan O'Donnell
Stooge  Jim Wilkey
Shoulders  Stig Eldred
The Rodent  Neil Summers
The Brow   Chuck Hicks
Little Face   Lawrence Steven Meyers
Flattop   William Forsythe
Itchy  Ed O'Ross
Tess Trueheart   Glenne Headly
Soprano   Marvelee Cariaga
Baritone   Michael Gallup
Sam Catchem  Seymour Cassel
Pat Patton   James Keane
Chief Brandon   Charles Durning
Reporter   Allen Garfield
Reporter John Schuck
Reporter  Charles Fleischer
Breathless Mahoney  Madonna
88 Keys  Mandy Patinkin
Lips Manlis  Paul Sorvino
Lips' Bodyguard   Robert Costanzo
Customer at Raid   Jack Kehoe
Lips' Cop   Marshall Bell
Doorman  Michael G. Hagerty
Lefty Moriarty  Lew Horn
Diner Patron   Arthur Malet
Mike   Tom Signorelli
Steve the Tramp   Tony Epper
Big Boy Caprice   Al Pacino
Numbers  James Tolkan
Pruneface  R.G. Armstrong
Mumbles Dustin Hoffman
Mrs. Green  Kathy Bates
Lab Technician   Jack Goode Jr.
Lab Technician   Ray Stoddard
D.A. Fletcher   Dick Van Dyke
Store Clerk   Hamilton Camp
Cop at Tess'   Ed McCready
Cop at Tess'   Colm Meaney
Texie Garcia  Catherine O'Hara
Influence  Henry Silva
Ribs Mocca   Robert Beecher
Spaldoni   James Caan
Bartender   Bert Remsen
Judge Harper   Frank Campanella
Club Ritz Patron  Sharmagne Leland-St. John
Club Ritz Patron  Bing Russell
Bug Bailey  Michael J. Pollard
Uniform Cop at Ritz   Tom Finnegan
Newspaper Vendor   Billy Clevenger
Radio Announcer  Ned Claflin
Radio Announcer (voice)   John Moschitta Jr.
Radio Announcer (voice)   Neil Ross
Radio Announcer (voice)  Walker Edmiston
Mrs. Trueheart   Estelle Parsons
Forger  Ian Wolfe
Welfare Person   Mary Woronov
Night Clerk   Henry Jones
Old Man at Hotel   Mike Mazurki
Dancer   Rita Bland
Dancer   Lada Boder
Dancer  Dee Hengstler
Dancer Liz Imperio
Dancer Michelle Johnston
Dancer  Karyne Ortega
Dancer   Karen Russell

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