Random 'Dick Tracy' Was A Prestige Comic Book Movie That Came Out 25 Years Too Early (14 items)

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  (#9) Several Well-Known Characters Don't Make It Through The First 15 Minutes

  After an establishing pan across the matte-painted city that Dick Tracy inhabits, one of the first scenes in the film is of a poker game, where a variety of grotesque hoods pulled straight from the comics are sitting around a table placing bets. In spite of the hours of makeup it took to create all these familiar figures from the comic strip, they're all rubbed out immediately when a car crashes into the place, spraying it with shells from a Tommy gun.

  They aren't the only ones who go quickly, either. No sooner is Paul Sorvino's Lips Manlis introduced than we see him encased in concrete and dropped through a trap door into the drink. That's all within the first 15 minutes or so. James Caan, as Big Boy Caprice's rival Spaldoni, meets a similarly ignominious end shortly after being introduced. It seems that villainy doesn't pay in Dick Tracy's anonymous city - or if it does, it doesn't pay for long.
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  (#4) The Film's Design Team Thought In Terms Of Big Themes And Symbols

  A superhero is only as good as his outfit, and while Dick Tracy may not quite be a superhero, he's close enough. Entertainment Weekly describes the film as having a storyline that is "simplicity itself," drawn from the archetypal strokes of the fairy tale. The design team was thinking big thoughts, such as, "How does the myth of the gangster relate to the rise of fascism?" - a thought that is underscored in Pacino's portrayal of "Big Boy" Caprice, with its echoes of Bertolt Brecht's satirical play about the rise of Hitler as told through a '30s gangster.

  "It's almost a mask that Tracy has to wear," costume designer Milena Canonero said of Dick Tracy's trademark yellow overcoat and hat, "because he's a knight. He fights against evil. He's the sun."

  Production designer Richard Sylbert had a similar justification for his decision to film on backlots and use so many matte paintings. Normally, he said, he wouldn't use a backlot because he wants details and realism to make a place look lived in. "But for Dick Tracy," Sylbert explained, "we wanted to eliminate specific details. What we wanted was a bunch of icons."
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  (#12) Some Of The Biggest Names In Hollywood Almost Made The Movie

  Before Warren Beatty came on as director and star, some of the biggest names in Hollywood circled the project. Directors who were considered for the film include Steven Spielberg, John Landis, Walter Hill, and even Martin Scorsese, who blew up the internet in 2019 when he claimed comic book movies, at least in their contemporary state of production, "aren't cinema." Scorsese released Goodfellas the same year Dick Tracy hit theaters. Incidentally, Joe Pesci competed for the best supporting actor that year with Dick Tracy villain - and Pesci's future The Irishman costar - Al Pacino.

  The names associated with the film's square-jawed protagonist are equally impressive, with big stars like Harrison Ford, Richard Gere, and Mel Gibson all in consideration before Beatty took over.
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  (#13) Madonna Released An Album Of Songs Inspired By The Movie

  Madonna was at the top of her career when she played Dick Tracy's lounge singer femme fatale, Breathless Mahoney. She incorporated elements of the film into her Blond Ambition World Tour, where she performed with dancers dressed like Dick Tracy, and released an album called I'm Breathless: Music from and Inspired by the Film Dick Tracy, which featured the songs from the movie, alongside other songs written to complement them.

  The album reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200, and its lead single, "Vogue," became Madonna's first multi-platinum-certified single and was her highest-selling single worldwide until 2005's "Hung Up."
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  (#11) It Was Nominated For Seven Oscars And Won Three

  Back when Dick Tracy came out, comic book movies - which were relatively rare anyway - didn't generally get Oscar nominations. When they did, the noms were pretty much always in technical categories. (Tim Burton's Batman won for best art direction the year before.)

  Dick Tracy's whopping seven Oscar nominations make it one of the most nominated comic book films to this day, tying with Black Panther. Those two are narrowly edged by Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, which secured eight nominations, but took home just a pair of trophies.

  At the time, Dick Tracy was also the first comic book movie to receive what is known as an "above-the-line" nomination, which Al Pacino nabbed for best supporting actor. In fact, comic book movies wouldn't win an above-the-line award (which includes acting categories, director, picture, and screenplay) until Heath Ledger's posthumous best supporting actor win for The Dark Knight.

  In addition to Pacino's acting nod, Dick Tracy also received nominations for cinematography, costume, and sound design, and won in the categories of best art direction, best makeup, and best original song, which went to Stephen Sondheim's "Sooner or Later," as performed by Madonna both in the movie and at the Oscar ceremony.
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  (#3) It's A Masterpiece Of Practical Effects

  In addition to an Academy Award for art direction, Dick Tracy also won an Oscar for best makeup for stylists John Caglione Jr. and Doug Drexler, who used elaborate prosthetics to create Tracy's rogues gallery of misshapen hoods and henchmen, complete with descriptive names like Pruneface, Flattop, and the Brow. Just about every bad guy in the film is caked under what seems like pounds of makeup - but that's not the only way Tracy is a sort of last hurrah for practical special effects.

  In keeping with the flat, four-color look of the comic strip, the film's cityscapes were brought to life with 57 elaborate matte paintings on glass, which were combined with live-action footage filmed on backlots and sound stages. The result is a comic book world that doubles as a testament to the Old Hollywood way of making movies - fitting, given the film's 1930s stylings.

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