Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11519 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-06-15
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 100 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
A flawed but stylish adaptation of the Chester Gould comic strip by director Warren Beatty, who also stars in the title role. The minimalist plot involves a battalion of baddies who confront the intrepid detective in a series of strung-together vignettes. Al Pacino is a comedic if overblown standout as Big Boy Caprice and Madonna simply smoulders as aggressive blonde bombshell Breathless Mahoney. It matters not that the plot is Spartan, as this dazzling eye candy is much enhanced by Stephen Sondheim's songs, including the Academy Award-winning ditty, "Sooner or Later (I Always Get My Man)". Beatty took his cue from the source material and concentrated on the relationships between these people, whether strained, romantic or hateful. The performances are subtle and more amusing than you would expect from such a visually bold picture. Shot in bright, primary colours, this also won Oscars for Best Art/Set Direction and Makeup (for those inventively hideous criminals). Watch for well-known names, such as Dustin Hoffman and Dick Van Dyke, in cameo appearances and supporting roles. --Rochelle O'Gorman

Special Features
1.85 Wide Screen
English
Region 2
Interactive Menus
Scene Access

Synopsis
Once again, director Beatty assembles an all-star cast. Dick Tracy, America's top crimestopper, goes up against a mob of colourful gangsters in this rich production. Academy Award Nominations: 7, including Best Supporting Actor--Al Pacino. Academy Awards: 3, including Best Makeup, Best Art Direction, Best Song ("Sooner or Later" by Stephen Sondheim).

Customer Reviews

If you ain't for the people, you can't buy the people
A minor box-office flop in its day, Disney's Dick Tracy is one of those films that has slipped into undeserved obscurity. Obviously given the green light on the back of Batman the previous year, Warren Beatty's version of Chester Gould's comic-strip is one of the most faithful interpretations of its original source material. Even more than something like Sin City, this movie places you in its gaudy comic-book universe like no other big Hollywood movie has managed. A striking prohibition-era city full of gaudy primary colours and grotesque gangsters, the world of Dick Tracy would have lent itself ideally to animation, but the fact that Beatty managed to do it so well in live-action is far more impressive. Accompanied by a masterful, logo-led marketing campaign (posters simply read `This year they're out to get him'), Dick Tracy was released in the summer of 1990. Beatty gives one of the best performances of his career in the title role, playing a straight-arrow cop with unexpected ease (his awkwardness with women is also a revelation). Madonna also hits a career high as `bad girl' moll Breathless Mahoney; unable to shed her kit in a PG-rated effort, she has to actually act to get us to buy into her sexually predatory character, and comes up trumps. Al Pacino has loads of fun as villain Big Boy Caprice, and the supporting cast is a galaxy of Hollywood's finest in minor roles. Unlike the Batman films, Dick Tracy wastes no time in pointless back-story, and has a simple but effective plot that just works. Beatty's relationship with his girlfriend, Glenne Headly's plastic Tess Trueheart, amazingly manages to be realistic, and his growing friendship with the `Kid' is touching too. Technically, the film is on a par with the big action films of the time, and the climactic Tommy-gun battle is far more exhilarating than similar scenes in The Untouchables. The music is the best thing about the whole movie; Danny Elfman's score is just as good as those he wrote for Batman and Spider-man, and the Madonna/Stephen Sondheim show tunes are great too. Long overdue for a re-evaluation, Dick Tracy is one of the very best comic book movies.

Severe case of style over substance
Severe case of style over substance in this big-screen extravaganza adaptation of the classic comic-strip cop and his battles with criminals known more for their grotesque characteristics than their actual crimes. Beatty's wooden acting is perfect as the no-nonsense lawman and his eye candy production design of primary colors is fine despite a weak plot and enjoyable overacting by Pacino as Big Boy Caprice and some scintillating scenes from a not-so-bad Madonna as the appropriately named chanteuse Breathless Mahoney.

Visually Stunning But Incredibly Static
Less than a decade earlier, Warren Beatty directed himself to considerable critical acclaim in the film REDS. But with 1990's DICK TRACY he stumbled badly: although it received considerable hype and numerous critical accolades for its art and sound design, the film fizzled at the box office, and these days you are more likely to find the film in a retail bargain bin than in some one's personal collection.

Even so, DICK TRACY isn't as bad as its detractors often claim. The film has several things going for it, most particularly that deservedly lauded art design, which seeks to recreate the look and feel of "golden age" comic books. Built in largely primary color and with a tremendous sense of line, the designs are among the most striking of the 1990s. The make-up designs, which go to considerable length to recreate the look of the comic book characters, are also enjoyable.

The film also has several memorable performances, and the most notable among these comes from someone who is has had little success on the big screen: Madonna. As femme fatale "Breathless Mahoney," she looks good, has the best lines and delivers them with considerable spirit, and flawlessly performs the complex musical numbers specifically written for her by the legendary Stephen Sondheim. ("Sooner or Later" may be single best thing she's done on film.) Glenne Headly, as Tracy's steady girl Tess, also makes an impression, as do many of the cameo performers, who range from Dustin Hoffman to Kathy Bates and from Estelle Parsons to James Caan.

But for all its memorable visuals and the occasional outstanding performance, DICK TRACY is an incredibly static film. Although the art designers did a terrific job in capturing the look of comic book graphics, the cinematographer miscalculated in repeating the look in terms of camera setups, which are presented in a flat-frame style calculated to recreate comic book frames. The result is a host of beautiful images without any motion dynamic at all, and over the course of its run the film develops a static quality that I personally found absolutely exhausting.

The script doesn't help very much either. The story finds our hero trying to put away Big Boy Caprice and being tempted away from Tess by Breathless in the process--and that's really all you can say about it one way or another. And with one or two exceptions aside, the dialogue is as uninspired as the plot. What with the camera locked down like the Rock of Gibraltar and the script dead in the water, it's hardly surprising that most of the performers reacted by offering performances so incredibly broad that most of their efforts feel acutely forced.

I can understand why many people admire and even enjoy the film, but by the time the final credits rolled I myself was glad to see it go, and I'd recommend that you either borrow it or rent it before you go so far as to buy it. As for the DVD, the picture and sound quality are great, but there are no extras of any kind.

--GFT (Amazon.com Reviewer)--