This is a marvelous film. Warren Beatty managed to film it just like a comic book MIGHT be brought to film with humourously grotesque and bizarre characters, beautiful colours, and a plot that really only could have come from a comic book. The buildings, set design, make-up, and props are like nothing I have ever seen in film before. Now, never having read the original strip leaves me out as far as making probably very insightful comparisons with this film and the original source. That being said, I think that Beatty, although drastically changing some of the villains in the film to fit smaller roles, tried to keep the spirit of the film inside the comic strip. Does that make sense? Probably not. Anyway, Dick Tracy offers a lot. It is a visual feast with a decent story and some prime time stars doing some things you may not expect from them. Beatty is very good as the lawmen, but much of the supporting cast steals many scenes from him. Al Pacino as Big Boy Caprice is sensational as an over-the-top thug out to get every criminal under his control, while he intermittenly quotes folks like Nietchze, Jefferson, and other historical figures. Dustin Hoffman as Mumbles is wonderful - if you can finally figure out that it is him(notice in the scene where a stenographer is taking down what he says((That is Oscar winner Kathy Bates!))). James Caan has a brief yet good scene with Pacino Godfather style and Beatty gives Michael J. Pollard and Estelle Parsons cameos as well(both co-starring with him in Bonnie and Clyde). Then there is Madonna. She tries her best to live up to her name of Breathless and does a VERY credible job at it. And then of course there is the music of Stephen Sondheim, an Oscar winner for this film. It is very good and in some ways more memorable than much of what goes on in the film. Perhaps a song here or there might have been cut, but for the most part the music greatly added to the overall effects created in the film. Is Dick Tracy great? No, but it is a whole lot better than it is generally given credit for. In some ways its innovation must be reviewed again. I think that for its type of film it is one of the best.
