The comic strip detective finds his life vastly complicated when Breathless Mahoney makes advances towards him while he is trying to battle Big Boy Caprice’s united mob.

Credits: TheMovieDb.

Film Cast:

• Dick Tracy: Warren Beatty
• Breathless Mahoney: Madonna
• Big Boy Caprice: Al Pacino
• Tess Trueheart: Glenne Headly
• Kid: Charlie Korsmo
• 88 Keys: Mandy Patinkin
• Sam Catchem: Seymour Cassel
• Pat Patton: James Keane
• Chief Brandon: Charles Durning
• Flattop: William Forsythe
• Mumbles: Dustin Hoffman
• Numbers: James Tolkan
• Itchy: Ed O’Ross
• D.A. Fletcher: Dick Van Dyke
• Pruneface: R. G. Armstrong
• Bug Bailey: Michael J. Pollard
• Lips Manlis: Paul Sorvino
• Spaldoni: James Caan
• Influence: Henry Silva
• Mike: Tom Signorelli
• Shoulders: Stig Eldred
• Stooge: Jim Wilkey
• The Rodent: Neil Summers
• The Brow: Chuck Hicks
• Little Face: Lawrence Steven Meyers
• Steve the Tramp: Tony Epper
• Mrs. Trueheart: Estelle Parsons
• Reporter #1: Allen Garfield
• Reporter #2: John Schuck
• Reporter #3: Charles Fleischer
• Welfare Person: Mary Woronov
• Mrs. Green: Kathy Bates
• Forger: Ian Wolfe
• Night Clerk: Henry Jones
• Texie Garcia: Catherine O’Hara
• Ribs Mocca: Robert Beecher
• Lefty Moriarty: Lew Horn
• McGillicuddy: Michael Donovan O’Donnell
• Soprano: Marvellee Cariaga
• Baritone: Michael Gallup
• Lips’ Bodyguard: Robert Costanzo
• Customer at Raid: Jack Kehoe
• Lips’ Cop: Marshall Bell
• Doorman: Mike Hagerty
• Diner Patron: Arthur Malet
• Lab Technician: Jack Goode Jr.
• Lab Technician: Ray Stoddard
• Store Clerk: Hamilton Camp
• Cop at Tess’: Ed McCready
• Cop at Tess’: Colm Meaney
• Bartender: Bert Remsen
• Judge Harper: Frank Campanella
• Club Ritz Patron: Sharmagne Leland-St. John
• Club Ritz Patron: Bing Russell
• 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
• Old Man at Hotel: Mike Mazurki
• Dancer: Rita Bland
• Dancer: Lada Boder
• Dancer: Dee Hengstler
• Dancer: Liz Imperio
• Dancer: Karyne Ortega
• Dancer: Karen Russell
• Dancer: Michelle Johnston
• Cigarette Girl (uncredited): Tamara Carrera
• Night Club Musician (uncredited): Bernie Jones
• Gangster’s Girlfriend (uncredited): Sheila Lussier
• Reporter (uncredited): Bruce Mahler
• Driver (uncredited): Jerry St. John

Film Crew:

• Producer: Warren Beatty
• Screenplay: Jim Cash
• Screenplay: Jack Epps Jr.
• Editor: Richard Marks
• Director of Photography: Vittorio Storaro
• Music: Danny Elfman
• Animation Director: Richard Williams
• Costume Design: Milena Canonero
• Makeup Effects: Ve Neill
• Makeup Department Head: Cheri Minns
• Songs: Stephen Sondheim
• Executive Producer: Art Linson
• Unit Production Manager: Jon Landau
• Production Design: Richard Sylbert
• Casting: Jackie Burch
• Visual Effects Producer: Michael Lloyd
• Visual Effects Producer: Harrison Ellenshaw
• Associate Producer: Jim Van Wyck
• Second Assistant Director: Princess O’Mahoney
• Production Supervisor: Rodney Liber
• Art Direction: Harold Michelson
• Set Decoration: Rick Simpson
• Supervising Sound Editor: Dennis Drummond
• Music Editor: Bob Badami
• Stunt Coordinator: William H. Burton Sr.
• Hairstylist: Lynda Gurasich
• Sound Mixer: Thomas Causey
• Boom Operator: Joseph F. Brennan
• Camera Operator: Enrico Umetelli
• Camera Operator: Jamie Anderson
• Script Supervisor: Ana Maria Quintana
• Video Assist Operator: Bradford Ralston
• First Assistant Camera: Giuseppe Alberti
• First Assistant Camera: Billy Clevenger
• Second Assistant Camera: Deborah Morgan
• Second Assistant Camera: Jeffrey Thorin
• Chief Lighting Technician: Gary Tandrow
• Assistant Chief Lighting Technician: Steven C. McGee
• Rigging Gaffer: Kevin J. Lang
• Dolly Grip: Bernie Schwartz
• Property Master: C.J. Maguire
• Assistant Property Master: Frank L. Brown
• Special Effects Coordinator: Lawrence J. Cavanaugh
• Special Effects Supervisor: R. Bruce Steinheimer
• First Assistant Editor: David Moritz
• Supervising Sound Effects Editor: Patrick Drummond
• Production Coordinator: Jacqueline George
• Set Designer: Eric W. Orbom
• Leadman: Mike Higelmire
• Construction Coordinator: Roger Irvin
• Studio Teacher: Laura Gary
• Unit Publicist: Pat Newcomb
• ADR Voice Casting: Barbara Harris
• Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Chris Jenkins
• Sound Re-Recording Mixer: David E. Campbell
• Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Doug Hemphill
• Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Steve Pederson
• Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Paul A. Sharpe
• Foley Artist: John Roesch
• Foley Artist: Ellen Heuer
• Foley Recordist: Greg Orloff
• Color Timer: Carlo La Bella
• Negative Cutter: Donah Bassett
• Orchestrator: Steve Bartek
• Stunts: Gene LeBell
• Stunts: Gilbert B. Combs
• Stunt Double: Bob Herron

Movie Reviews:

• John Chard: A bit too mellow yellow.
• Dick Tracy is directed by Warren Beatty and written by Jim Cash and Jack Epps Jr. Based on Chester Gould’s comic strip creation of the same name, it stars Beatty, Al Pacino, Madonna, Glenne Headly, Dustin Hoffman, Charlie Korsmo, Charles Durning and William Forsythe. Music is by Danny Elfman, with songs by Stephen Sondheim, and cinematography is by Vittorio Storaro.
• Punk Rock band X-Ray Spex once sang about The Day The World Turned Day-Glo, Warren Beatty’s Dick Tracy was exactly that. The live action cartoon is a feast for the eyes, as the city backdrop for this cops and gangsters tale is a fountain of bright, lurid primary colours. The characters are drawn brilliantly, where the good guys are very much human, but the bad guys are a bunch of grotesques, like a mutant gathering under one coalition banner. All star casting, striking costuming, amazing effects work, quality songs and a brisk musical score (Elfman reworks his score for Batman from the previous year), Dick Tracy as a production is grade “A” stuff. It also did very well at the box office, where although it didn’t reach Disney’s expectation levels financially, it coined to the tune of over $100 million in profit Worldwide. Not bad for a film some still think was a flop!
• It’s a film that feels a lot better watching it now than it did back on release, to be able to view it as a smart technical accomplishment for the time it was made. The cast factor also makes it something of a fascinating experience, watching legends like Pacino and Hoffman absolutely buy into the cartoon excess on show. However, the old problem with it just will never go away. Yes the plot is very simple, but that’s easy to accept these days, it was after all a gangster movie made for all the family, it’s that Beatty’s portrayal of Tracy is too under played. He’s a good guy, we know that, we are on his side, but it’s a flat characterisation, he’s never pushed to be anything other than a cool dude. This of course lets the monstrous villains take the film by the scruff of the neck, as most villains tend to anyway, but for a film carrying his name, you expect a bit more from Dick Tracy the man.
• Still, Dick Tracy is a fun movie experience, not all it can be, but enjoyable regardless. 7/10
• talisencrw: I’m heartily disappointed that this didn’t produce sequels. If any fine actor/director of the period was perfect for the role of Dick Tracy, it was Beatty. He does very good work here. It’s as if he took Tim Burton’s template for ‘Batman’ and simply adjusted it for his comic-book picture. Madonna isn’t bad here either, simply because she’s pretending to be Marilyn Monroe, something she’d been wanting to do all of her career to that point. And the rogues gallery here is perhaps second in quality only to the aforementioned DC Caped Crusader. In retrospect, that perhaps was the picture’s weakest link–no true criminal really dominated proceedings and stuck in one’s mind. Had they tried the time-tested hookup of two baddies to get in Dick’s hair just enough to rile him, it may have worked better. Still one of the most enjoyable, and underrated, comic-book pictures of the past three decades.