Dick Tracy (1990)

A mobster (Al Pacino) organizes the city's gangs with himself as the head and proceeds to terrorize the city. Meanwhile, detective Dick Tracy (Warren Beatty) vows to break the gangster's hold on the city and put him behind bars. Based on the 1930s comic strip by Chester Gould and produced and directed by Warren Beatty (REDS). Visually, the movie is a triumph. The colors and look of Gould's comic strip world has been duplicated by cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, the Oscar winning art direction of Richard Sylbert and the costumes of Milena Canonero. There's also the added bonus of original songs by Stephen Sondheim (his Sooner Or Later won the best song Oscar). But there are still major problems with the production. For one, it seems overproduced and blown out of proportion for a simple comic strip. The low budget B DICK TRACY movies from RKO in the 1940s had the right idea ..... keep it simple. Then there's the problem of Beatty as Dick Tracy, he's miscast and as the film's femme fatale, Madonna has no screen presence. The camera doesn't love her the way it does for a true Movie Star. This leaves Al Pacino, who seems to be parodying his Tony Montana from SCARFACE, to steal the movie. The cast is crammed with terrific actors, many who are barely in the movie. With Dustin Hoffman, James Caan, Glenne Headly, Kathy Bates, Mandy Patinkin, Dick Van Dyke, Estelle Parsons, Charles Durning, Henry Silva, Paul Sorvino, Henry Jones, Michael J. Pollard, Mary Woronov and Catherine O'Hara.