They just can't make movies like this anymore there's something about practical effects and hand built sets that's unbeatable but it seems to be a lost art form
Quibi was such a disaster I know it's going to be on "worst business disasters of the 2020s" lists despite being a decade old when those lists get written. Hell, it may even get talked about in business schools for years. What a clusterfuck.
@@jasonblalock4429 A perfect example of not understanding how normal people engage with media. Because looking at a tweet while standing in line is not anywhere near the commitment of watching a show.
@@fredericmigneret4211 but that is so rare these days. Wes Anderson movies almost don’t count because a lot of times he is going out of his way to keep some of these things alive when no one else is really doing it on a similarly large scale. I doubt there is even a single movie in the top 100 films this year that feature significant use of matte paintings if any at all.
I'm not sure what do you or anyone here mean by that, but Matte paintings still exist are they are part of most productions you see in the big screen that have any significant amount of VFX work, they are made by a number of techniques from digital 2D and 3D to good old oil an canvas (when budget allows). Mattes are the staple of VFX industry and they are used mostly in a similar way since basically George Melies. They are evolving now to include virtual production in which the matte is a panoramic 360 image. You can check this page just to see some examples of techniques www.thegnomonworkshop.com/tutorials?tags[]=matte-painting and here and you can see examples even in youtube ua-cam.com/video/LYJHIAIrIos/v-deo.html You are missing that particular style in Dick Tracy, which is valid, but Matte Painting are still standard, they just adjusted to the times, which has been happening since forever anyway.
"A bizarre stylistic experiment meant to be the start of a new franchise but would probably alienate most viewers" I was expecting a Speed Racer reference afterwards.
@@jasonblalock4429 Yeah it seems to be getting new appreciation in recent years. Sure is nice to see although personally have been a huge fan since the opening weekend in movie theaters LOL
the prob w/ speed racer was ENDLESS scenes of talking and the fact that John Goodman looked as if he was going to die, any second. The effects scenes/etc are awesome. I, for one, found the endless, meaningless exposition to be unbearable.
@@pqribber I thought John Goodman was fantastic as Pops, he naturally exudes fatherly energy. And the racing sequences would be nothing without the heart of the movie, i.e. the characters...
As someone who saw it in theaters and nearly wore out the VHS as a kid, I've been waiting for people to discover it so it could get a legit rerelease. I even tuned in to the TCM special when it aired. I love this film and it deserves better in this time and place.
I'm a little surprised that the 1980 Flash Gordon never came up in the discussion, since they're remarkably similar. Hyper-colorful plot-accurate live action adaptations of golden-age pulp newspaper comics. (And both featuring superstar musical talent.) The only significant difference is that one is self-aware about being campy, and the other plays things utterly straight. So they end up having vastly different impact. And I also think that's why Tracy is largely forgotten today, while Flash remains a cult classic. Flash's hyper-camp approach keeps it fresh, while Dick Tracy just feels a bit too... turgid.
YES! My thoughts exactly! This came out after the first Batman and last (or so we were led to believe) Indiana Jones, and i was expecting a kind of Disneyfied combo of the two. Really disappointing. I had no idea Walter Hill was involved at one point. The original strips were so weird, crazy and violent, he'd have been a great choice.
Thanks for reminding me to try and finally get around to that movie. Kept seeing the trailer for it at my local indie last year but the dates didn't line up
I don't know who Flash Gordon is. And when i search it on youtube, the 1st video that comes up have a thumbnail where the man himself vs his opponent on top of a wobbly spiky disk Now i somewhat understand why people adored that film 😂
I’m pretty sure I saw this in the theatre. And like “The Rocketeer” and “The Phantom” (also seen in theaters) it was part of a retro wave that really influenced my childhood. Heck, even the cartoon “Tailspin” with its South Pacific Casablanca world was HUGE for me. [Edit] The “Popeye” movie was also a thing in my family. I remember we had a heavily water-damaged record of the soundtrack. God, weird times.
I loved the rocketeer, and I didn't understand how comics from the 30's have a certain "just a little too old" energy to make them strange.. That "cowboy with a mask" character is the same thing , what's his name again? Edit : lone ranger.. But that weird style kinda makes them great in their own way. It's what they tried to emulate with the sky captain of tomorrow (or whatever it was called, based on the game where planes hooked onto zeppelins) film
I will say this definitely looks like a 1920s comic book. From the sets, costumes, the make up prosthetics, and even the score. I loved it as a kid and still do.
Was crossing my fingers for at least a passing reference to 1994's The Shadow, which for my money is the last gasp of the serious attempts to make irrelevant, old timey comic characters into modern blockbusters. It's also just a ton of fun and I wish it weren't so forgotten.
“I spent all day today searching online for a yellow trench coat like the one Dick Tracey wears, because it’s all I see when I dream now.” The next time someone asks me how my day was this will be my response.
My girlfriend wrote part of her master's thesis about this movie. Say what you will about the movie (personally, I love it) but it nails the comic look in a way not many adaptations have since.
And modern attempts to do something so stylised are often done in post production and never look anything like as good. They always have that fake crap looking artificial sheen of 300 and the like.
"EVERYWHERE I TURN ITS 'TRACY TRACY TRACY!" God bless Al Pacino and his over the top performance. I always found it fun to watch in this movie as well as in other films.
The violent ending to the film isn't so odd when you look at the original comic strips, where Tracy basically kills every villain at the end of their caper-gone-wrong, or allows them to die, usually under ironic circumstances.
And let's not forget that prior to the release of the movie Disney was planning to make a ride version, which at the time was pretty bar none the most ambitious attraction they'd ever planned up to that point, and the cancellation of which in response to the movie flopping (as well as EuroDisneyland also catastrophically flopping) sent shockwaves throughout many of their parks projects at the time.
As an aside to this topic, Dick Tracy was filmed eight times in the 40's, four serials and four feature films. Ralph Byrd played the character six times as well as in a 50's television series.
As a kid I was so intrigued by this film. I only knew about Dick Tracy due to looney tunes’ Duck Tracy spoof and the weird gangsters in it. I though it was so cool that they would bring all those weirdos to life like that on screen. Best thing in it for me.
I watched this movie around six weeks ago. I can't remember basically anything about the plot, but I remember how much fun I had watching it, and, like you said, how gorgeous it looks.
I’m only partway through this video, so I don’t know if it’s brought up, but it’s worth watching the Madonna tour documentary “Truth or Dare”. The few scenes of Madonna and Beatty’s relationship are very interesting. They really have each other figured out and they both seem to trying at something they will both do better at later in their personal lives. They certainly aren’t nice to each other but they kind of respect each other and their literal business relationship.
I went to the midnight premier (or was it a sneak peak?) of Dick Tracy. You had to buy a special t-shirt (and wear it) to get into the theater. It was a cool gimmick that I kinda wish more films did! (Or maybe it was just something my local theater was doing.)
I won tickets to a Paula Abdul concert from the newspaper and they made me wear their t-shirt to the show. I was in 5th or 6th grade and getting to go to a paula Abdul concert so I didn’t care. But now that I think about how would they have known if I didn’t??? 🤣
Here's some trivia: Dick Tracy is the only fictional character - not an actor in the role, but the character himself - to be awarded an Oscar for Best Actor.
Where did you hear this? The film didn't receive a Best Actor Oscar nomination. The only Best Actor nomination they received was a Saturn award, but they still lost that as well.
@@billwenham - True story: When Spencer Tracy won his Best Actor Oscar for "Captains Courageous" in 1938, it was misinscribed to "Dick Tracy." (It was later corrected.)
@@pagano60 Ah! Okay, I was like...not for this film! 🤣 Along the same lines though, I still love that the fictional Donald Kaufman was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay.
I love that the happiest song in the movie (Back In Business) is about Dick Tracy being in prison and the gangsters taking over the city. Even Beatty didn't give a shit about the character he was playing.
No lie, but this movie literally changed my life. It came out when I was in 5th grade, and it hooked me on Dick Tracy, vintage cars, fedoras, fountain pens, and all things 1930s. I was the only kid in 6th grade who literally wore a fedora to school every day. Now, I'm in my 40s, and I'm still all about the fedoras and three-piece suits and pocket watches and fountain pens. There was something about this movie that hooked me, even as a kid, and altered my personal style and (by doing that) altered the entire trajectory of the rest of my life. Yeah, I was a weird kid, but there you have it.
Can we please have a "The story so far..." episode recapping the events of the ongoing Charl Saga? My working memory is terrible, I haven't watched every episode (avoiding spoilers for things I'm going to watch soon), and this has been going on for so very long.
I loved the look of “Dick Tracy.” The artifice, the embellished makeup, the exaggerated aesthetic, and rejection of realism - it was one of my faves as a kid. 🤣🤣 I loved Dustin Hoffman as Mumbles.
the best part about this movie is that it did what VERY few comic book movies did, be a living breathing comic book. bright colors, traditional make up effects to bring the rouges gallery to life, and the beautiful matte paintings. showed how crazy we could get before CGI took over.
Madonna's "Back in Business" should be the theme song of the end of COVID closings. I now stan for Stephen Sondheim after realizing he wrote most of the nightclub songs, and then re-listening to everything else he's ever done.
I said this in the live chat, but Bantering 'Bout Beatty should be the next podcast. Honestly I just hope the boys finish Keanu's filmography, they've still got a few to go and I miss the show.
It'd be fun to see or hear Patrick talking about "Bulworth." I'm a little surprised he didn't bring it up at all, considering how much of Beatty's other work he touched on.
ok... why am I JUST NOW getting this as a recommendation?!?! I've been checking out movie stuff for so looong and only NOW does utube recommend this? THANK you for this vid, and the channel. Have to give you a massive THANKS just for that mission impossible podcast blurb at the end (wow!!). It was just some inconsequential comment on your part but for me has meant hooouuurs on their channel (in addition to yours, duh). So... THANK you, THANK you, THANK you.
I really feel like you missed a great opportunity to talk about The Addams Family, which was also based on a short-form comic strip, much like Dick Tracy, and answered the question of how to adapt it in a very different manner.
It’s also a comedy which fits episodic movies, but yeah, it’s a fantastic adaptation. I’m also not sure if it is an adaptation of the comics or the television show
Never heard about the movie untill now, but I am absolutely excited by how they made it look like comic book panels, like you mentioned, with 7 colours and foxed cameras, comicky set design... *absolute loving it* Its something different.
Well, it's certainly an artistic achievement, but I'm not sure if it can be considered 'important' when it seems to have had such little impact. I can't think of many movies that pull from it stylistically, even those most likely to. Like, I continue to get annoyed at anime adaptations which don't understand that mimicking manga framing looks weird when there's depth of field. Having everything in focus is what makes the compositions work - which the Wachowskis understood but no one else seems to.
This! This is EXACTLY why it’s the most important, because people so misunderstand what’s going on here, it’s a good 20 years ahead of its time. This is montage done in a way that you can’t readily replicate in most modern NLEs because it’s not just a bunch of shots cut together, it’s a collage where action and stories from different timelines flow seamlessly together, much more like composing music than building with blocks. It’s crazy stylised sure, but these techniques can be utilised without being cartoony or anime. But as with all new ideas of artistic expression, being able to convey them and comprehend them for other artists to understand, appreciate and then replicate and change is going to take a very long time. We’ve only seen the beginnings of it.
@@woodsro Fair enough. I *would* be fascinated to know more about the Wachowskis' filming process for it, and how much was pre-visualized vs created in editing. Come to think of it, that might be part of the issue. You watch Speed Racer, and it's like "How did they even DO this?" Without knowing how, imitating it would be difficult.
Yes!! Thank you sir. Speed Racer is a benchmark in creative editing and unapologetic authorship. The Wachowskis had such a love for Manga and Speed Racer in particular that they wanted to recreate the pure visual storytelling of panel medium. Having completely storyboarded the entire film and knowing it was going to be using some creative transitions they set out to create something that captures this style of artistry...and boy does it succeed. From the scenes of dialog during races where the camera is on a gimble swooping from actor to actor on a giant green screen, to the after effects transitions adding such personality and energy to glorious set pieces. It was an uncompromising vision that I wish would have been a huge hit. This was my favorite theater experience in 2008 and I also watched this with some vfx buddies whacked out on ecstacy. This is an important film on a technical level. It is a one of a kind masterpiece and its my favorite Wachowskis film.
I always compared the Dick Tracy movie to Who Framed Roger Rabbit and The Rocketeer. They all came out within a few years of each other and share a similar time setting and some other things. You have made me want to watch Speed Racer again. Only saw it just after it came out on home video years ago.
Something must have been in the water in the early 90s, because this, Batman: The Animated Series and The Rocketeer gave the young, impressionable me an abiding fetish for Art Deco designs and two-fisted 30s pulp. It’s something I still struggle with to this day.
The weren't all winners, though. Alec Baldwin tried to be The Shadow but couldn't quite pull it off. It's weird how superhero movies have done so well but nobody can make a pulp hero movie work, when it was characters like The Shadow and Doc Savage that inspired the superheroes.
I only watched this film once, in the theaters. Even as a teen, I was impressed with the artistry while being generally bored out of my mind with the lack of story and character development. But, now that it's on Disney Plus, I considered a rewatch and now you've convinced me to do so.
I adored this movie as a 9 year old and watched it countless times. I'm not even exactly sure why I adored it so much. Maybe because Madona wore all those skimpy dresses. Maybe because it reminded me a bit of a comic strip. Maybe because it was so colorful. I never have been a fan of the comic strip before or since, but I adored the movie for a few years. So much so that my dear mother made me a yellow trench coat from scratch for a Holloween costume. My mother passed away from cancer a year later after making that coat so the movie and that coat have always held a special place in my heart. I'm gonna go see if I can find it on streaming.
Admittedly the video is still three hours from coming out, but here's my take: it's half an action movie and half a Sondheim musical. And that sounds great until you realize that it's not just the movie, it's the *scenes themselves* that are half-musical and half-action, and you never get a complete one of either. It is infuriating. Especially for such a stylistically bold movie. That said, I don't think it was *that* off-base for the studios to go for broke on retro pulp adaptations. The 50-year nostalgia cycle was firmly in the 1940s. I remember the deco revival, those epic neckties, Swingers, Ben and Jerry Horne on Twin Peaks...
@@xBINARYGODx Some of that 50s nostalgia carried over into the early 80s, like rockabilly music and Back to the Future, but it had really started on the 20-year nostalgia cycle in the 70s (Happy Days, Grease, etc.).
Beatty buying the rights to Dick Tracy reminds me of Michael Uslan, comic book nerd, who, in his 20's "swooped in" and, for a song, bought the movie and TV rights to ..... BATMAN. He is the producer of every Batman venture, to this very day.
Thank you for the Speed Racer love. I've always felt that it deserved much more attention than it got. It really did expand the language of film incredibly.
So glad that people are finally acknowledging what a masterpiece Speed Racer actually was. For years I felt like I was the only person who liked that movie.
The biggest complaint my grandfather had about this movie was that he said there were only Black cars back in the old days, no blue, red, green etc. cars as they portrayed in the film.
I am kind of in love with how pretty the scenes with you guys walking around masked in New York look. This is so well-made. Obviously, the film analysis and criticism is stellar as well.
I admittedly loved so many things about Speed Racer.and the visual and emotional payoff is awesome. Totally didn’t expect to be hit by those emotional scenes. And that psychedelic ending blew me.... away🥲
This movie is one of big sister's favorite movies and this is probably why I love surreal "ALL OF THE COLORS, NONE OF THE REALITY" movies, such as Speed Racer and Baz Luhrmann movies
"Tracy but more self-serious" -- I think that was just Frank Miller's 'The Spirit'. (I could be wrong though: that movie was goofy enough to literally do a "kitchen sink" joke.)
I LOVE that film. I think the fact that it made no effort to be trendy in 1990 will mean it's timeless. It'll age better than its' contemporaries. It's already aged better than a lot of films that were made in the last 10 years ;)
If that is the next video, I’d like to think of this as a weird little prelude, like Patrick is like “fine, I’ll do a Snyder video, but first I’m gunna talk about Dick Tracy for 45 minutes!!”
As much as I enjoy his filmography videos and things about popular current movies, I think my favorite Patrick videos are ones like this and the gonzo blockbusters one that give praise and criticism towards underappreciated movies and make me love cinema more than I already do
The first 3/4s of this video I was like, "Oh like Speed Racer" and then when Pat was like, "Only one live-action cartoon did this..." I was like, "YOU BETTER FINISH THAT SENTENCE WITH 'SPEED RACER'!!"
[SPOILERS HERE] So wait. Does this mean Real!Patrick is still on that island where he took a vacation? Is the rest of the crew gonna have to go back and FIND Real!Patrick? SUDDENLY I MUST KNOW! DAMMIT PATRICK HOW DID YOU GET US INVESTED IN A PLOT AGAINST A COCONUT WITH GOOGLY EYES?!
So, this was my first Patrick Willems video essay I've ever seen, and I'm super happy to see Speed Racer get the acknowledgement it deserves as one of the best live action cartoon adaptations ever. But on the topic of Dick Tracy - it is also worth mentioning that it was part of a brief trend from the late 80s to mid 90s to adapt or otherwise pay tribute to radio plays. This trend also included Radio Days (1987), the Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988), The Fugitive (1993), The Shadow (1994), and The Radioland Murders (1994). Dick Tracy did not follow the tropes or conventions of any of them. It also had a massively overplayed marketing buildup encouraging the potential audience to try and solve the identity of Mr. Blank before the film even came out (the Simpsons would spoof this 5 years later with "Who Killed Mr. Burns?")
This one of my favourite movies from the early 90's. I saw it in the theatre and it was fun and glorious. A real treat for a young teen just getting into the movies. It is bonkers, fun, and in many a weird way, art.
This and The Rocketeer came out within a year of each other and show how much Disney was willing to experiment with weird stylistic films in the early 90s. Both are extremely underrated as well.
I'd like to think Beatty kept the rights because he wanted to keep cosplaying as his favorite characters. Which is pretty relatable in today's day and age.
brooooo the in video story line is amazing, been watching for a couple years now and ive loved watching the slow burn of it all. i hope you put out a super cut one day or something
One thing I hated is they had a whole bunch of Gould's great villains, which all had great storylines in the strip, and used them for like, what 5 minutes to be killed off.
Warren Beatty who starred produced and directed in the film was forced cut time down to 1 hour and 45 minutes while Beatty did say 2 hour and 15 minute version exists. 21 villains from the Chester Gould comics appeared in the movie because of Beatty as a measure in case a sequel didn’t get made.
I remember seeing yellow trench coats in stores tied in with the movie. I always thought there was a warehouse full of unsold yellow coats out there somewhere
Say what you will about this movie, but the matte paintings are GORGEOUS.
And the costumes and makeup and lighting and set designs, are all GORGEOUS.
The whole movie is gorgeous as hell!!
And it won and Oscar for it's production design.
They just can't make movies like this anymore there's something about practical effects and hand built sets that's unbeatable but it seems to be a lost art form
I agree
Honestly what's a better running joke than "Jeffrey Katzenberg, founder of Quibi"
Quibi was such a disaster I know it's going to be on "worst business disasters of the 2020s" lists despite being a decade old when those lists get written. Hell, it may even get talked about in business schools for years. What a clusterfuck.
@@jasonblalock4429 A perfect example of not understanding how normal people engage with media. Because looking at a tweet while standing in line is not anywhere near the commitment of watching a show.
Mikey Neumann/FilmJoy calling Teh Katz “Papa” is pretty good as well. 👍🏻
Friend of the show Francis Ford Coppola and #1 Marvel fan Martin Scorsese are also pretty great, but that's hard to beat.
Marvels number one fan, Martin Scorsese.
Man this video really reminds me that matte paintings are a fucking phenomenal lost art. This movie looks gorgeous
It’s not lost, look at The Grand Budapest Hotel or any Wes Anderson movie
I had this thought when I saw LotR in the cinema again last year. You've just gotta not be shooting in 3D, as far as I'm aware.
@@fredericmigneret4211 but that is so rare these days. Wes Anderson movies almost don’t count because a lot of times he is going out of his way to keep some of these things alive when no one else is really doing it on a similarly large scale. I doubt there is even a single movie in the top 100 films this year that feature significant use of matte paintings if any at all.
@@samlibutti I agree man there are some amazing ones in films you wouldn’t even expect them to be in!
I'm not sure what do you or anyone here mean by that, but Matte paintings still exist are they are part of most productions you see in the big screen that have any significant amount of VFX work, they are made by a number of techniques from digital 2D and 3D to good old oil an canvas (when budget allows). Mattes are the staple of VFX industry and they are used mostly in a similar way since basically George Melies. They are evolving now to include virtual production in which the matte is a panoramic 360 image. You can check this page just to see some examples of techniques www.thegnomonworkshop.com/tutorials?tags[]=matte-painting and here and you can see examples even in youtube ua-cam.com/video/LYJHIAIrIos/v-deo.html
You are missing that particular style in Dick Tracy, which is valid, but Matte Painting are still standard, they just adjusted to the times, which has been happening since forever anyway.
"A bizarre stylistic experiment meant to be the start of a new franchise but would probably alienate most viewers"
I was expecting a Speed Racer reference afterwards.
I am so happy to see Speed Racer picking up more fans. I've been championing it for years, so I'm glad it's finally found an audience.
@@jasonblalock4429 Yeah it seems to be getting new appreciation in recent years. Sure is nice to see although personally have been a huge fan since the opening weekend in movie theaters LOL
@@jasonblalock4429 I've been screaming to the hilltops that a 4K Speed Racer with an HDR pass would light eyeballs on fire. We NEED IT!
the prob w/ speed racer was ENDLESS scenes of talking and the fact that John Goodman looked as if he was going to die, any second. The effects scenes/etc are awesome. I, for one, found the endless, meaningless exposition to be unbearable.
@@pqribber I thought John Goodman was fantastic as Pops, he naturally exudes fatherly energy. And the racing sequences would be nothing without the heart of the movie, i.e. the characters...
I legit love this movie so much, the aesthetics, the soundtrack, the color pallet, the over the top acting; god just EVERYTHING
As someone who saw it in theaters and nearly wore out the VHS as a kid, I've been waiting for people to discover it so it could get a legit rerelease. I even tuned in to the TCM special when it aired. I love this film and it deserves better in this time and place.
It’s fast paced and action packed. It’s campy, it’s fun and the cast is amazing
I agree.
"Friend of the show, godfather to my future children, Francis Ford Coppola"
I'm a little surprised that the 1980 Flash Gordon never came up in the discussion, since they're remarkably similar. Hyper-colorful plot-accurate live action adaptations of golden-age pulp newspaper comics. (And both featuring superstar musical talent.) The only significant difference is that one is self-aware about being campy, and the other plays things utterly straight. So they end up having vastly different impact.
And I also think that's why Tracy is largely forgotten today, while Flash remains a cult classic. Flash's hyper-camp approach keeps it fresh, while Dick Tracy just feels a bit too... turgid.
YES! My thoughts exactly! This came out after the first Batman and last (or so we were led to believe) Indiana Jones, and i was expecting a kind of Disneyfied combo of the two. Really disappointing. I had no idea Walter Hill was involved at one point. The original strips were so weird, crazy and violent, he'd have been a great choice.
Thanks for reminding me to try and finally get around to that movie. Kept seeing the trailer for it at my local indie last year but the dates didn't line up
I don't know who Flash Gordon is. And when i search it on youtube, the 1st video that comes up have a thumbnail where the man himself vs his opponent on top of a wobbly spiky disk
Now i somewhat understand why people adored that film 😂
I’m pretty sure I saw this in the theatre. And like “The Rocketeer” and “The Phantom” (also seen in theaters) it was part of a retro wave that really influenced my childhood. Heck, even the cartoon “Tailspin” with its South Pacific Casablanca world was HUGE for me.
[Edit] The “Popeye” movie was also a thing in my family. I remember we had a heavily water-damaged record of the soundtrack. God, weird times.
Tim burtons success with films like Pee Wee’s big adventure, Edward Scissors hands and Batman led to this trendy in films. My two cents
Same. The standout for me was "The Shadow".
Don't leave record player outside in the rain. Also don't eat or drink near it.
I loved the rocketeer, and I didn't understand how comics from the 30's have a certain "just a little too old" energy to make them strange.. That "cowboy with a mask" character is the same thing , what's his name again? Edit : lone ranger.. But that weird style kinda makes them great in their own way. It's what they tried to emulate with the sky captain of tomorrow (or whatever it was called, based on the game where planes hooked onto zeppelins) film
I will say this definitely looks like a 1920s comic book. From the sets, costumes, the make up prosthetics, and even the score. I loved it as a kid and still do.
Was crossing my fingers for at least a passing reference to 1994's The Shadow, which for my money is the last gasp of the serious attempts to make irrelevant, old timey comic characters into modern blockbusters. It's also just a ton of fun and I wish it weren't so forgotten.
what about 2008's The Spirit as a movie based on irrelevant and old comics? ;)
@@goodial The Shadow is somewhat entertaining as an honest b-movie. Spirit was a disaster.
The Spirit is a wonderful comic book, created by one of the greatest comic creators. But the movie was terrible.
@@goodial That is the worst comic book movie ever.
@@goodial ya that movie was a lot of fun! definitely thought about it when watching Dick Tracy
“I spent all day today searching online for a yellow trench coat like the one Dick Tracey wears, because it’s all I see when I dream now.” The next time someone asks me how my day was this will be my response.
this charl storyline is so next level. I am freaking out at that cliffhanger
Sat here wishing this was part one of a Warren Beatty series.
My girlfriend wrote part of her master's thesis about this movie. Say what you will about the movie (personally, I love it) but it nails the comic look in a way not many adaptations have since.
What did she write about?
I liked batman and robin so ima watch it
YES!!!! I loved how they only used the 7 colors from the comics. I absolutely adore that detail.
It’s called adaptation, not translation. Movies should have more color tho
And modern attempts to do something so stylised are often done in post production and never look anything like as good. They always have that fake crap looking artificial sheen of 300 and the like.
"EVERYWHERE I TURN ITS 'TRACY TRACY TRACY!" God bless Al Pacino and his over the top performance. I always found it fun to watch in this movie as well as in other films.
Dittos. He was at his hammy best here
I just want the Charl saga supercut when this is all over (presumably when Charl finally takes over the channel and/or eliminates Patrick).
The violent ending to the film isn't so odd when you look at the original comic strips, where Tracy basically kills every villain at the end of their caper-gone-wrong, or allows them to die, usually under ironic circumstances.
And let's not forget that prior to the release of the movie Disney was planning to make a ride version, which at the time was pretty bar none the most ambitious attraction they'd ever planned up to that point, and the cancellation of which in response to the movie flopping (as well as EuroDisneyland also catastrophically flopping) sent shockwaves throughout many of their parks projects at the time.
I think the bigger factor in the parks' issues in the '90s was Eisner perpetually defunding one project in order to fund the next in a vicious cycle.
As an aside to this topic, Dick Tracy was filmed eight times in the 40's, four serials and four feature films. Ralph Byrd played the character six times as well as in a 50's television series.
Patrick, please get some sleep. I'm starting to get worried about how dare you steal bonkers from me?
As a kid I was so intrigued by this film. I only knew about Dick Tracy due to looney tunes’ Duck Tracy spoof and the weird gangsters in it. I though it was so cool that they would bring all those weirdos to life like that on screen. Best thing in it for me.
Full stop. Speed Racer absolutely slaps. It's a crime how underrated it is.
Bound, Matrix, Speed Racer.. Their other works blow
I had so much watching Speed Racer. I apologize to the Wachowski Sisters for not watching it while it was in theaters.
That was one of the first movies I ever watched while stoned. Great experience
I watched this movie around six weeks ago. I can't remember basically anything about the plot, but I remember how much fun I had watching it, and, like you said, how gorgeous it looks.
I feel like Charl is a personification of all the emotions from COVID, slowly driving us all insane.
I’m only partway through this video, so I don’t know if it’s brought up, but it’s worth watching the Madonna tour documentary “Truth or Dare”. The few scenes of Madonna and Beatty’s relationship are very interesting. They really have each other figured out and they both seem to trying at something they will both do better at later in their personal lives. They certainly aren’t nice to each other but they kind of respect each other and their literal business relationship.
Patrick's love for Speed Racer is always welcomed!! One of my all time favorite movies!
The AUDACITY to suggest waiting for the video to end before watching Madona perform Sooner or Later at the 1991 Oscars.
I believe DTracy had some (toned down) stylistic influence in The Rocketeer, which of course has direct ties to Captain America the First Avenger.
"Actual essay starts at whatever." Pfft, I'm only here for Charl lore :P
Me, about two years ago: what's this video about the limitations of the MCU
Me now, learning that Patrick never came back from his vacation: :0 :0 :0
I went to the midnight premier (or was it a sneak peak?) of Dick Tracy. You had to buy a special t-shirt (and wear it) to get into the theater. It was a cool gimmick that I kinda wish more films did! (Or maybe it was just something my local theater was doing.)
The ticket t-shirts! Yeah, I remember those. Didn't get one, as I went after it had been in theatres for a week or so.
I won tickets to a Paula Abdul concert from the newspaper and they made me wear their t-shirt to the show. I was in 5th or 6th grade and getting to go to a paula Abdul concert so I didn’t care. But now that I think about how would they have known if I didn’t??? 🤣
Thanks to Red Letter Media, every time I see a reference to Ishtar, I hear Charles Grodin's voice "These guys are pawns!"
Here's some trivia: Dick Tracy is the only fictional character - not an actor in the role, but the character himself - to be awarded an Oscar for Best Actor.
Lol 😂
Where did you hear this? The film didn't receive a Best Actor Oscar nomination. The only Best Actor nomination they received was a Saturn award, but they still lost that as well.
@@billwenham - True story: When Spencer Tracy won his Best Actor Oscar for "Captains Courageous" in 1938, it was misinscribed to "Dick Tracy." (It was later corrected.)
@@pagano60 Ah! Okay, I was like...not for this film! 🤣 Along the same lines though, I still love that the fictional Donald Kaufman was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay.
@@pagano60 that's hilarious!
I love that the happiest song in the movie (Back In Business) is about Dick Tracy being in prison and the gangsters taking over the city. Even Beatty didn't give a shit about the character he was playing.
No lie, but this movie literally changed my life. It came out when I was in 5th grade, and it hooked me on Dick Tracy, vintage cars, fedoras, fountain pens, and all things 1930s. I was the only kid in 6th grade who literally wore a fedora to school every day.
Now, I'm in my 40s, and I'm still all about the fedoras and three-piece suits and pocket watches and fountain pens.
There was something about this movie that hooked me, even as a kid, and altered my personal style and (by doing that) altered the entire trajectory of the rest of my life.
Yeah, I was a weird kid, but there you have it.
Can we please have a "The story so far..." episode recapping the events of the ongoing Charl Saga? My working memory is terrible, I haven't watched every episode (avoiding spoilers for things I'm going to watch soon), and this has been going on for so very long.
In the style of an old newsreel!
Or just make it an extended "Matt Wines" segment
It’ll probably be made for the final episode of this saga.
@@comixproviderftw_02 One can hope
I loved the look of “Dick Tracy.” The artifice, the embellished makeup, the exaggerated aesthetic, and rejection of realism - it was one of my faves as a kid. 🤣🤣 I loved Dustin Hoffman as Mumbles.
"Future creator of Quibi" is the beautifully understated dis to Eisner I live for. Thanks, Patrick.
the best part about this movie is that it did what VERY few comic book movies did, be a living breathing comic book. bright colors, traditional make up effects to bring the rouges gallery to life, and the beautiful matte paintings. showed how crazy we could get before CGI took over.
Patrick: *mentions Speed Racer*
Me: WOOOO YEAAAAAAH 🥳 🎊 🍾
I hooted out loud too! Fav movie on the rotation list.
Madonna's "Back in Business" should be the theme song of the end of COVID closings. I now stan for Stephen Sondheim after realizing he wrote most of the nightclub songs, and then re-listening to everything else he's ever done.
Absolutely. To this day it's my Monday morning work commute anthem.
Ah, Madonna was the sexiest woman alive when this movie came out.
slight correction. Madonna didn't actually sing "Back in Business." Her version was done later and is an entirely different song.
"The enduring legacy of the Brendan Fraser Mummy franchise."
*eyes all of my bisexual friends who say their type is the cast of that movie*
I now want a video about how Danny Elfman became the go-to composer for comic book movies...at least for a while.
I said this in the live chat, but Bantering 'Bout Beatty should be the next podcast. Honestly I just hope the boys finish Keanu's filmography, they've still got a few to go and I miss the show.
It'd be fun to see or hear Patrick talking about "Bulworth." I'm a little surprised he didn't bring it up at all, considering how much of Beatty's other work he touched on.
Patrick I swear to god if you don't deliver on a Brendan Fraser Mummy video I will be very sad no lie
ok... why am I JUST NOW getting this as a recommendation?!?! I've been checking out movie stuff for so looong and only NOW does utube recommend this?
THANK you for this vid, and the channel. Have to give you a massive THANKS just for that mission impossible podcast blurb at the end (wow!!). It was just some inconsequential comment on your part but for me has meant hooouuurs on their channel (in addition to yours, duh).
So... THANK you, THANK you, THANK you.
I really feel like you missed a great opportunity to talk about The Addams Family, which was also based on a short-form comic strip, much like Dick Tracy, and answered the question of how to adapt it in a very different manner.
It’s also a comedy which fits episodic movies, but yeah, it’s a fantastic adaptation. I’m also not sure if it is an adaptation of the comics or the television show
I LOVED how this video spent such a great time of it talking about how freaking great Speed Racer is. Thanks Patrick.
Finally living in a time where Dick Tracy gets the Patrick Willems treatment
I demand the Patrick Cut of the charl story.
A four hour long drag without the studio’s film analysis add on’s. Or their notes to hype those movies.
Never heard about the movie untill now, but I am absolutely excited by how they made it look like comic book panels, like you mentioned, with 7 colours and foxed cameras, comicky set design... *absolute loving it*
Its something different.
Speaking as an editor, I think Speed Racer is the most important film of the last decade.
Well, it's certainly an artistic achievement, but I'm not sure if it can be considered 'important' when it seems to have had such little impact. I can't think of many movies that pull from it stylistically, even those most likely to. Like, I continue to get annoyed at anime adaptations which don't understand that mimicking manga framing looks weird when there's depth of field. Having everything in focus is what makes the compositions work - which the Wachowskis understood but no one else seems to.
This! This is EXACTLY why it’s the most important, because people so misunderstand what’s going on here, it’s a good 20 years ahead of its time. This is montage done in a way that you can’t readily replicate in most modern NLEs because it’s not just a bunch of shots cut together, it’s a collage where action and stories from different timelines flow seamlessly together, much more like composing music than building with blocks. It’s crazy stylised sure, but these techniques can be utilised without being cartoony or anime. But as with all new ideas of artistic expression, being able to convey them and comprehend them for other artists to understand, appreciate and then replicate and change is going to take a very long time. We’ve only seen the beginnings of it.
@@woodsro Fair enough. I *would* be fascinated to know more about the Wachowskis' filming process for it, and how much was pre-visualized vs created in editing. Come to think of it, that might be part of the issue. You watch Speed Racer, and it's like "How did they even DO this?" Without knowing how, imitating it would be difficult.
More like two decades ago. It’s from the 00’s decade.
Yes!! Thank you sir. Speed Racer is a benchmark in creative editing and unapologetic authorship. The Wachowskis had such a love for Manga and Speed Racer in particular that they wanted to recreate the pure visual storytelling of panel medium. Having completely storyboarded the entire film and knowing it was going to be using some creative transitions they set out to create something that captures this style of artistry...and boy does it succeed. From the scenes of dialog during races where the camera is on a gimble swooping from actor to actor on a giant green screen, to the after effects transitions adding such personality and energy to glorious set pieces. It was an uncompromising vision that I wish would have been a huge hit. This was my favorite theater experience in 2008 and I also watched this with some vfx buddies whacked out on ecstacy. This is an important film on a technical level. It is a one of a kind masterpiece and its my favorite Wachowskis film.
I always compared the Dick Tracy movie to Who Framed Roger Rabbit and The Rocketeer. They all came out within a few years of each other and share a similar time setting and some other things. You have made me want to watch Speed Racer again. Only saw it just after it came out on home video years ago.
Something must have been in the water in the early 90s, because this, Batman: The Animated Series and The Rocketeer gave the young, impressionable me an abiding fetish for Art Deco designs and two-fisted 30s pulp. It’s something I still struggle with to this day.
The weren't all winners, though. Alec Baldwin tried to be The Shadow but couldn't quite pull it off. It's weird how superhero movies have done so well but nobody can make a pulp hero movie work, when it was characters like The Shadow and Doc Savage that inspired the superheroes.
Note that Al Pacino was the first actor ever to get an Academy Award for acting in a comic book adaptation. I still find that amusing.
Scrolled the comments just to make sure this was noted! :)
Not quite right. Jackie Cooper was the first one for Skippy (1931)
Hearing Patrick bring up the cursed Town & Country gave me fond We Heart Hartnett memories :’)
I was hoping he'd talk about T&C, that episode is fantastic!
That movie was available during my Blockbuster employment, and it didn’t even look like it was worth a free rental.
I only watched this film once, in the theaters. Even as a teen, I was impressed with the artistry while being generally bored out of my mind with the lack of story and character development. But, now that it's on Disney Plus, I considered a rewatch and now you've convinced me to do so.
It's not on Disney Plus!?!?.....
@@nastynastke Guess not! Weird.
I adored this movie as a 9 year old and watched it countless times. I'm not even exactly sure why I adored it so much. Maybe because Madona wore all those skimpy dresses. Maybe because it reminded me a bit of a comic strip. Maybe because it was so colorful. I never have been a fan of the comic strip before or since, but I adored the movie for a few years. So much so that my dear mother made me a yellow trench coat from scratch for a Holloween costume. My mother passed away from cancer a year later after making that coat so the movie and that coat have always held a special place in my heart. I'm gonna go see if I can find it on streaming.
I submit my candidacy for the film that captures the spirit of a live-action anime/video game: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.
Admittedly the video is still three hours from coming out, but here's my take: it's half an action movie and half a Sondheim musical. And that sounds great until you realize that it's not just the movie, it's the *scenes themselves* that are half-musical and half-action, and you never get a complete one of either. It is infuriating. Especially for such a stylistically bold movie.
That said, I don't think it was *that* off-base for the studios to go for broke on retro pulp adaptations. The 50-year nostalgia cycle was firmly in the 1940s. I remember the deco revival, those epic neckties, Swingers, Ben and Jerry Horne on Twin Peaks...
are you sure about that - the social and some of the artistic stuff from the 80's feels like "lets have the 50's again! Family values!!!!".
@@xBINARYGODx Some of that 50s nostalgia carried over into the early 80s, like rockabilly music and Back to the Future, but it had really started on the 20-year nostalgia cycle in the 70s (Happy Days, Grease, etc.).
Beatty buying the rights to Dick Tracy reminds me of Michael Uslan, comic book nerd, who, in his 20's "swooped in" and, for a song, bought the movie and TV rights to ..... BATMAN. He is the producer of every Batman venture, to this very day.
I was 10 years old when Dick Tracy came out and was a huge fan, and it was the reason I fell in love with pulp heroes like The Shadow and The Phantom.
Speed Racer is the only 2D movie that made me feel violently ill. That's forever going to be its crowning achievement in my book.
It's crazy how underrated this film is.
This movie is art. Bless you for calling attention to it.
Thank you for the Speed Racer love. I've always felt that it deserved much more attention than it got. It really did expand the language of film incredibly.
So glad that people are finally acknowledging what a masterpiece Speed Racer actually was. For years I felt like I was the only person who liked that movie.
What one
Streets of Fire: I see you're a man of culture.
Man... Your essays are fantastic, but the episode-to-episode framing storylines are great. Well done.
The biggest complaint my grandfather had about this movie was that he said there were only Black cars back in the old days, no blue, red, green etc. cars as they portrayed in the film.
That isn’t true, or at least it wasn’t true in the US.
32:47 "Speed Racer."
33:05 "YEEEEEEEEAAAAAHHHH!"
My mother wouldn't ever let me rent this from Blockbuster, despite how much I loved the old cartoons...
I am kind of in love with how pretty the scenes with you guys walking around masked in New York look. This is so well-made.
Obviously, the film analysis and criticism is stellar as well.
Also, I can’t believe how ambitious this Charl storyline is getting. My jaw is on the floor from that ending!
I admittedly loved so many things about Speed Racer.and the visual and emotional payoff is awesome. Totally didn’t expect to be hit by those emotional scenes. And that psychedelic ending blew me.... away🥲
This movie is one of big sister's favorite movies and this is probably why I love surreal "ALL OF THE COLORS, NONE OF THE REALITY" movies, such as Speed Racer and Baz Luhrmann movies
Thank you. My friends give me crap about not liking Moulin Rouge ironically but actually loving it. And I love nearly everything about Romeo + Juliet.
Add Amélie and Love Me if you Dare. Bright, colourful films ❤.
"Tracy but more self-serious" -- I think that was just Frank Miller's 'The Spirit'.
(I could be wrong though: that movie was goofy enough to literally do a "kitchen sink" joke.)
I LOVE that film. I think the fact that it made no effort to be trendy in 1990 will mean it's timeless. It'll age better than its' contemporaries. It's already aged better than a lot of films that were made in the last 10 years ;)
So, who else is eager to see Patrick's Zack Snyder analysis whenever it comes out? Even Charl must be going a little coconuts over that video.
If that is the next video, I’d like to think of this as a weird little prelude, like Patrick is like “fine, I’ll do a Snyder video, but first I’m gunna talk about Dick Tracy for 45 minutes!!”
I'm excited about the idea of Patrick diving into Zack Snyder!
As much as I enjoy his filmography videos and things about popular current movies, I think my favorite Patrick videos are ones like this and the gonzo blockbusters one that give praise and criticism towards underappreciated movies and make me love cinema more than I already do
As a huge, HUGE fan of Speed Racer, your digression on the subject warmed my heart. It really is the goddamn best.
It's amazing, but I can't watch it of an evening because it gets me all amped up (/over stimulated?) and unable to sleep
That biography should be called, "War and Beatty".
The first 3/4s of this video I was like, "Oh like Speed Racer" and then when Pat was like, "Only one live-action cartoon did this..." I was like, "YOU BETTER FINISH THAT SENTENCE WITH 'SPEED RACER'!!"
I appreciate the time stamp for the essay start, and also want to say this is the best video you've done so far.
[SPOILERS HERE]
So wait. Does this mean Real!Patrick is still on that island where he took a vacation? Is the rest of the crew gonna have to go back and FIND Real!Patrick? SUDDENLY I MUST KNOW! DAMMIT PATRICK HOW DID YOU GET US INVESTED IN A PLOT AGAINST A COCONUT WITH GOOGLY EYES?!
When I was a kid you couldn’t tell me this wasn’t the biggest movie of 1990. I love it.
trying to show my friends this channel with out giving a detailed lore explanation is already difficult and YOUR ADDING TIMELINES??!!
So, this was my first Patrick Willems video essay I've ever seen, and I'm super happy to see Speed Racer get the acknowledgement it deserves as one of the best live action cartoon adaptations ever.
But on the topic of Dick Tracy - it is also worth mentioning that it was part of a brief trend from the late 80s to mid 90s to adapt or otherwise pay tribute to radio plays. This trend also included Radio Days (1987), the Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988), The Fugitive (1993), The Shadow (1994), and The Radioland Murders (1994). Dick Tracy did not follow the tropes or conventions of any of them.
It also had a massively overplayed marketing buildup encouraging the potential audience to try and solve the identity of Mr. Blank before the film even came out (the Simpsons would spoof this 5 years later with "Who Killed Mr. Burns?")
I really hope you talking about Speed Racer gets it to be more popular. That movie rocks!
it was really a miracle for a movie like Reds to be made in Hollywood, goes to show how much influence this man had
Thank God the project was locked in before Heaven's Gate came out. Reds was the last gasp of breath for the New Hollywood Era.
"Just what all fans love; five full hours of branded content announcements " 😝😝😝
These are the videos that define channels, I love the passion displayed by Patrick talking about the movie
33:00 I legit thought he was going to say “George of the Jungle,” which is a preeminently enjoyable movie.
This one of my favourite movies from the early 90's. I saw it in the theatre and it was fun and glorious. A real treat for a young teen just getting into the movies. It is bonkers, fun, and in many a weird way, art.
This and The Rocketeer came out within a year of each other and show how much Disney was willing to experiment with weird stylistic films in the early 90s. Both are extremely underrated as well.
I'd like to think Beatty kept the rights because he wanted to keep cosplaying as his favorite characters. Which is pretty relatable in today's day and age.
That title sequence was fantastic!
brooooo the in video story line is amazing, been watching for a couple years now and ive loved watching the slow burn of it all. i hope you put out a super cut one day or something
Was not expecting to find out Warren Beatty is an actual madlad!
absolutely lost it when the title card dropped into frame as Charl simultaneously plopped oh-so-sexily into the water. Now THAT'S cinematography.
One thing I hated is they had a whole bunch of Gould's great villains, which all had great storylines in the strip, and used them for like, what 5 minutes to be killed off.
Warren Beatty who starred produced and directed in the film was forced cut time down to 1 hour and 45 minutes while Beatty did say 2 hour and 15 minute version exists. 21 villains from the Chester Gould comics appeared in the movie because of Beatty as a measure in case a sequel didn’t get made.
I remember seeing yellow trench coats in stores tied in with the movie. I always thought there was a warehouse full of unsold yellow coats out there somewhere