Dick Tracy's 20th Anniversary

[Matuatay]

I can't believe I missed this!  20 years??  You have to be kidding me!  It seems like only 5 or so years ago I was sitting in a theater on the edge of my seat and only a week or so after collecting all the trading cards and action figures I could possibly beg out of my parents and grandparents. 

And I specifically remember asking my father, who took me to see both films on their opening days, "who has more bad guys...Batman or Dick Tracy?"  I already had my own idea as to who had more villains, but I was obsessed with testing my fathers knowledge on both subjects.

What can I say?  I was 10.  :-S

[Kamdan]

http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/Dustin03Comics/news/?a=33874

The legal rights are all settled, so here's to hoping for a new adaptation of Dick Tracy or at least a special edition Blu-ray!

[gordonblu]

I'm hoping for Beatty's directors cut at the very least! A new film would be awesome as well, but I'm concerned it come out too Sin City-ish, which is a completely different style of Film Noir than Dick Tracy.

[The Joker]

I've decided to revive this thread.

Back in 2009, TCM aired a tongue-in-cheek "Dick Tracy Special" featuring Leonard Maltin in a retrospective interview with Warren Beatty in character as Dick Tracy. Apparently, it only aired once and only once.

Today, I was suddenly seeing stuff about Dick Tracy on the internet popping up, and I thought, "What gives?". Evidently, a follow up special aired last night on TCM, "Tracy Zooms In", featuring once again Leonard Maltin, alongside Ben Mankiewicz, and a meta-like zoom call with Warren Beatty in character as Dick Tracy, confronting Beatty as himself, who later joins in on the call.

The possibility of a sequel is once again brought up, but that's been floating around probably ever since 1990. Interestingly enough, Beatty in-character as Tracy brings up the notion of a younger actor taking up the role....

Anyways, thought I'd share.

[The Joker]

Ooh, I always love a conversation involving Dick Tracy as that's been my main area of research. It is true that they did indeed include a lot of characters in that film but the beauty of having a comic strip that ran for over a half a centenary at the time it was released was that was just a taste of who could appear in subsequent follow ups. Max Allan Collins was able to carry on with new villains in his follow ups to his novelization that could have gone on further if he wasn't let go from his writing position for the comic strip.

I think Beatty did a pretty good job with the 1990 Dick Tracy movie. Arguably, he incorporated as many of the heavy hitters as possible from Chester Gould's Tracy rogues gallery, but you're right, some were left. I understand there were a few prequel comics, and Max Allan Collins writing the movie novelization, along with two sequel paperbacks. Wasn't Shakey and B.B. Eyes a few of the villains he used?

Speaking of possibilities with sequels, have you heard about the sequel pitches that were thrown during the production of the film? Evidently, these treatments are stored at the MSU Library.

https://findingaids.lib.msu.edu/repositories/4/archival_objects/436183

https://findingaids.lib.msu.edu/repositories/4/archival_objects/436185

Honestly, I found out about these listening to a podcast some time back covering the Beatty film. According to the guy that supposedly read them, the sequel would have taken place during WW2, focusing on an espionage plot involving Pruneface and The Brow. Which makes sense, considering the villains themselves from the strip, but apparently the writer was unaware that they were already appearing in the final film itself.

The third film's pitch was to take place during the 1950's, involving a grown Junior Tracy, with a more lethargic Dick Tracy at this point. The villains were pitched for Flattop Jr., and Heartless Mahoney. I believe it was stated on the podcast that Heartless would be Breahtless' daughter rather than sister for this version, but I could be wrong about that.

Obviously, the film didn't replicate the success of Batman, so the notions of sequels were subsequently dropped, but it is interesting finding out of what might have been had things turned out a little different.

[Kamdan]

I think Beatty did a pretty good job with the 1990 Dick Tracy movie. Arguably, he incorporated as many of the heavy hitters as possible from Chester Gould's Tracy rogues gallery, but you're right, some were left. I understand there were a few prequel comics, and Max Allan Collins writing the movie novelization, along with two sequel paperbacks. Wasn't Shakey and B.B. Eyes a few of the villains he used?

B.B. Eyes was utilized in both the prequel comics written by comics writer and co-story consultant/editor of 1990 Flash television series, John Francis Moore, and in Collins' first sequel novel. Shakey also appeared in both and there was a one point in the scripting phase where he appeared in a pre-credits sequence where he's convict who takes the mayor hostage and demands a swap for Tracy who is called to the scene via the two-way wrist radio while attending the opera. The sequence was subsequently cut and shifted so that Tracy is called to the scene of the Seventh Street garage massacre.

Many other characters from the strip appeared in the original drafts and were subsequently replaced with others. Even though the early drafts always utilized Mumbles as the stool pigeon character, for some reason one of the later drafts that was close to the final shooting script utilized The Mole and this was reflected in the Disney Audio Adventures two part comic adaptation. Even during production they were adding characters with some input from Collins. One of these was Influence who never appeared in any previous drafts. His character didn't even get to use his gimmick of being able to hypnotize people, and was simply chosen because of his skull like face that complemented Henry Silva's natural face.

Honestly, I found out about these listening to a podcast some time back covering the Beatty film. According to the guy that supposedly read them, the sequel would have taken place during WW2, focusing on an espionage plot involving Pruneface and The Brow. Which makes sense, considering the villains themselves from the strip, but apparently the writer was unaware that they were already appearing in the final film itself.

If it was for The Projection Booth, that was definitely yours truly. All of the details were indeed derived from those treatments and while there were some erroneous errors of repeating villains that were killed off in the final film, to the writers' credit, when they wrote the two sequel proposals, they weren't privy to who was being used as Beatty and Bo Goldman were revising the screenplay without their input. This would later became of moment of contention when Beatty and Goldman wanted credit and the original writers filed an arbitration to the Writers Guild stating that their work wasn't substantial enough to get credit and thus split residuals. Beatty would subsequently dismissed their sequel ideas when they were presented to them.

As I mentioned earlier with Influence, The Brow was another great looking villain they wanted to use for the opening card game that also appeared on many of the promotional material like the McDonald's scratch off game. When Collins was writing the first draft of the novelization, he was thinking ahead and decided that The Brow and others' place in the World War II era of the comic strip would be better utilized and decided to create other characters to replace them. Disney did not like this change and ordered him to stick to the script so he had to reluctantly use them although they would've been fine additions to his subsequent World War II era sequel.

There is some details about Beatty being interested in doing a previous iteration of Dick Tracy that involved the character dealing with Nazis kidnapping Oppenheimer, while the War of the Worlds broadcast is going on that would make it more of a historical fiction instead of the comic strip, cops and robbers approach that was first developed while John Landis was attached to direct in the early 80s that became the final film.

[The Joker]

B.B. Eyes was utilized in both the prequel comics written by comics writer and co-story consultant/editor of 1990 Flash television series, John Francis Moore, and in Collins' first sequel novel. Shakey also appeared in both and there was a one point in the scripting phase where he appeared in a pre-credits sequence where he's convict who takes the mayor hostage and demands a swap for Tracy who is called to the scene via the two-way wrist radio while attending the opera. The sequence was subsequently cut and shifted so that Tracy is called to the scene of the Seventh Street garage massacre.

That would have been interesting, though obviously evocative of a similar sequence in the original "Robocop" involving a Detroit councilman. Are you aware if it was cut due to similarities? Or just because of budget/time restraints. I'm aware that the production ran well over it's original slotted budget.

Many other characters from the strip appeared in the original drafts and were subsequently replaced with others. Even though the early drafts always utilized Mumbles as the stool pigeon character, for some reason one of the later drafts that was close to the final shooting script utilized The Mole and this was reflected in the Disney Audio Adventures two part comic adaptation. Even during production they were adding characters with some input from Collins. One of these was Influence who never appeared in any previous drafts. His character didn't even get to use his gimmick of being able to hypnotize people, and was simply chosen because of his skull like face that complemented Henry Silva's natural face.

The Mole was one of those Dick Tracy villains that later reformed, correct? Actually, that would have made some sense for the Mole to be something of a double agent/informant/stool pigeon given the character's history from the strip. With the "Mole" name being rather on the nose, but hey that's the fun of it!

If it was for The Projection Booth, that was definitely yours truly. All of the details were indeed derived from those treatments and while there were some erroneous errors of repeating villains that were killed off in the final film, to the writers' credit, when they wrote the two sequel proposals, they weren't privy to who was being used as Beatty and Bo Goldman were revising the screenplay without their input. This would later became of moment of contention when Beatty and Goldman wanted credit and the original writers filed an arbitration to the Writers Guild stating that their work wasn't substantial enough to get credit and thus split residuals. Beatty would subsequently dismissed their sequel ideas when they were presented to them.

Ah, wow. Cool! 

Yeah, I had to go back and see which podcast it was, but yes, it was the Projection Booth podcast. I believe your segment was right after the very nice interview with the late Lena Headey. It was great to hear how acceptable Warren was towards Lena's idea of dying her hair red, rather than leaving it as is, due to how color rich the film was itself.

I wasn't aware of the falling out with the writers. That's interesting.

As I mentioned earlier with Influence, The Brow was another great looking villain they wanted to use for the opening card game that also appeared on many of the promotional material like the McDonald's scratch off game. When Collins was writing the first draft of the novelization, he was thinking ahead and decided that The Brow and others' place in the World War II era of the comic strip would be better utilized and decided to create other characters to replace them. Disney did not like this change and ordered him to stick to the script so he had to reluctantly use them although they would've been fine additions to his subsequent World War II era sequel.

Oh, for sure. This is all just fantasy booking of course, but it would have made all the sense in the world, had the 1990 been more successful and Disney wanting a sequel right away, for the Brow and especially Pruneface to be the villains during the backdrop of WW2. I mean, I think it's arguably safe to say that Pruneface is probably Tracy's most recognizable villain outside of Flattop, so it's easy to imagine him being saved and utilized for a sequel had Pruneface not been killed off already in the 1990 movie.

Conceding that Pruneface's appearance been postponed for a sequel, I have doubts as to R.G. Armstrong being cast in the role. Mainly due to the role certainly being beefed up and more flashier I would assume. As this probably would have resulted in something akin to how Warners was handling casting the Batman villains at the time, and I would think a somewhat bigger name would have been sought after to follow in the steps of Pacino's Big Boy.

I can sorta envision possibly Dennis Hopper accepting the part. I believe he and Beatty were friends. Gene Hackman as Pruneface in a Dick Tracy sequel would have been great, but I don't think he was too crazy about working with Beatty. Having already turned down appearing in the 1990 because of this if I am not mistaken ...

There is some details about Beatty being interested in doing a previous iteration of Dick Tracy that involved the character dealing with Nazis kidnapping Oppenheimer, while the War of the Worlds broadcast is going on that would make it more of a historical fiction instead of the comic strip, cops and robbers approach that was first developed while John Landis was attached to direct in the early 80s that became the final film.

I wasn't aware of this, but that's something to think about. Interesting route to take for sure. Do you know if Landis was planning on using a multitude of villains for his version? Or was Landis planning on taking the more common approach and just use one villain (and stock henchmen) from the rogues gallery? I believe you said that Landis was also going to use Big Boy as the main villain, but I can't recall if you mentioned any others that were in the cards during his time on the project...

[Kamdan]

That would have been interesting, though obviously evocative of a similar sequence in the original "Robocop" involving a Detroit councilman. Are you aware if it was cut due to similarities? Or just because of budget/time restraints. I'm aware that the production ran well over its original slotted budget.

I did come across a transcribed conversation between the writers and Beatty where he commented that this opening sequence would be an expense and wasn't keen on keeping it since it didn't tie into the rest of the story. The similarity with the scene in RoboCop also may have been a contributing factor in having it removed. I remember on the audio commentary for RoboCop, cowriter Ed Neumeier mentioned that the sequence was inspired by the killing of Harvey Milk. I asked co-writer Jack Epps Jr. if this too was their inspiration  and he denied it. I would like to further research if this occurred in other films, because the only one I could think of was Last Action Hero that came 3 years later. There's also a detail about how RoboCop producer, Jon Davidson, was at one point attached to work on Dick Tracy, but decided to work on the sequel to RoboCop instead for more creative freedom than he would have working with Beatty. Perhaps that was a contribution of Davidson's with prior knowledge of the previous drafts for the mayor hostage scene. I do know that at one point Richard Benjamin was attached to direct Dick Tracy, and subsequently left to direct 1930's period film City Heat where a music choice and ending shootout sequence was lifted from the Tracy script that the writers were not happy to see utilized in another movie.

The Mole was one of those Dick Tracy villains that later reformed, correct? Actually, that would have made some sense for the Mole to be something of a double agent/informant/stool pigeon given the character's history from the strip. With the "Mole" name being rather on the nose, but hey that's the fun of it!

Right, one of the few reformed villains, along with Steve the Tramp. I hope I can one day uncover why this change occurred. There probably concerned about how to portray Mumbles' mumbling. Hoffman knocked it out of the park thanks to Beatty direction of having him do an impression of a mutual friend of theirs (Beatty has said it was a Los Angeles Times reporter, but other sources sound like it was more than likely producer Robert Evans). As you may be aware, Beatty dared Hoffman into being in this movie by telling him he going to use his impression for the original actor cast as Mumbles, Harry Dean Stanton, Hoffman wasn't fond of someone doing his impression so he told him he would do it. We were lucky Hoffman got to contribute because he only had a short window in his schedule as he was prepping up do Hook and when he arrived on set the day after, he won the Oscar for Rain Man, he was suffering from the flu. Now that I think about it, I think Harry Dean Stanton would've been a good choice for The Mole. Danny DeVito would've been as well, but that's a little too obvious.

I believe your segment was right after the very nice interview with the late Lena Headey. It was great to hear how acceptable Warren was towards Lena's idea of dying her hair red, rather than leaving it as is, due to how color rich the film was itself.

I wasn't aware of the falling out with the writers. That's interesting.

I do need to listen to that episode again. I remember being quite surprised to hear myself follow her interview, and it's a shame that I never had an opportunity like the hosted to talk to her more about her experiences. I do remember reading that Beatty wanted Tess to be redheaded instead of a blonde, like she was in the comic strip, as a tribute to his mother who read him the Dick Tracy comic strips as a boy and for his sister who I'm sure you know is Shirley MacLaine. It's just interesting to note how Vicki Vale in Batman '89 went from redheaded to blonde haired.

I wasn't aware of the falling out with the writers. That's interesting.

It wasn't necessarily a falling out as it was just carrying out business. The script, for the movie was dormant for almost a half a decade until it got back up and running again when Beatty made his deal with Disney to make the movie. By that time, the writers were tackling other projects, and it is normal for further revisions to be handled by other riders that many times don't go credited because of a stipulation by the guild that states that you have to contribute more than 33% original ideas to get credit. The basis of their arbitration statement to get full credit, mainly detailed how Beatty and Goldman had simply rearrange scenes and changed dialogue which didn't necessitate a worthy credit.

Oh, for sure. This is all just fantasy booking of course, but it would have made all the sense in the world, had the 1990 been more successful and Disney wanting a sequel right away, for the Brow and especially Pruneface to be the villains during the backdrop of WW2. I mean, I think it's arguably safe to say that Pruneface is probably Tracy's most recognizable villain outside of Flattop, so it's easy to imagine him being saved and utilized for a sequel had Pruneface not been killed off already in the 1990 movie.

Conceding that Pruneface's appearance been postponed for a sequel, I have doubts as to R.G. Armstrong being cast in the role. Mainly due to the role certainly being beefed up and more flashier I would assume. As this probably would have resulted in something akin to how Warners was handling casting the Batman villains at the time, and I would think a somewhat bigger name would have been sought after to follow in the steps of Pacino's Big Boy.

I can sorta envision possibly Dennis Hopper accepting the part. I believe he and Beatty were friends. Gene Hackman as Pruneface in a Dick Tracy sequel would have been great, but I don't think he was too crazy about working with Beatty. Having already turned down appearing in the 1990 because of this if I am not mistaken...

I do like your casting suggestions for Pruneface. I've read an interview with the makeup artists where they heard that Kurtwood Smith was apparently up for a role and they were excited at the prospect of him playing Flattop but we're disappointing to hear he was up for the role of Pruneface. He definitely would've excelled in the role if his character was saved for a World War II era sequel. The casting of Armstrong seems off with his Texas-accent when you're aware of his status as a German spy from the comics. Something that I really wish would've survived into the final film was that Pruneface was supposed to be a pyromaniac (a detail that survived into the character description and accessories for the Playmates action figure) and instead of Tracy being covered in cement, he was supposed to be doused with gasoline and Pruneface taunts him with a lit match but is rescued as he is in the film by The Blank shooting Pruneface. Despite this loss, Collins got a lot of mileage out of the more sinister Mrs. Pruneface who placed Tracy is his most famous death trap.

I wasn't aware of this, but that's something to think about. Interesting route to take for sure. Do you know if Landis was planning on using a multitude of villains for his version? Or was Landis planning on taking the more common approach and just use one villain (and stock henchmen) from the rogues gallery? I believe you said that Landis was also going to use Big Boy as the main villain, but I can't recall if you mentioned any others that were in the cards during his time on the project...

Yes, the final movie is pretty much what Landis was intending to direct from the beginning. I spoke to Landis about his involvement and he said that he implemented the idea that Beatty eventually followed through of making the film look like the comic strip. He had confidence in make up artist Rick Baker to have the villains look like real life incarnations of their drawings and his wife, costume designer Deborah Nadoolman, was interested in doing multicolored period clothing, including Tracy's trademark yellow hat and coat. When Landis had to step down and director Walter Hill took over, Hill didn't want to take that approach and was envisioning something that Brian de Palma would eventually carry through with The Untouchables.

[The Joker]

I did come across a transcribed conversation between the writers and Beatty where he commented that this opening sequence would be an expense and wasn't keen on keeping it since it didn't tie into the rest of the story. The similarity with the scene in RoboCop also may have been a contributing factor in having it removed. I remember on the audio commentary for RoboCop, cowriter Ed Neumeier mentioned that the sequence was inspired by the killing of Harvey Milk. I asked co-writer Jack Epps Jr. if this too was their inspiration  and he denied it. I would like to further research if this occurred in other films, because the only one I could think of was Last Action Hero that came 3 years later. There's also a detail about how RoboCop producer, Jon Davidson, was at one point attached to work on Dick Tracy, but decided to work on the sequel to RoboCop instead for more creative freedom than he would have working with Beatty. Perhaps that was a contribution of Davidson's with prior knowledge of the previous drafts for the mayor hostage scene. I do know that at one point Richard Benjamin was attached to direct Dick Tracy, and subsequently left to direct 1930's period film City Heat where a music choice and ending shootout sequence was lifted from the Tracy script that the writers were not happy to see utilized in another movie.

Ah, nice. Thank you for such a detailed response. Yeah, I can see how such a opening scene wouldn't really be necessary and cut for a variety of reasons. Sure, it would have provided Tracy a alternate introduction within the film, but his formal arrival at the fallout of the Seventh Street garage massacre works just as well.

Right, one of the few reformed villains, along with Steve the Tramp. I hope I can one day uncover why this change occurred. There probably concerned about how to portray Mumbles' mumbling. Hoffman knocked it out of the park thanks to Beatty direction of having him do an impression of a mutual friend of theirs (Beatty has said it was a Los Angeles Times reporter, but other sources sound like it was more than likely producer Robert Evans). As you may be aware, Beatty dared Hoffman into being in this movie by telling him he going to use his impression for the original actor cast as Mumbles, Harry Dean Stanton, Hoffman wasn't fond of someone doing his impression so he told him he would do it. We were lucky Hoffman got to contribute because he only had a short window in his schedule as he was prepping up do Hook and when he arrived on set the day after, he won the Oscar for Rain Man, he was suffering from the flu.

Now that you mention it, I think I do vaguely remember something about Hoffman being ill on the set, and all his scenes being filmed pretty much subsequently in order for him to get in and out quickly. I agree, Hoffman was very entertaining and memorable in the part. Had a trilogy actually panned out with the original pitches covering the 1940's, and then 1950's, it would have been interesting seeing Mumbles in cameo parts with each film. In my mind, this would be somewhat akin to how The Scarecrow was handled in Christopher Nolan's "Dark Knight" trilogy.

Now that I think about it, I think Harry Dean Stanton would've been a good choice for The Mole. Danny DeVito would've been as well, but that's a little too obvious.

True. Another I think probably would have worked well, would be Bob Hoskins. I can envision him, under John Caglione Jr. and Doug Drexler's makeup and slotted into the stool pigeon part, quite easily.

Speaking of that character, was there any reason why the Mole's name was changed to "The Rodent"? He's not given a name within the actual film, but the "Rodent" name was used for the movie's trading cards and action figure from Playmates.

I do need to listen to that episode again. I remember being quite surprised to hear myself follow her interview, and it's a shame that I never had an opportunity like the hosted to talk to her more about her experiences. I do remember reading that Beatty wanted Tess to be redheaded instead of a blonde, like she was in the comic strip, as a tribute to his mother who read him the Dick Tracy comic strips as a boy and for his sister who I'm sure you know is Shirley MacLaine. It's just interesting to note how Vicki Vale in Batman '89 went from redheaded to blonde haired.

Yeah, given the very close proximity of each film's release date, Vicki and Tess' hair color reversal change is amusing.

I do like your casting suggestions for Pruneface. I've read an interview with the makeup artists where they heard that Kurtwood Smith was apparently up for a role and they were excited at the prospect of him playing Flattop but we're disappointing to hear he was up for the role of Pruneface. He definitely would've excelled in the role if his character was saved for a World War II era sequel.

Ah. Now that's interesting! I mean, I think William Forsythe was pretty great as Flattop given what he had to work with, but I dare say that Kurtwood Smith would have outright conveyed a (if only slightly) more sinister presence as Flattop (or Pruneface for that matter). Especially with that sardonic grin of his. 

The casting of Armstrong seems off with his Texas-accent when you're aware of his status as a German spy from the comics. Something that I really wish would've survived into the final film was that Pruneface was supposed to be a pyromaniac (a detail that survived into the character description and accessories for the Playmates action figure) and instead of Tracy being covered in cement, he was supposed to be doused with gasoline and Pruneface taunts him with a lit match but is rescued as he is in the film by The Blank shooting Pruneface. Despite this loss, Collins got a lot of mileage out of the more sinister Mrs. Pruneface who placed Tracy is his most famous death trap.

Right now I can just imagine the McDonald's Happy Meal parents losing their mind over such scene back in 1990! haha! Especially so had it been Kurtwood as Pruneface instead. Such a scene would have, I think, resulted in Pruneface making more of an impression than he ultimately does in the final film. As such a scene would allude to the idea that Pruneface's choice of poison, would be burning his enemies alive, where Big Boy's was already established as 'the bath' aka burying someone in cement. Conclusively, resulting in Pruneface as more sadistic of the two depending on one's own viewpoint. Yes, shame that scene was cut. Again, the Happy Meal parents would have gone completely apes**t back then, but I'm sure I would have gotten a kick out of it even being such a young kid at the time.     

Yes, the final movie is pretty much what Landis was intending to direct from the beginning. I spoke to Landis about his involvement and he said that he implemented the idea that Beatty eventually followed through of making the film look like the comic strip. He had confidence in make up artist Rick Baker to have the villains look like real life incarnations of their drawings and his wife, costume designer Deborah Nadoolman, was interested in doing multicolored period clothing, including Tracy's trademark yellow hat and coat. When Landis had to step down and director Walter Hill took over, Hill didn't want to take that approach and was envisioning something that Brian de Palma would eventually carry through with The Untouchables.

Ok. Cool. It would have been interesting to see such a film produced during the early-mid 1980's under John Landis' direction for sure. Personally, I'm glad Walter Hill wasn't given the full green light. As much as I like Brian De Palma's "The Untouchables" (along with Ennio Morricone's masterful score), I just don't think such a approach would have ultimately been all that satisfying for a Dick Tracy movie. I think I remember something about Hill being asked about Tracy sporting his trademark yellow trench coat, and Hill's response was, "Absolutely not.". Eh. That's essentially like Flattop just being a guy simply wearing a gatsby hat. Sure, you can do that, but where's the fun in that really?

[Kamdan]

Ah, nice. Thank you for such a detailed response. Yeah, I can see how such an opening scene wouldn't really be necessary and cut for a variety of reasons. Sure, it would have provided Tracy an alternate introduction within the film, but his formal arrival at the fallout of the Seventh Street garage massacre works just as well.

You're very welcome! This project of mine has been the result of over a decade of research and each passing year when new details are unearthed, you begin to understand how and why things turned out the way they did. There's always been murmurs of an extended director's cut of Dick Tracy existing ever since it was initially announced at getting a Visa Series DVD release, but it seemed that Beatty shot down that prospect years later when he said that the theatrical cut was his final cut, as I'm sure I'd stipulated in his contact. Despite this claim, there were a few scenes that may have been cut or altered in favor of maintaining a PG rating and also to accommodate the runtime to include a Roger Rabbit cartoon. One of these examples was how Tracy effortlessly identifies all of the murdered gangsters and shows his authority by barking out orders to everyone at the crime scene. If there were to be an extended cut of the film, this would be a welcome change. Maybe one day we'll get lucky like what happened to Super Mario Bros. and we'll unearth a workprint edition of Dick Tracy that includes this scene.

Now that you mention it, I think I do vaguely remember something about Hoffman being ill on the set, and all his scenes being filmed pretty much subsequently in order for him to get in and out quickly. I agree, Hoffman was very entertaining and memorable in the part. Had a trilogy actually panned out with the original pitches covering the 1940's, and then 1950's, it would have been interesting seeing Mumbles in cameo parts with each film. In my mind, this would be somewhat akin to how The Scarecrow was handled in Christopher Nolan's "Dark Knight" trilogy.

That would be an absolutely perfect approach as a throughline for the series. I believe Collins did just that in the sequels and there was an idea for the third film's treatment to make him a beat poet, similar to Mumbles being a musician in the comic strips. I loved hearing an anecdote from Collins that he had attended the premiere and got to meet Hoffman and he read the comic strip that week that featured Mumbles and performed it for his amusement.

True. Another I think probably would have worked well, would be Bob Hoskins. I can envision him, under John Caglione Jr. and Doug Drexler's makeup and slotted into the stool pigeon part, quite easily.

Speaking of that character, was there any reason why the Mole's name was changed to "The Rodent"? He's not given a name within the actual film, but the "Rodent" name was used for the movie's trading cards and action figure from Playmates.

I too thought about Hoskins but decided that he would have been a swell Big Boy if they had gone with how he was more of a Al Capone expy in the comics. If you haven't seen him in the gangster film The Long Good Friday, you'll see what I'm talking about. Hoskins was also very infamously let go from playing Capone in The Untouchables and replaced with Robert DeNiro.

There was also a false rumor going around that Jack Nicholson was going to be The Blank. It would have been fun if they had incorporated Collin's subplot in the novelization where everyone fears The Blank is the return of a known criminal out for revenge for those who sent him to prison and disfiguring him, reflecting his appearance in the comic strip. It would have been fun to have seen Nicholson as a mugshot, like the one he had in Batman '89, but apparently he had the same sentiments as Hackman and swore not to work with Beatty again. The movie really is only missing those two actors that defined that era.

Speaking of that character, was there any reason why the Mole's name was changed to "The Rodent"? He's not given a name within the actual film, but the "Rodent" name was used for the movie's trading cards and action figure from Playmates.

I'm curious about that change too. I think he was just chosen based on his appearance and I believe was the only villain in the film that appeared in the 50's era of the strip. The movie is supposed to be set in 1939 and utilized villains from both the 30's and 40's. They probably wants to avoid confusion on the spelling of the character, like how Itchy went from being named Itchell Oliver to Jake Rossi. Collins' novelization originally had the comic strip names and Disney forced him to revise it to how it appeared in the script.

Ah. Now that's interesting! I mean, I think William Forsythe was pretty great as Flattop given what he had to work with, but I dare say that Kurtwood Smith would have outright conveyed a (if only slightly) more sinister presence as Flattop (or Pruneface for that matter). Especially with that sardonic grin of his.

Yeah, his Clarence Boddicker energy would have been warmly welcomed. I believe the makeup artists also thought his head structures would have been fun to work with to craft a Chester Gould villain. They also had their sights set on Ronald Regan returning to acting after serving his terms as the President playing  Pruneface and actually ended up basing the makeup on Regan, especially the distinctive liver spots.

Right now I can just imagine the McDonald's Happy Meal parents losing their mind over such scene back in 1990! haha! Especially so had it been Kurtwood as Pruneface instead. Such a scene would have, I think, resulted in Pruneface making more of an impression than he ultimately does in the final film. As such a scene would allude to the idea that Pruneface's choice of poison, would be burning his enemies alive, where Big Boy's was already established as 'the bath' aka burying someone in cement. Conclusively, resulting in Pruneface as more sadistic of the two depending on one's own viewpoint. Yes, shame that scene was cut. Again, the Happy Meal parents would have gone completely apes**t back then, but I'm sure I would have gotten a kick out of it even being such a young kid at the time. 
 

Part of me does wish that the movie's violence had been on the level of Bonnie and Clyde and The Godfather and the movie was already pushing the limits of what was considered to be Disney entertainment for the time. This was initially intended to be a Walt Disney Picture and they were accommodating by depicting no blood or wounds occurring when characters are killed by gun fire. This is especially clear in the final Tommy Gun shootout at the end. Despite this, they ended up releasing it though Touchstone Pictures, like what happened with Roger Rabbit. Things may have been different if it was decided to be this from the start, a lament the filmmakers of The Rocketeer felt would have strengthened the movie had it been a Touchstone release, which it got outside of the United States.

Ok. Cool. It would have been interesting to see such a film produced during the early-mid 1980's under John Landis' direction for sure. Personally, I'm glad Walter Hill wasn't given the full green light. As much as I like Brian De Palma's "The Untouchables" (along with Ennio Morricone's masterful score), I just don't think such a approach would have ultimately been all that satisfying for a Dick Tracy movie. I think I remember something about Hill being asked about Tracy sporting his trademark yellow trench coat, and Hill's response was, "Absolutely not.". Eh. That's essentially like Flattop just being a guy simply wearing a gatsby hat. Sure, you can do that, but where's the fun in that really?

My sentiments exactly. I do wish that Landis had directed the film because a common criticism was that under Beatty's direction it lacked a sense of kinetic energy that flows through Landis' body of work. I would have loved to have seen his version of the end shootout that would have been crazier and frantic rather than the rather systematic method it plays out with one car at a time clearing the garage. The method Beatty and cinematographer Vittorio Storaro worked out where every shot emulated a comic strip box was very effective in terms of viewing the movie in stills but in motion it made its pace seem slow and was perhaps a factor in why it didn't catch on to the public on a wider scale because it was indeed old fashioned compared to contemporary films. They seemed to just think the interest in Beatty and Madonna's relationship at the time was enough publicity, combined with the massive merchandising push that mostly ended up in discount stores.

I do appreciate how greater in scale The Untouchables is with its depiction of Chicago. I would have loved it if the city in Dick Tracy had been depicted like how Joel Schumacher did Gotham City in Batman Forever where set bound environments were at a minimal and real locations adapted to the comic esthetic. It would have helped another criticism that the movie feels very abandoned with very few pedestrians on the city streets and the lack of differing weather conditions makes it feel generic in a bad way. It's rather jarring to see everyone dressed for the Midwest winter setting that leads into New Year's but it looks like the temperature never changes like in Los Angeles.

Hill's reluctance to not embrace the comic strip esthetic is definitely a blessing that he was never realized for exactly the sentiment you stated. I think the whole reason Beatty was interested in doing this was because he had an attachment to the material from his youth and emulating a comic strip was more unique and interesting than a straight laced approach that may have worked if Hill wanted it to be in black and white like the daily strips were. Thankfully everyone held out for Beatty who had secured a first look deal when it was first brought up to him in the 70's and despite Beatty wanting directors like Bob Fosse and Martin Scorsese, he eventually took on the job himself.