Calling Dick Tracy! Calling Dick Tracy! This Was A Thing has a mystery only a seasoned, hard-boiled comic strip detective can solve: why did a movie based on such a popular character, whose story stretches all the way from the 1930s through the late 20th century, fail to make a splash at the box office even though it featured a cotillion of celebrities? Well, call up the Retouchables and grab your trenchcoat, because this one’s a doozy…

Rob teaches Ray about the cartoonist Chester Gould’s most iconic creation, Dick Tracy; the highly problematic stereotypes that Gould’s comic strip and its cartoon adaptation contained; why the original Superman movie revived interest in putting Tracy on the big screen; the convoluted path Warren Beatty took to secure the film rights for Dick Tracy, and how he subsequently went on to direct and star in the infamous cinematic adaptation; the who’s who of Hollywood celebs featured in the movie; and why a film that was relatively well-reviewed and received by fans has never had any sort of resurgence in popular culture like other cult favorites. 

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TEAM

Ray Hebel

Robert W. Schneider

Mark Schroeder

Billy Recce

Daniel Schwartzberg

Gabe Crawford

Natalie DeSavia

ARTICLESEPISODE CLIPS

Siskel & Ebert - Dick Tracy (1990)

Dick Tracy Special

Dick Tracy: Behind the Badge (Tv Special, 1990)

Al Pacino Hilarious Rant Scene (Dick Tracy)

Madonna: Sooner or Later (Dick Tracy Footage)

ADDITIONAL MUSIC & SOUND EFFECTS

“Happy Bee”

• Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

• Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0

• http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Additional Sound Effects from Final Cut Pro, iLife, and Logic Pro