Somewhere, there is an old VHS tape filled with home videos. This particular tape from the summer of 1990 features about half an hour of a movie I personally wrote, directed, and starred in at the peak of my acting career, when I was 6 years old.
It was the summer of 1990, and I was determined to film my "version" of Dick Tracy.
By the way, my acting career began, peaked, and ended with this video.
I asked my Dad to hold the family's giant video camera while I ducked, rolled, and ran in circles around our front lawn. I'd hide around corners and pull my toy gun (a realistic-looking water pistol from before the laws that changed the appearance of toy guns) at imaginary bad guys. Wearing a brown trench coat that was probably my Mom's, I'd stop running briefly and talk into an imaginary transistor radio watch, just like Dick Tracy. There were other scenes where poor old Dad had to sit in the backseat of his minivan and film me pretending to drive to the big finale scene... our swimming pool.
The grand climax had me jumping into our pool to "fight" with imaginary bad guys. Why the pool? I'm not sure.
Dad must not have had a clue what was happening, but in my mind (at the time) it was all going according to plan. That childish silliness would be cringe inducing (at best) today to watch and utterly confusing to anyone other than 6 year old me. But, as the Dad of someone about that age today, I'm always happy to watch her create her own stories while she acts them out.
However, as a man seeing a video of himself 35 years ago doing that? No, thank you!
At the time, I was enamored with the new line of Dick Tracy action figures and an old VHS that Gramps had found at one of the bargain stores in town that held a collection of the 1960s Dick Tracy cartoons. My parents never took me to see the Dick Tracy movie in theaters, as they felt I was a bit too young, but the advertising and the toys had me feeling like this was THE event of the summer that I MUST see. When it became available on home video, I was allowed to see bits and pieces that they felt were appropriate for my age. It was enough to satiate me, and by then, I was already on to something else.
Eventually, I saw the whole movie, and Disney's Dick Tracy has been one of my favorite movies ever since.
I loved that old toy line so much that in 2019, the very first article I ever wrote was about it. You can check it out HERE.
In the summer of 1990, movie theaters were ablaze with a new, vibrantly colored world of Dick Tracy. This bold cinematic adaptation of the iconic comic strip by Chester Gould was directed by (and starred as Tracy himself) Hollywood legend Warren Beatty. The film was visually stunning as Beatty attempted to bring the gritty, stylized crime-stopper stories of the 1930s and 40s to life.
Dubbed "The Summer of Tracy," the release was intended to be a cultural moment, fueled by a massive marketing campaign from The Walt Disney Company, owners of the production company Touchstone and its distribution network, Buena Vista Pictures. Disney saw Dick Tracy as "the next big thing" and aimed to make it an evergreen franchise, similar to 1989's Batman, which achieved massive success at the box office and merchandise sales. Disney hoped that by investing heavily in talent and marketing, Dick Tracy would spawn sequels, television shows, consumer products (from a $3 lunchbox to a $300 fedora), and even theme park attractions.
Disney's films were in a lull before the animation renaissance, created by 1989's The Little Mermaid. The company was competing with Universal for creating studio-focused theme parks, and Disney was forced to license MGM films for recognizable content at the newly built Disney-MGM Studios, underscoring their need for a "hit," which they expected with Dick Tracy.
With a star-studded cast and a wave of merchandise, sponsorships, theme park attractions, and fast-food tie-ins that lasted throughout the summer of 1990, thirty-five years later in 2025, we children of the 90s remember this moment fondly.
Before we get to the movie, let's take a quick look back at Chester Gould’s original Dick Tracy comic strip.
On October 4, 1931, Gould introduced the world to the square-jawed detective through the pages of the Detroit Mirror. Inspired by the rampant crime in Chicago of the 1920s and popular figures like the real-life U.S. federal agent Eliot Ness, Chester created a tough, intelligent police detective named Dick Tracy, who was initially called "Plainclothes Tracy." Tracy battled grotesque villains with a blend of forensic science, advanced gadgets, and relentless determination. The comic was groundbreaking for its depiction of violence and the way it put a public face on the era's mob culture. The exaggerated physical traits of the characters, such as Flattop, Pruneface, and Big Boy Caprice, were eye-catching and quickly became fan favorites.
The comic strip quickly became a cultural 'kingpin.' Cartoonist Brian Walker, who helped his father draw comic strips like Beetle Bailey and Hi and Lois, described Tracy as an "outrageously funny American Gothic" with "gripping stories filled with violence and pathos." Its hard-hitting style and innovative crime-fighting techniques, like the two-way wrist radio, captivated readers during the time of The Great Depression. The strip’s success spawned radio serials in the 1930s and 1940s and a lasting presence in American pop culture.
By the time Gould retired in 1977, the strip had been continued by other artists and writers, including Max Allan Collins, Dick Locher, and later Mike Curtis and Joe Staton, who kept Tracy’s adventures alive into the 21st century. These new artists won multiple Harvey Awards for Best Syndicated Comic Strip.
The strip’s visual style, featuring bold lines, primary colors, and a stark contrast between good and evil, set the stage for its cinematic adaptation. The rogues’ gallery of villains like Mumbles and The Blank provided a rich background of antagonists that inspired the 1990 film’s colorful cast.
The Dick Tracy Show (1961)
Before the 1990 film, however, Dick Tracy found its way onto television in the form of a syndicated animated series titled The Dick Tracy Show. Produced by UPA for syndication in 1961, the cartoon was more lighthearted than the comic strip's gritty tone. Its comedic take on Tracy's universe was aimed at a younger audience, and hardly even featured Dick Tracy at all. Tracy would act in short interstitial scenes as a dispatcher, sending out his cartoonish (and highly problematic in 2025) stereotypical sidekicks like Heap O'Calory, Joe Jitsu, Go-Go Gomez, and Hemlock Holmes. These sidekicks would battle villains like Pruneface and B.B. Eyes. Tracy's helpers, strictly created for the series, were departures from the comic's canon, and their exaggerated stereotypes and antics leaned into the slapstick humor that differed significantly from the comics.
130 episodes, each five minutes long, were produced and syndicated to major networks to capitalize on Tracy's name recognition. Fans of the comics were disappointed in its less-than-faithful attachment to Gould's original vision, though.
In the years following the original airing of the cartoon, controversy arose over racial stereotypes, particularly with characters Joe Jitsu and Go-Go Gomez. This led to some broadcasters pulling episodes or cancelling the show entirely from its rerun schedule.
Archie's TV Funnies featuring Dick Tracy
A little-known animated adaptation appeared briefly in 1971 as part of Archie's TV Funnies, which included short mini-episodes closer in tone to Chester Gould's comic strip that still featured the classic villains.
Despite the conversations online today, The Dick Tracy Show was a product of its time. During its era, it was a popular trend to adapt comic strips into kid-friendly cartoons. While lacking any depth or even keeping with the canon of the original strip, it kept Tracy in the public eye and paved the way for Tracy's big-screen debut in 1990.
That big-screen moment occurred on June 15, 1990, when Disney's version of Dick Tracy, under the Touchstone Pictures label, was released in theaters. Directed, produced, and starring Warren Beatty, the film was a visually stunning adaptation that brought the original comic strip to life with a bold, stylized aesthetic. Set in a fictionalized 1930s city, the narrative follows Detective Dick Tracy (Beatty) as he battles crime boss Alphonse "Big Boy" Caprice (Al Pacino) while navigating romantic tensions with Breathless Mahoney (Madonna) and Tess Trueheart (Glenne Headly), all the while adopting a streetwise orphan known as Kid (Charlie Korsmo).
The defining feature of the film is the striking visuals and bold colors used by Beatty. Collaborating with cinematographer Vittorio Storaro and production designer Richard Sylbert, the film used a limited palette of seven primary colors (red, green, yellow, blue, purple, black, and white) to mimic the look of newspaper comic strips. This choice, combined with matte paintings, theatrical lighting, and exaggerated sets, created a "living comic strip" that felt both nostalgic and surreal. It still leaves me in awe when I rewatch the movie.
When it came time for casting the movie, it quickly became a who's who of Hollywood, with Warren Beatty leveraging his industry connections to assemble a roster of Hollywood icons. Al Pacino’s Big Boy Caprice, more similar to the comic strip's Sketch Paree character than the strip's Big Boy Caprice, was a standout performance. Pacino, who initially requested to be billed under a pseudonym, Guido Frascatti, earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
Madonna, cast as Breathless Mahoney, lobbied hard for the part, admitting she was on the "Z list" compared to Beatty’s A-list friends. Her involvement was a strategic move, tying her Blonde Ambition tour to the film’s promotion, though she was paid significantly less than almost everyone else in the movie.
The supporting cast was full of cinema legends, like Dustin Hoffman as Mumbles, James Caan as Spuds Spaldoni, Dick Van Dyke as D.A. Fletcher, Charles Durning as Chief Brandon, and others like Mandy Patinkin, Paul Sorvino, and Kathy Bates in smaller roles.
Gene Hackman reportedly declined the role of Lips Manlis (that went to Paul Sorvino) due to past tensions with Beatty. Gilbert Gottfried was considered for Mumbles, but the role went to Dustin Hoffman as a favor to Beatty. Macaulay Culkin passed on playing Kid in Dick Tracy to star in Home Alone. Wise choice.
Charlie Korsmo, who played Kid, was a rising child star, later appearing in Hook and What About Bob?, but quit acting in 1991 and later attended MIT. His casting added a youthful energy, though many fans found the Kid subplot a distraction from the comic’s darker tone. The film also clearly captured Madonna’s chemistry with Beatty, fueled by their brief real-life romance during filming, adding authenticity to her seductive scenes.
Warren Beatty’s involvement in Dick Tracy was nothing short of obsessive. A longtime fan of the comic strip, which he credited with helping him learn to read, Beatty first pursued a film adaptation in 1975. After the rights bounced between studios and directors like Steven Spielberg, John Landis, Walter Hill, and Martin Scorsese, Beatty secured them for himself for $3 million in 1985 and brought the project to Disney’s Touchstone Pictures. He took on multiple roles (star, director, producer, and uncredited co-writer), shaping every aspect of the film to match his vision of a "colorful, stylized love letter" to the 1940s comics.
Beatty’s perfectionism drove the budget from $25 million to $46 million, with him personally covering some of the overages. He insisted on the seven-color palette, generic set designs (like the diner simply labeled “Cafe”), and nondescript cars to evoke the comic’s timeless quality. His clashes with Disney, particularly with then-Studio Chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg, led to a 30-minute cut from the original 135-minute runtime, a decision Beatty later publicly regretted.
Katzenberg’s leaked 1990 memo criticized the film’s cost and Beatty’s control, stating, “We should avoid filmmakers like Warren Beatty, talented as they may be, because their movies spin out of control.”
The costume design by Milena Canonero, particularly Tracy’s iconic yellow trench coat and fedora, and the grotesque prosthetic makeup (by John Caglione Jr. and Doug Drexler) brought the characters to life quite vividly.
John Caglione Jr. and Doug Drexler won the Academy Award for Best Makeup at the 63rd Academy Awards. Danny Elfman’s bold, brassy score and Stephen Sondheim’s original music, including the Oscar-winning "Sooner or Later (I Always Get My Man)" performed by Madonna, added to the film’s uniqueness.
Another song in the movie, that gets little recognition, has stuck in my head ever since my first viewing of the movie back in 1990: Janis Seagel's "Back in Business." My wife and I sometimes quote it to each other, jokingly, when things either go right (or wrong).
The plot was a deliberate homage to the comic’s episodic nature. Tracy confronts Big Boy’s takeover of the city’s criminal underworld, uncovering a mysterious figure known as The Blank, who was revealed to be Breathless Mahoney in a shocking final twist. The film’s climax, set on a drawbridge with Tess tied to its gears, leaned into the strip’s melodramatics, balancing action, romance, and humor.
Disney's marketing for the film was a full-throttle attempt to emulate Batman's merchandising prowess. The studio flooded the market with a slew of products, from action figures to watches, aiming to make Tracy "brand" a household name with hopes for a sequel movie and even more merchandise. Playmates Toys produced a line of 14 action figures, including Tracy, Big Boy, and villains like Flattop and Pruneface. However, the guys at The Purple Stuff Podcast note their comically poor quality, with exaggerated features that didn’t always capture the film’s charm.
In the summer of 2020, I stumbled across The Purple Stuff Podcast, and the first episode I listened to was about "The Summer of Tracy."
The Purple Stuff Podcast, hosted by Matt from "Dinosaur Dracula" and Jay from "Sludge Central," is one of my favorite podcasts, and I make sure I listen to each episode as soon as it comes out. The guys may be a few years older than me, but we share similar backgrounds growing up in the shadows of New York City. Sometimes I wonder if we knew each other back then (we didn't) because some experiences that I thought were unique to me were shared by them. I'm frequently surprised to discover we have similar memories of such seemingly obscure things.
I highly encourage you to listen to their show.
A promotional tie-in with McDonald's became a cornerstone of the campaign. McDonald's developed a promotion with Dick Tracy themed Happy Meal toys, limited edition cups, and a scratch-off game card featuring villains and prize money, similar to their very successful Monopoly game. The Purple Stuff Podcast episode on "The Summer of Tracy" fondly recalls these items in pretty good detail, noting their nostalgic appeal despite the film’s failure to sustain a long-term fan base. The podcast highlights how McDonald’s leaned into the film’s vibrant aesthetic, with collectible cups featuring characters like Tracy and Breathless Mahoney. However, the Happy Meal toys were less memorable than they probably could have been.
Disney also published a three-issue comic miniseries, titled "True Hearts and Tommy Guns," drawn by Kyle Baker and edited by Len Wein. The third and final issue was a direct adaptation of the film.
Timex offered Dick Tracy branded watches, while pretend radio wristwatches were available for children to play with. T-shirts, posters, and a soundtrack featuring songs from Madonna's "I'm Breathless" album, blended Stephen Sondheim’s songs from the film with her pop stylings, were also available.
Dick Tracy memorabilia can still be found in online auctions and thrift stores, a testament to the sheer volume produced at the time. Although one must admit, much of it went unsold.
When Dick Tracy hit theaters in the summer of 1990, it was a pivotal moment for The Walt Disney Company. CEO Michael Eisner had recently dubbed the 90s the "Disney Decade," in a bold expansion that promised new theme parks, resorts, and attractions. Central to this ambition was Disney's attempt to transform Dick Tracy into a cultural juggernaut, with a planned significant presence in its theme parks.
Disney-MGM Studios (now Disney’s Hollywood Studios) and Disneyland were enlisted to bring the vibrant, comic-strip world of Dick Tracy to life, capitalizing on the anticipated success of the movie. While the marketing blitz included toys, comics, and fast food tie-ins, the theme park integration was among some of the most ambitious elements of the marketing push.
These efforts included a musical stage show, character meet-and-greets, and a never-built flagship attraction. These Tracy themed elements were all short-lived, reflecting the film's failure to ignite a lasting franchise.
Thirty-five years later, the story of Dick Tracy's brief tenure in Disney's theme parks is an interesting chapter of unrealized potential (and nostalgic charm).
"Dick Tracy Starring in Diamond Double Cross: A Musical Misstep" debuted at Disney-MGM on May 21, 1990, three weeks before the film's June 15th release. This show was the backbone of Disney's theme park Dick Tracy inclusion, and was designed to immerse park guests in the film's colorful 1930s underworld before it was even available on the silver screen.
You can watch the entire show in the video above, or click HERE to read the script, thanks to WaltDatedWorld.com.
Disney’s confidence in Dick Tracy was so high that the company greenlit the musical show despite the details of the film not being made available to the public, forcing the theme-park show creators to craft a narrative with minimal source material. The result was a musical revue that leaned heavily on the film's musical score, with a loose plot involving Tracy, Breathless Mahoney, and villains like Big Boy, Flattop, and Mumbles. Simplified masks, makeup, and costumes were used to evoke the film’s aesthetic. The show’s vibrant color palette mirrored the film’s seven-color scheme, with sets featuring redstone, greenstone, and yellowstone facades that echoed the comic-strip cityscape.
The result was a 28-minute musical that opened at Theater of the Stars in Disney's MGM Studios (now known as Disney's Hollywood Studios) on May 21, 1990, and at Disneyland's Videopolis in June of that same year.
However, the musical baffled some guests, as the movie wasn’t a musical, and the original comic strip was far grittier. The stage show included original songs and characters not from the film, a necessity given the secrecy surrounding the movie’s storyline during development of the stage show, but this disconnect left audiences confused, especially once the movie was in theaters.
The show at Disneyland only remained open until December 31st, 1990, and was replaced by the equally short-lived "Plane Crazy" show. Florida's version of the show closed two months later on February 16, 1991, and was replaced by the long-running, and still going, Beauty and the Beast stage show.
The quick closing of the stage show underscored the film’s lukewarm reception, with guests showing little enthusiasm for a character unfamiliar to younger audiences.
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| Disney's "Concept Art" for the Crime Stoppers ride |
Far more ambitious than the stage show was the planned "Dick Tracy’s Crime-Stoppers," a so-called E-ticket attraction (a very popular ride, in Disney terms) intended for both Disney-MGM Studios and Disneyland. As detailed in a 1990 Disney press release, the ride promised a “high-tech action-adventure” where guests would join Dick Tracy in a high-speed chase through 1930s Chicago, using Audio-Animatronics, simulation technology, and special effects.
The ride would be housed in a "Southside Warehouse" with a queue winding through a gritty industrial setting, before park goers entered the ride along with Tracy on a highspeed chase against Big Boy's gang using Enhanded Motion Vehicle techonology that used simulation, sound, and special effects, which was later used in rides like Indiana Jones Adventure (Disneyland) and Dinosaur (Animal Kingdom). Park guests would race through elaborate sets recreating cobblestone streets, warehouses, and seaside docks while wielding interactive Tommy Guns to shoot at gangsters like FlatTop, Mumbles, and Itchy.
In 2025, can you imagine, how quickly the ride would get shut down if they let you pretend to shoot at people? Heck they already removed the guns and most of the stunts at the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular!
WDW News Today described the ride as a "future centerpiece" of a new themed area. Disney planned a Chicago-inspired land at Disney-MGM near Sunset Boulevard and a "Hollywoodland" expansion at Disneyland that ran parallel to Main Street, USA. Disney's vision for these new areas was an immersive 1930s atmosphere with themed shops and restaurants that evoked Dick Tracy's dark, gritty world.
A television special in 1990, The Disneyland Story, hosted by Harry Anderson, hyped Crime-Stoppers as a planned 1996 addition to the park, proclaiming it would combine “state-of-the-art technology with a classic story from the past.” However, as Collider.com notes, the ride’s massive scale, requiring a city-sized show building, and its high cost made it a risky investment for a not-yet-released movie.
When the film hit theaters in June, critics praised its visual innovation. Vox called it "one of the most unique movies ever, "noting its seamless blend of comic strip and 1930s gangster film aesthetics. However, some, like Peter Travers of Rolling Stone, criticized its emotional shallowness, arguing it lacked the psychological depth (or excitement) of Batman.
Despite mixed reviews, Dick Tracy was a financial success, grossing over $160 million worldwide against a $46 million budget, though its massive marketing costs diminished Disney’s profits. The film won three Oscars (Best Makeup, Best Art Direction, and Best Original Song) and was nominated for four others, a rare achievement for a comic book film (at the time). Its influence on comic book adaptations is undeniable, paving the way for stylized films like Sin City, though it never achieved the cultural staying power of Batman.
Unfortunately, despite the push of merchandise and advertising, the film's reliance on visual spectacle and the 1930s comic aesthetic may have been too niche for 1990s audiences, who preferred modern superheroes like Batman or the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Other critics also blame the "outdated" narrative (love stories that focus on fidelity and marriage, adoption, and the mafia) as failing to capture the imagination of children in the 1990s, who were drawn to the high-tech gadgets of modern superheroes when compared to Tracy's outdated 2-way radio watch.
When Dick Tracy only grossed $162.74 million worldwide, respectable but far short of Batman’s $411 million, Disney deemed the theme park attraction unjustifiable, especially amid financial strains from the construction of EuroDisney (now Disneyland Paris) for its opening planned for 1992.
Plans for the new Chicago-themed land were also canceled. Disney quickly pivoted away from the Dick Tracy property by the end of the summer of 1990.
Tracy wasn't totally banished from the parks, however.
At Disney-MGM Studios, walk-around characters, including Dick Tracy in his iconic yellow trench coat and fedora, mingled with guests, while photo ops featured props like the film’s automobiles and Madonna’s sequinned dress, which drew comments for its petite size.
The Backlot Tour briefly included a stop at a New York City set with its brightly painted brownstone facades, where actors staged mock confrontations between Tracy and several gangsters, threatening to “fill them full of lead." Tracy could call for backup, and the police would intervene.
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| Beatty at the World Premier at Disney's Pleasure Island |
Pleasure Island, a nightclub complex for kids and adults at Downtown Disney (now Disney Springs), even converted a store to sell only Dick Tracy merchandise, from T-shirts to Motorola wristwatch pagers, reflecting Disney’s all-in licensing push. The store lasted a few years under the Dick Tracy banner before being converted back to generic Disney merchandise.
On June 14, 1990, following the premiere of the film at the AMC Theater in Pleasure Island, the celebration moved to Disney-MGM Studios, where Warren Beatty’s handprints, marked with “D.T.” for Dick Tracy, were immortalized outside the Chinese Theatre. Dustin Hoffman (Mumbles) and Charlie Korsmo (Kid) also added their handprints and signatures in cement, while several other actors from the film were in attendance.
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If you are ever at Hollywood Studios, head over to "Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway." You can still see them, and many other hand and footprints, before entering the ride.
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The Dick Tracy theme park initiatives were a microcosm of Disney’s high-stakes gamble on the film. Eisner’s vision saw Tracy as a franchise to rival Indiana Jones (before Disney owned it), but the film’s middling performance and Beatty’s ownership of the rights halted further development. The Diamond Double Cross show, while a bold experiment, couldn’t overcome its disconnect from the film, and the Crime-Stoppers ride remains a tantalizing “what if” for Disney fans and historians.
Despite initial plans for a franchise and an entire "universe," Dick Tracy never spawned a sequel. Financially, while the film earned over $160 million, its high production and marketing costs led Disney to write off over $50 million in losses. Katzenberg’s memo highlighted the “disproportionate” effort versus success, signaling Disney’s reluctance to invest further. Younger audiences, unfamiliar with the comic strip, didn’t connect with Tracy as they did with Batman, limiting the film’s cultural impact.
As recently as 2016, Beatty, then in his late 70s, expressed interest in a sequel, but now, at nearly 90, he’s unlikely to star again, leaving the direction of his control over the character unclear. Beatty's ego and perfectionism, coupled with Disney's shift toward the Marvel Cinematic Universe and other franchises like Star Wars and Indiana Jones, have diminished any interest in revisiting Tracy. Cinema Scholars, the movie fan site, notes that the failure of Disney to promote Dick Tracy on Disney+ suggests the studio has moved on completely, washing their hands of Beatty and his stranglehold on the character.
Beatty’s commitment to the character extended to retaining the film and TV rights, a battle that has defined Dick Tracy's post-1990 legacy. To maintain control, he reprised Tracy in a 1995 Nancy Kerrigan ice skating special and two TCM specials, the Dick Tracy Special (2010) and Tracy Zooms In (2023), where he appeared in character alongside Leonard Maltin and Ben Mankiewicz. These efforts, described by website Cinema Scholars as “terrible in-character interviews,” were strategic moves to extend his legal hold on the character amid disputes with Tribune Media Services. The legal battles have stalled any future use of the character in film and television.
As we mark the 35th anniversary of "The Summer of Tracy," Dick Tracy stands as an important chapter in comic book film history, especially during its infancy. The franchise's roots in Chester Gould's groundbreaking comic strip, its brief detour into 1960s animation, and its explosive 1990 big-screen debut reflect a character who has endured through decades of significant cultural shifts. Warren Beatty’s passion project, with its vibrant visuals, all-star cast, and ambitious marketing, captured the spirit of the comic strip while forging its own unique identity.
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