History Film / DickTracy

* HamAndCheese: DustinHoffman only played Mumbles becaus Warren Beatty dared him to.

* JerkSue: There's no denying his honesty and courage, but Dick Tracy can be quite arrogant and brutal in his treatment of suspects - particularly when he waives their constitutional rights out of sheer spite.

* NightmareFuel: the general freakish nature of most of Tracy's rogue gallery, where with the exception of the Breathless Mahoney (who [[spoiler: designed the Blank costume/persona to wear so that she could go around killing people without anyone suspecting her]]), the costume designers went overboard to portray all of Tracy's villains as the grotesque looking freaks they were in the comics. Even Big Boy Caprice.

* TearJerker: Well, actually it's more of a [[MissedMomentOfAwesome Missed Moment Of Sad]]. [[spoiler: Breathless Mahoney, the woman whom Tracy has been trying to protect during the whole movie, dies of a fatal gunshot wound. Shockingly, Tracy seems to take this in stride....and then, a minute later, is happily reunited with Tess.]]

* TearJerker: Well, actually it's more of a [[MissedMomentOfAwesome Missed Moment Of Sad]]. [[spoiler: Breathless Mahoney, the woman whom Tracy has been trying to protect during the whole movie, dies of a fatal gunshot wound. Shockingly, Tracy seems to take this in stride....and then, a minute later, is happily reunited with Tess.]] [[YourMileageMayVary YMMV]], but depending on how sympathetic you felt toward [[spoiler: Breathless]], the scene can have quite a bit of MoralDissonance.

''"I'm on my way."''

** The SixthColumn: 88 Keys (helps The Blank frame Big Boy for Tess' kidnapping).

* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming
** The Kid decides to choose the name [[spoiler:"Dick Tracy, Jr."]]
** The Blank cannot bring [[spoiler:herself]] to shoot Tracy, admitting that there is some good left in [[spoiler:her]] after all.
** Dick and Tess embrace after surviving their adventure, and [[spoiler:he finally agrees to marry her in the next scene]].

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome
** Tracy rejects Big Boy's attempted bribe, hurling the bills back into the gangster's face.
** Tracy knocks down a dozen men with a single punch.
** Tracy coolly executes [[spoiler:Flattop]] as a massive explosion erupts behind him.

The setting is a Chicago-like city sometime in the early 1930s. Detective Dick Tracy (Beatty) is the most dogged plainclothes cop on the street, dividing his time between punching out [[{{Mook}} mooks]] and making sure young delinquents get sent to the orphanage. A new challenge to his authority soon emerges in the form of up-and-coming gang boss Big Boy Caprice (Al Pacino), who unites all his former rivals into a citywide gangland coalition. Now Tracy's only hope in foiling Big Boy's schemes lies with nightclub singer Breathless Mahoney, who is prepared to help the detective....for a price.

* TrainEscape: Shaky pulls one to lose Tracy during TheChase.

*** A better candidate for TheDarkChick might be Texie Garcia, who is the only woman in the movie Big Boy doesn't make a point of treating like dirt.

* AllStarCast

* BigDamnVillain: The Blank.
* BigEater: Kid.

* James Caan and Catherine O'Hara have uncredited cameos as rival mob bosses in the scene where Big Boy unites the gangs of the city.

* PerpSweating
* RedRightHand

** TheSixthColumn: 88 Keys (helps The Blank frame Big Boy for Tess' kidnapping).

"I'm on my way."

The movie also starred Glenn Headley as Tess Trueheart and Charlie Korsmo as the nameless "Kid." It won Academy Awards for Best Art Direction, Best Makeup, and Best Original Song (StephenSondheim's "Sooner or Later").

* TheDragon: Flattop.

* WeCanRuleTogether

* CementShoes

* {{Frameup}}

!!Tropes Include:

* DistressedDude - Tracy winds up as this on more than one occasion.

* JabbaTableManners - Lips Manlis noisily sucking oysters down his throat by the mouthful.

* TrainEscape - Shaky pulls one to lose Tracy during TheChase.
* TheUnintelligible - Mumbles
* TheVamp - Breathless Mahoney.

** The Blank cannot bring [[spoiler:herself]] to shoot Tracy, admitting that there is some good left in [[spoiler:her]] after all. Unfortunately for The Blank, RedemptionEqualsDeath.

** Tracy (completely deadpan): "Take the bad men away. They frighten me."

* TearJerker

* DistressedDude - Tracy winds up as this on more than one occasion.

* JamesBondage - Tracy winds up as this on more than one occasion.