Buffronioc
One of the wrost movies I have ever seen
Helllins
It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.
Janae Milner
Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.
Bob
This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.
jonathan_k80
And what does this series have to do with the classic detective comic strip? Other than a couple of cameo appearances by the title character and watered-down versions of the strip's famous villains... absolutely nothing.The "Dick Tracy" comic has been around since 1931, and if you have ever read any of the strips, you would soon realize it was aimed at an adult audience. It was filled with grotesque criminals who often met their end in a gruesome manner such as a bullet through the head, impalement, or being burned alive. The creator, Chester Gould, had no qualms about visually depicting the grisly demise of these villains. It was definitely not for young children.So who thought Dick Tracy would make a great concept for a kids' show? Or what drugs were available in 1960 when this series was being developed? And why would Chester Gould allow his characters to be so trivialized? He is actually credited in the opening title sequence; if I were him I would have been embarrassed to have my name attached this horrible program.Yes, it is horrible. Minus the opening and closing credits, each episode runs less than four minutes, and Dick Tracy only appears for a total of about 30 to 50 seconds. We see him in the opening scene at his desk finishing up a phone call from his superior. "Okay, Chief, I'll get on it right away. Dick Tracy calling ________." This same footage and dialogue is recycled in every single episode. Yes, EVERY SINGLE EPISODE. Tracy assigns the case to one of four assistant detectives, then is not seen again until the wrap-up at the end. So, why is this called "The Dick Tracy Show"?"The Lame Assistant Detective Show" would be a better description. Other reviewers have commented on these pathetic characters, so I won't recap what they have already described. However, I will re-emphasize the fact that two of the detectives are racist stereotypes. That alone should be enough to make viewers want to avoid this series, but there is more.The animation is atrocious. There is a lot of reused footage, flopped (reversed) images and other cost-cutting measures that make it obvious this was made on an extremely limited budget. A handful of classic villains from the comic strip have been transformed into overly- cartoonish children's characters, and these same villains are used over and over. The dialogue is filled with groan-inducing puns that first- or second-grade schoolkids might find funny. Sight gags consist of tired overdone rehashes from other cartoons. The "Hold Everything!" joke (where a character in a predicament freezes the surrounding action) gets really old when it appears in every, yes EVERY, episode, although we do get to see an extra ten seconds of Dick Tracy on screen when the assistant detective calls for help.This series is available on DVD. Unbelievable. I can't see anyone actually spending money on such mind-numbing material.
Little-Mikey
I remember watching this cartoon weekday afternoons just before supper. It was 1961 and I was about 7. I was in the First Grade and had just started to learn to read. So what captured my curiosity with my newly acquired reading skills? You got it,the Sunday Funnies! I asked my mother what comics she liked to read. She liked to read DICK TRACY.So when DICK TRACY came on TV, I thought my mother would enjoy seeing her comic strip come alive on TV. Maybe she saw one episode. I don't remember. What I do remember is that she was always too busy to watch DICK TRACY on TV.Thirty five years later, I saw this cartoon on TV and now I can understand why my mother was always too busy to watch this cartoon. It was bad, really bad! Joe Jitsu, complete with his slant-eyes and buck teeth was such an offensive Japanese stereo-type that you don't even have to be Japanese to be offended. Then there is Go-Go Gomez! Given the choice between watching this horrible cartoon or slaving over a hot stove, my mother wisely chose the hot stove. I rest my case!
John T. Ryan
We saw DICK TRACY creator,Chester Gould, as a guest on our CBS TV Affiliate's AT RANDOM Saturday's Late Night talk fest. The Show's host, Chicago Sun-Times Columnist Irv Kupcinet hosted and provided us with interesting, stimulating excursions into "The Lively Art of Conversation." At this time, either late 1960 or early '61, Mr. Gould announced that there had been a deal cut between his syndicator,The Chicago Tribune-N.Y.News Syndicate and United Productions of America (UPA for short)an Animation Studio, to produce a series of DICK TRACY animated cartoons for Television. He thought that they'd be on TV shortly, but ventured no further opinion.Well, that sure sounded good to this 14 year old's family. It's not that TRACY was a favourite, but we did get the Chicago Sunday Tribune and were familiar and could get much more closely acquainted.There had been Dick Tracy adaptations before. He sold a lot of Comic Books and Big Little Books. He was the starring in 4 1930's-40's Republic Pictures' Serials, 4 RKO Series "B" Movies and a short lived 1950's DICK TRACY live action Television Series. So, great, he would be welcomed with open arms! Well, to our surprise the Dick Tracy UPA Cartoons were just about an equivalent to their MR.MAGOO TV Cartoons(not the Theatrical releases). Of course there is nothing intrinsically evil or even dis likable about The MAGOO TV productions; but we never expected such similarities.Chester Gould's DICK TRACY(1931-Present)had long been called "the best written and worst drawn strip in the Newspapers." He made use of the bizarre, the crude, the evil in creating colorful foes for Tracy to battle. Bad Guy Characters had Names that were indicative of physical attributes and habitual behaviour. Hence we saw Prune Face, Flat Top, The Mole, Mumbles, The Brow, etc.* Most of these villainous foes were used in the cartoons, but in twosomes. The greatest divergence from the Strip was an army of Tracy Deputies such as Jaspanese Detective-"Joe Jitsu", Mexican Sleuth-"Go-Go Gomez", "Heap O'Calorie"-a human caricature obviously inspired by Actor/Funnyman Andy Divine and "Shemlock Sholmes"(a talking, cockney accented English Bulldog and his "Retouchables" an animated Keystone Kop Knockoff.There was surely no skimping on the acting talents assembled. The voices were provided by the cream of the Voice Actor Fraternity. Names like Mel Blanc, Paul Frees, Jerry Hausner and Johnny Coons** were numbered among the creative talents featured. They were joined by veteran screen Comedian and Dialectician Supreme, Benny Rubin. And the voice of Dick Tracy was provided by distinguished Actor, former member of Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre of the Air, Everett Sloane!(Honest, you can look it up yourself!)* Not only did the bad guys get such descriptive monikers. After Tracy's 1st partner, Pat Patton was promoted to Chief of Police, his 2nd partner was introduced, Sam Ketcham! 2 regular supporting characters, a man & woman Hobo pair were aptly named "B.O.Plenty & Gravel Gertie"and later after marriage, they had a daughter, "Sparkle Plenty." Others included Tracy's Girlfriend & later Wife, "Tess Trueheart" and Shakespearian Actor and Health Fanatic, the John Barrymoreesque, "Vitamin Flintheart". ** "Uncle"Johnny Coons had long been a top Kiddie TV Host/Performer in the Chicago Market. He had won the local Emmy and maybe even a Peabody(?) for Children's Television. It was he of the famous on air flub when, thinking he was off said the immortal words, "There, that out to hold the little bastards for another day!" He made a quick exit to the L.A area, working in TV, Commercials and in voice acting for people like UPA.
F Gwynplaine MacIntyre
I acquired a complete run of this cartoon series on standard-8mm film, as part of a swap with someone at Blackhawk Video. Lucky me? Not likely! This television series is INCREDIBLY bad, with lackadaisical animation that makes 'Clutch Cargo' look high-tech.Having read the entire run of Chester Gould's 'Dick Tracy' strips (and some of his successors' work), I'm deeply familiar with the original 'Dick Tracy'. One of its great strengths was the cast of supporting characters: Tess, Junior, Sam, Lizz, Diet Smith, Vitamin Flintheart, Chief Brandon, Chief Patton, B.O. Plenty, Gravel Gertie, and the unfairly maligned Moon Maid. None of them are on offer here, possibly because Gould would have wanted more money. Dick Tracy himself is only barely seen at the start and finish of each episode, offering spoken set-ups and wrap-ups that don't interact with the (minimal) action.Any positive notes? Aye, just barely. The opening credits are impressive, with a catchy crime-marches-on music theme while Tracy fires his pistol directly at the viewer, and we see captioned head shots of the various villains, so we'll know their names. (None of them move ... except Itchy, who scratches himself.) The good news is that these are all classic villains from the peak years of Tracy's strip. Even more intriguingly, we actually get TWO villains per episode, working as a team. The bad news is that the team-ups are completely arbitrary, and -- having been made by whoever set up this series -- the arbitrary team-ups remain in place for every subsequent cartoon. So, f'rinstance, Sketch Paree is ALWAYS paired with the Mole, and Stooge Viller is ALWAYS paired with Mumbles. (The single most interesting thing about this series is voice-artist Paul Frees's performance as Mumbles: he speaks his lines in a weird hyperactive quack that sounds like Donald Duck on helium.) Some of the pairings make no sense: in the original strip, Sketch Paree (a one-off villain) was a delusional psychotic artist, while the Mole (a recurring character who eventually reformed) was a dissociated murderer who lived underground: why would these two men team up on an ongoing basis? As depicted here, the Mole is a genial Buddy Hackett-like schlub who enjoys digging tunnels with his bare hands.The biggest problem with this awful series is that Tracy doesn't do the actual detecting, and the characters who do the sleuthing -- created for these cartoons -- are awful. Each toon begins identically to all the others, with Tracy at his desk speaking into a phone: "O.K., Chief. I'll get on it right away." (We never see this chief: is it Chief Brandon? Chief Patton? Big Chief Wahoo?) Tracy then rings off the phone and uses his wrist TV to summon one of his three detectives, whom he briefs on this episode's case.Oo-er! Those detectives! The least painful of the lot is Joe Jitsu, a Mr Moto-ish Japanese midget who signs off each of his episodes by saying 'Sayonara!' (In one episode, he tried to hypnotise a Siamese cat: the cat hypnotised him back, and then the CAT said 'Sayonara!') Jitsu has the ability to subdue much larger opponents by seizing their wrists and casually pounding their heads against the floor. Wish I could do that! The other two tecs are Go Go Gomez (a Mexican in sombrero, serape and sandals) and Hemlock Holmes. After the detective collars the villains, Dick Tracy briefly deigns to put in an appearance and offer a quick verbal wrap-up. Dick Tracy actually has more screen time in the opening credits than in any of the cartoons themselves.Apparently the Jitsu and Gomez episodes became taboo on Yank TV because these characters are allegedly ethnic stereotypes. It makes sense to take them off TV for being crap-awful, but not for being stereotypes: Jitsu and Gomez are both intelligent, brave and resourceful. True, they speak in (very dodgy) 'ethnic' accents, but we never hear any comments about them being unsanitary, stupid, work-shy, dishonest, nor any of the other negative traits attributed to minorities.FULL DISCLOSURE: I wanted to see these cartoons because the allegedly 'Japanese' Joe Jitsu was voiced by my friend the late Benny Rubin, a former vaudeville comic who had trouble getting on-camera acting jobs because of his extremely Jewish looks! So much for ethnicity...Hemlock Holmes is a talking bulldog in an old-fashioned constable's helmet, but otherwise naked. Neither Dick Tracy nor anybody else finds it odd that a talking animal has entered Chester Gould's universe. There are fewer Hemlock episodes than Jitsu or Gomez episodes, but (due to the ethnic stigma) these get televised more often. Holmes, unlike his efficient colleagues Jitsu and Gomez, is a bumbling idiot. Apparently it's wrong to depict Japanese and Mexicans as brave efficient police officers, but it's O.K. to slander talking bulldogs.A few of these episodes feature the Retouchables, a mob of stumblebum bobbies clearly based on the Keystone Cops. Mack Sennett should have sued.A distinctive motif of Chester Gould's strip was its chillingly accurate depictions of violence. This cartoon series was intended for kiddies, so the 'violence' was all very slapsticky and bloodless.What most horrifies me about this series is that Dick Tracy's voice is supplied by that great character actor Everett Sloane, formerly of 'Citizen Kane'. Sloane's eyesight was failing, and he committed suicide soon after making these Dick Tracy toons ... allegedly because he was going blind. I think he committed suicide out of embarrassment over these cartoons. Really, they're AWFUL!
