If you listened to Thursday June 18th’s Theme Park Thursday podcast, you heard Academy Award Winning Makeup Artist John Caglione Jr. talk about his experiences with Dick Tracy. Warren Beatty marches out a litany of fantastic villains from Chester Gould’s world throughout the film, which celebrates its 30th Anniversary in theaters this week. Here within, my top ten rogues from the 1990 wonder under the category of ‘unified concept’.
10. Breathless Mahoney – the femme fatale played by Madonna took more critical flack than she probably deserved. Peak MTV,
Blonde Ambition, come on and Vogue, Madonna.
9. Little Face – his part was smaller that his features.
8. Influence – the sinister look is etched on my brain. His role in the film is not.
7. Pruneface – John Caglione Jr. has a great anecdote about casting the character on the TPT podcast.
6. 88 Keys – I was on a Mandy Patinkin kick in the early 90’s. Loved the depth of such a small but crucial role here, and the Sondheim penned duet with Madonna (‘What Can You Lose’) is an all time favorite of mine.
5. D.A. Fletcher – I think Dick Van Dyke is brilliant here.
4. Big Boy Caprice – all Al Pacino impersonators must start here.
3. Mumbles – ‘89/‘90 I was on a Dustin Hoffman kick. And I’m 100% convinced that if this film was actually made during the 1930’s, Stan Laurel would have won an Oscar.
2. The Brow – does this character have any business being number two considering his fate in the opening scene? No. But, boy, did I love this look leading up to the movie’s release.
1. Flattop – the character whose look captured my imagination in the trailers and ads leading up to seeing the movie opening day. Helped define ‘The World of the Play’. Heartbroken by his place in the climactic shootout.
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