Dick Tracy: Deep Thoughts About the Comic Strip Villains, Overusing Montages, and What We Accepted As "Romance" in 80s and 90s Movies

Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. "I know how you feel. You don't know if you want to hit me or kiss me. I get a lot of that."On this week's episode of Deep Thoughts, Tracie revisits the 1990 film Dick Tracy, the big budget Oscar winner that pop culture forgot. Director and star Warren Beatty wanted to recreate the comic strip detective as a live action hero, complete with all the weird villains that populate the funny papers, as well as the romance Tracy enjoyed with both his loving girlfriend Tess Trueheart and the villainous femme fatale, Breathless Mahoney. In some ways, Beatty succeeded: the visuals of the film are arresting (pun very much intended). But although contemporaneous movie reviews were glowing, Dick Tracy has gone unremembered, even as a cult classic--in part because the story has very little heart and Beatty's turn as Tracy is kinda meh.That doesn't mean this movie isn't fun (if a little infuriating) to watch. The "romance" plot that puts Tracy in a love triangle with Mahoney (played by Madonna), and the long-suffering Tess (Glenne Headly) doesn't give the viewer much to go on as to why these women want the rule-breaking detective. But if you can overlook the outdated romance, Dick Tracy can take you back to the nostalgia of watching a square-jawed detective fight the bad guys in the Sunday comics.We promise not to put you in the cement bath. Just take a listen!Tags: deep thoughts about stupid sh*t, romance, pop culture, film, movie reviews, cult classic, women, 80s and 90s movies, nostalgia, feminism, cultural commentary, storytelling, warren beatty, comic strip, gen x childhood, analyzing film tropes, madonna, dick tracyThis episode was edited by Resonate Recordings.Our theme music is "Professor Umlaut" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Learn more about Tracie and Emily (including our other projects), join the Guy Girls' family, secure exclusive access to bonus content, live zooms with Tracie & Emily, discounts on merch, and early access to Deep Thou​​ghts by visiting us on Patreon or find us on ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/guygirlsWe are the sister podcasters Tracie Guy-Decker and Emily Guy Birken, known to our extended family as the Guy Girls.We're hella smart and completely unashamed of our overthinking prowess. We love 80s and 90s movies and tv, science fiction, comedy, and murder mysteries, good storytelling with lots of dramatic irony, analyzing film tropes with a side of feminism, and examining the pop culture of our Gen X childhood for gender dynamics, psychology, sociology, religious allegory, and whatever else we find. We have super-serious day jobs. For the bona fides, visit our individual websites: tracieguydecker.com and emilyguybirken.com. For our work together, visit guygirlsmedia.com We are on socials! Find us on Facebook at fb.com/dtasspodcast and on Insta at instagram.com/guygirlsmedia. You can also email us at guygirlsmedia at gmail dot com. We would love to hear from you!