MovieChat Forums > Dick Tracy (1990) Discussion > Tracy's nose

Tracy's nose

posted 13 years ago by bpmct
6 replies | jump to latest

I have a "making of" movie tie-in book from 1990, and they mention that they were going to try to give Beatty a hawk like nose to allow his Tracy to look more like the comic. They then said something like "Beatty has a iconic face, and we shouldn't change it". I was wondering, are there any production shots of Beatty wearing the fake nose? None of the good guys were given any make up in this movie to match their comic counter-part. It'd be intereting to see some test footage, or pics...

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[–] CREGNIS 13 years ago

I doubt it bro. i have never even seen this movie but i doubt some one wore a fake nose that just seems stupid. most people should know they havea nose and no need to wear a fake one unless you are playing a witch or a snow man.

Cregnis signing out

[–] gribfritz2 12 years ago

most people should know they havea nose.

Was your response for real? You also never even saw the movie, so why are you commenting about it? At least half the cast was wearing fake noses (among other things).

[–] LaPfieffer92 12 years ago

well all the villians had really over the top prosthetic makeup but i also thats cuz they were the villians and they had to have that overdone cartoony look whereas the good guys all looked normal, which i think is fine because thats the way they used to do it in the comics too. the bad guys all had deformities and ugly looking in some way while the good guys looked normal with no defining characteristics.

[–] Jake-219 12 years ago

The good guys all looked normal? They didn't have any makeup or prosthetics?

What about Seymour Cassell as Sam Ketchem? That's certainly not the way he really looked back then!

I will grant you, though, that I've always wondered about Tracy's lack of that nose in this picture (though it was so entertaining that it didn't take me many minutes of viewing to get over it!).

For that matter, Ralph Byrd wasn't exactly the ideal person to cast as Tracy in those old RKO programmers. Richard Dix would have been ABSOLUTELY right (nose and attitude and all!). But he was probably still making enough money for them as a star at the time.

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] rogerscorpion 11 years ago

Before the film was made, I read that Beatty refused to wear makeup in the role.

Look @ Mandy Patinkin (also in the film), from that period. He looked so much like the cartoon Tracy. He wouldn't have sold tickets, though---except to me.

Check out Mandy's youtube vids, tho. Prepare to be amazed.

Carpe Noctem!