MovieChat Forums > Dick Tracy (1990) Discussion > Why isn't Dick Tracy as a character real...

Why isn't Dick Tracy as a character really relevant in popular culture anymore?

posted 5 years ago by TMC-4 (20123)
12 replies | jump to latest

Is Warren Beatty clinging on to the film rights part of the problem?

https://officialfan.proboards.com/thread/598052/tracy-1990-30-year

[–] Kowalski (75524) 5 years ago

DUDE HAS ABOUT 2 MONTHS LEFT OF OXYGEN...PROBLEM SOLVED.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

Dick Tracy was Beatty's pet project, was it?

[–] PaladinNJ (21510) 2 years ago

Apparently, he still maintains the rights to it today. He won't give them up for someone else to use. Is he hoping to have another shot at the character?

[–] Bloodworth79 (5687) 5 years ago

Why isnt a straight while male who is a cop not more popular in today's political correct world?

Easy....because of liberals

[–] liscarkat (18373) 4 years ago

Relevant? There's little, if anything "relevant" about most movies. They just have to be entertaining.

[–] newguy33 (354) 3 years ago

Does he have any interesting superpowers or skills other superheroes don't have? Because in the movie he doesn't have any, he's nothing special, easily lured into obvious traps many times.

[–] moviechatterer (15583) 2 years ago

now that makes for a great movie character!

Whats fun about a guy with unlimited superpower who never makes a mistake?

[–] mechajutaro (2788) 2 years ago

In this sanitized environment that is our mainstream cinema market, the very thought of any studio investing in a movie that has a gritty, urban noir setting and lots gun fire has the main studies pissing their pants

[–] javie (2216) 2 years ago

Have you seen a platypus in the wild?

[–] Ismailov (160) 10 months ago

I think one factor is that Batman, Superman, etc. can pretty easily be detached from the decade they originated in. I can't imagine Dick Tracy in a modern setting without the character either becoming a generic "badass cop" or being comically out of place.

[–] Pete314 (3003) 10 months ago

I can see him - like Austin Powers - thawed out of a cryogenic sleep after some decades. But then with less childish humor and plenty of sarcasm instead... 🤔

[–] MaximRecoil (4598) 2 months ago

It wasn't a relevant character when the movie came out either, at least not from my perspective as a 15-year-old. Growing up in the 1980s, I never saw Dick Tracy in the comic strip section of the newspaper. The only serial/adventure type ones I ever saw back then were Mark Trail and The Phantom. I had heard of Dick Tracy, but I thought of it as something from "the olden days."

Also, "Dick" is one of the worst names anyone could have these days. Even in the 1980s, ~only people from older generations (Baby Boomers and older) were nicknamed "Dick." For Generation X it was a vulgar, and often pejorative, slang term, which is still the case today.