Dick Tracy (1950)

Cast:

William Woodson is Narrator
Ralph Byrd is Dick Tracy
John Cliff is Flattop

What the box says:

Dick Tracy is a television classic from the 1950's. Dick Tracy the famous detective is faced with crimes and murder which he must solve.

Plot:

Dick Tracy Meets Flattop

Dick Tracy and his wife, Tess, have some charming banter until Tess opens the door to let a couple of cops in to see her husband. They’re actually crooks who knock the fearless detective out.

Later, Dick awakens and is bound and gagged. Flattop mentions he was paid $5,000 so far for getting Tracy and gets another $5,000 for killing him. Flattop thinks the job should be worth more than that. He calls his boss, Namgib, and mentions the syndicate. Forcing Namgib to either pay more of lets Tracy go with enough evidence to crush the syndicate. An extra $45,000 ensures Dick Tracy leaving the mortal coil which Namgib vows to get posthaste.

Tess looks through the mug books for the cops. She spots Moe, Flattop’s henchman.

Sam Catchum, cop, goes undercover to find Moe. He gets a tip to look for Flattop and even checks with one of the paperboys.

Flattop will spill the beans in front of Dick Tracy before capping him. Tracy uses his radio wristwatch to send an SOS to Sam. Flattop and Moe let Tracy write a letter to Tess.

Sam updates the chief on his leads so far.

Flattop calls Namgib about the money. He won’t cap Tracy until getting paid and gives directions to the boss where to meet. Sam overhears all this over Tracy’s watch.

Dick Tracy is still writing his letter and even tries convincing Flattop to ask for more money. Namgib arrives. Moe counts the money when Flattop asks for another $50,000 raise. He shoots Namgib when he goes for his gun.

Tracy breaks out of the ropes and struggles with Flattop. Sam busts in and shoots Moe…

Dick Tracy Versus Heels Beels

In an antique shop, Heels and Hefty are working. He pulls a gun on Hefty when he pulls a joke on him, when we learn that Heels is a couple of shoehorns shy of a full load.

BUCKO, I'm not a carnival barker but a master criminal! Ms. Varnish walks in and chews them out.

Heels wants to do one more job. They deliver furniture to wealthy people and get the layout of the houses and rob them later.

Dick Tracy calls the store. Hefty is sure that Ms. Varnish told the cops about them. Heels convinces his henchman that they need to pull 1 more job. No one will stop him even Dick Tracy.

That night, Heels and Hefty break into a house. Crack the safe, the owner, Mr. Greenbacks, walks in. Heels gives him a lead transfusion.

The next day, Dick Tracy investigates the scene. He finds a sales slip from Ms. Varnish’s store. Dick calls the store again. Hefty and Heels overhears the conversation and is sure that Tracy is closing in on them.

Dick Tracy ordered a pair of end tables from Varnish’s store months ago. He thinks there may be a lead with Greenbacks being killed after going to the store.

Heels is about to cap Ms. Varnish. She tells them that Dick Tracy just wanted his end tables. In fact, she is completely undisturbed by her employees pointing guns at her. They hide in the closet before Tracy gets there.

Dick Tracy and Sam arrive and are about to take the tables away. Ms. Varnish blurts out about Greenbacks death and spills some varnish on the table. While cleaning it up, she sands a message about killers in the store.

Dick Tracy and Sam leave the store.

Heels gets ready to cap Ms. Varnish when Sam busts back in, let the gunfight ensue. Dick Tracy shoots Hefty. Heels grabs Varnish as a hostage. She is able to get Heels to walk over the puddle of varnish and trip. Dick Tracy versus Heels Beels. The square jawed 2 fisted detectives lays the smackdown on Heels candy striped shirt and jaw.

Back at the Tracy’s office, Dick, Sam, and Ms. Varnish learn that apparently the end tables need to be refinished to match the furniture. Ha-Ha-HA…

Hi-Jack

Sam comes into the police station. He tells a sergeant about Flattop is in the jail. He tells the cop about the syndicate, Namgib, and everything else out in the above mentioned Dick Tracy Meets Flattop.

Dick Tracy walks in. The car thefts have risen up.

Doke and Ruff, 2 mechanics, and Hi-Jack go to a garage and inspect a bag of tools.

Doke heads out and comes back with a stolen car. Heads back out, he steals another car. Third time, he ends up shooting the car owner in the arm before driving off.

Hi-Jack is fighting with Ruff, who lost his set of die making tools that lets them change the engine serial numbers. Doke returns and mentions about the shooting.

Police station, the wounded guy checks with Dick Tracy about the car theft and being shot. They go to find his car before it is repainted. Let the searching montage ensues.

Doke is repainting the car. Ruff changes the serial number off the engine block.

The search montage ensues.

Ruff tries to convince Doke about cutting Hi-Jack out of the car theft operation. They can steal and change the serial numbers. Just wait until the tools are out of the safe and strike. Hi-Jack overhears the conversation.

Let the nefarious criminals have a gunfight.

Sam and Dick investigate the noise.

Hi-Jack and the mechanics call a truce knowing the Dick Tracy is outside.

Doke meets Sam and Dick Tracy. They inspect the car that has been repainted. The wounded guy knows it is the same model but another color and check the engine serial number. Doke pulls a gun and the wounded guy realizes that is who shot him.

Another gunfight breaks out this one removes Doke from the land of the living.

Sam will see that cars get back to their rightful owners. However, the theft ring is still up and has to be finished.

What I say:

Strap on your radio wristwach and get your fedora and trenchcoat ready. You're going to battle the forces of crimes for law and order. You are Dick Tracy. Decades ago, Dick Tracy would be a far better answer when he was in many newspaper comic strips, movie serials, and a radio show, too. However, he has lost a lot of his popularity. Rumors have been floating about Warren beatty doing another Dick Tracy movie. With as many sequels and remakes being done today, I guess it is possible just don't bet the farm...

When one thinks of who is a master detective and has quite an ecleptic gallery of foes, today, one would be pressed to think of Batman. As Spiderman and Batman are defined by their rogues galleries, so is Dick Tracy. Though when these episodes have Flattop, a guy who looks like he's wearing an oversized beret, doesn't quite seem very distinguishing as one of the Tracy's more famous foes. Makeup for the villains isn't going to amazing like in the Warren Beatty Dick Tracy. Heels Beels is dressed as a carnival barker and it is implied he has a prostetic foot or at least an empty heel. Hi-Jack lacks any kind of deformity which really cuts out on him being a major adversary. All villains must have some witty name or physical deformity that inspires them to their lives of crime.

Dick Tracy, Detective and Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome have already been covered. Granted, they were 2 of the movies. This review focuses on a episodes of the Dick Tracy televison series from the 1950s. Supposedly, this series was awfully violent for the 1950s. With this being a 1950s television series, one shouldn't expect it to be what would be considered edgy today. Though we're all lacking the standards of the 50s to get an idea of if it was violent or not...That I can't be sure about. It seemed awfully tame to me though I may have been desensitized to the violence. That can't be it, excuse me as I go back to playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City or Carmageddon: Carpocalypse Now. Well, I'm back from running over some obviously evil pedestrians.

Ralph Byrd played Dick Tracy in the original serials. He left the role behind. Morgan Conway took the role over in the first 2 Dick Tracy movies: Dick Tracy, Detective and Dick Tracy Vs. Cueball. However, Ralph returned to the role in the final 2 Dick Tracy movies: Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome and Dick Tracy's Dilemma. When the 1950s TV series was developed, Ralph came back as the square-jawed 2-fisted crime fighter. The series only lasted 2 years because Ralph Byrd died of a heart attack.

It couldn't be Dick Tracy without some weird puns or strange names like Namgib (Big Man backwards). Dr. A. Tomic must have been on vacation.

A number of the episodes of this series were continued to the next week. The dreaded "to be continued" as well as the episodes which end but still leave dangling plot points, too. Though I'm not sure why Flattop was discussed so much in the "Hi-Jack" episode. Well, according to IMDB, it was the previous episode. They must have just been trying to fill some run time. Normally, most shows don't fill in time with people talkign about the tough case they just took care of before. The typical flashback episodes have random bits from several episodes and been a couple flashback episodes that feature scenes from the previous week. In Dick Tracy it was jsut the sidekick telling a supporting character that as fas as I could tell had no connection to the story.

It does sound like I'm really trashing these 3 episodes but don't mean to do that. Actually, it is hard to write about these episodes. Each movie colors every other thing we watch and what we think of them to some degree. A lot of fans of gory horror movies automatically tear down old horror movies as a rule without considering if they were considered explicit for their time. It is far too easy to get jaded and then trash older shows and movies because they are nowhere as explicit as what we watch now. This isn't meant as a tirade. Just because a show doesn't warn the audience about being for "suggested for mature audiences" or drop more f-bombs than when your car breaks down, does that mean it is too juvenile for you? Well, there is nothing wrong with admitting you're working on your 5th or 6th childhood.

Quotable Dialogue
"Why you dirty crook, that's blackmail."
"If you're a real nice guy, I'll kill you quick."
"Unmitigated, indescribeable, chowderheads."
"Isn't that grain exquisite?"
"I prefer not to be called baby."
Morals of the Story
Beret wearing guys should be called Flattop.
Newspaper boys should sound heavily medicated and completely uninterested in hawking the news.
Table sanders should be used around feet.
Sanders can silence gunshots.
Cars need heat lamps.