What always confuses me in Dick Tracy (1990)

Fair warning: this post contains spoilers about the movie. 

I recently re-watched this movie for maybe the 10th time. I really love watching it; it's one of the coolest looking movies ever. Every scene is made up to look like a comic strip and everything visually about it is incredible. I first saw it when I was 14 years old in the theaters when it came out and was impressed by it so much I probably rented the VHS and DVD copies 2 or 3 more times, and later bought the DVD and then upgraded to blu ray where the picture quality looks fantastic. It's also a good movie to watch near or around New Year's Eve since the big climax of the film takes place on New Year' Eve.

If you've seen the movie you know it contains numerous storylines, including the orphan "The Kid" who wants to be on the police force, Tracy's relationship with his girlfriend, the new crime lord of the city (Al Pacino) and the corrupt district attorney (Dick Van Dyke) - a part that is too small; I think it could have been larger. 

Another subplot involves the rival crime lord "The Blank" - these sequences always confuse me when I think about them. At first, the Blank wants to obtain a percent of Big Boy's profits in exchange for immunity, but then the Blank changes his tune and wants to frame both Tracy and Big Boy. Alot of these details went over my head when I was 14 years old and to this day I still have trouble following The Blank's part of the story as it is told in the movie. 

If you've seen the movie, you know that Madonna/Breathless is revealed to be The Blank. 

But every time I rewatch the movie with that knowledge, the subplot is still puzzling.

This is either brilliance on the part of the screenwriters and director Warren Beatty.....or it's choppy editing that leaves out some details. I don't know which. 

The movie as it plays out gives the viewer the impression that The Blank is a mysterious rival villain who wants control over Big Boy and his criminal empire, when in reality The Blank is Breathless' way of protecting herself.....or maybe becoming a criminal crime kingpin of her own.  In my opinion I think the film should have revealed Madonna to be the Blank much earlier in the film. For example, show a scene of her putting on the mask, and dressing up. I think that would make the film much more interesting and less confusing. The first time we see the Blank, the Blank wants 10 percent of Big Boy's profits. Ok I think I follow the motive there - Breathless hates Big Boy and that is made clear. So why not give Breathless' character some extra weight--make her true identity known to the viewer, but not to Big Boy and Tracy. 

As the movie plays out, The Blank promised that Big Boy would be off the hook as a suspect in anything that would happen to Tracy if BigBoy makes the deal. But he doesn't make the deal. So what was The Blank planning to do with the money? Leave town? And what was Breathless planning to do if she successfully seduced Tracy? Testify and/or let Tracy in on the Blanks's scheme?  

Once Breathless/the Blank is rejected by Tracy, I can see why she wants both of them out of the way. And with the money she's made as the Blank, she could leave town. That would be one way to explain it.  So here's what ends up happening - The Blank frames Big Boy by kidnapping Tracy's girlfriend and placing her in the attic of the club, making it look like he kidnapped her. And she frames Tracy by killing the District Attorney and making it look like Tracy did it, but also making it look like Big Boy framed Tracy. If it worked, she would take the money and run? It's a brilliant scheme, but it was really confusing to pick up on the first watch.

What do you think? Is this how you understand The Blank? 

Steve Martin movies I don't like

Lately I've been on a Steve Martin kick and watched a number of his films for the first time (or on a re-watch),

Sadly, I enjoyed almost none of them. 

Bringing Down The House
This movie I didn't like at all. The first 10 minutes seemed somewhat tolerable. We see Martin (playing a stiff attorney) perusing an old-fashioned online dating site. He manages a date with Queen Latifah's character but doesn't know she's Black and when he first sees her his jaw drops and my jaw dropped at how cringy the scene was. Turns out she's also a felon and wants to live in his house. Meanwhile he's embarrassed by her manners and tries to hide her from his racist next door neighbor (not-funny Betty White) and racist client (Joan Plowright, a role that made me dislike her!). The movie's plot was uninteresting to me and I was distracted by all the scenes where Steve Martin tries to enjoy hip-hop. Doesn't hold up.  

Verdict: "Thumbs Down"

My Blue Heaven
I hated this movie when it first came out; I didn't find anything funny about it. So I thought I would give it another re-watch, now that I know more about the history of the film --- it was written by Nora Ephron who partially based it on the life of Henry Hill when he was in witness protection. Apparently she knew him because her husband wrote the book "Wiseguy" which was made into Goodfellas. 

So I tried to keep an open mind and enjoy the movie as a satire. But still, I didn't find much to like about it. I could probably find 5-10 minutes of Martin doing an Italian accent tolerable for a comedy sketch, but after two hours, it's too much. By the end of the movie I wasn't believing he was Italian anymore. And all those stereotypical Italian/gangster jokes don't really hold up after 30 years. 

Verdict: "Thumbs Down"

All of Me
I didn't like this movie much at all either. Lily Tomlin's character inhabits Steve Martin's body, and there's only one funny joke in the whole movie and that's when Martin has to go pee. The whole movie seemed to be made for that joke. The rest of it was really dull and dated. 

Verdict: "Thumbs Down"

Grand Canyon
I liked this movie better the others, but this one is heavy on the drama and lighter on comedy. There's almost no comedic moments, actually. The main characters are Kevin Kline and Danny Glover, and they both deal with their own family issues. Kline's wife wants to adopt an orphan baby, while Glover's family and home is targeted by drive-by shootings. Martin plays a film producer who gets shot in the leg and is a cast for most of the film. His character wants to make less violent films as a result, which I didn't find convincing, honestly.

Verdict: "Thumbs Down"

Mixed Nuts
In my opinion, this is a really crappy ensemble dark comedy that is probably one of the worst "Christmas Movies" out there.  This film was based on a play and an obscure French film, taking place inside a suicide hotline clinic on Christmas Eve. Honestly, there's not much funny about people who are depressed and need help. But somehow the film tries to make the situations funny - Martin and his co-worker Rita Wilson have crushes on each other, and Madeline Kahn gets stuck in the elevator for half the movie and it's not very funny. Adam Sandler plays a janitor who doesn't have any funny lines except a ridiculous serenade during a dinner meal. Then there are two ghastly subplots - one involves Juliet Lewis who is pregnant and her fiancé who brandishes a gun for most of the film. And finally - and worst of all - is a transgender character who is played for laughs and is the butt of everyone's jokes and it's painfully unfunny. It's really a shame that this was written by Nora Ephron who wrote a couple movies that everyone seems to love - Sleepless in Seattle and When Harry Met Sally - about cisgender and hetero couples.   It's a shame that the only queer character in the movie appears to only be there to provide homophobic slapstick comedy, when the character could have more profundity. But that would be asking for the impossible in a film where all the other characters are basically unlikeable and none of them have any soul or any heart.

Verdict: "Thumbs WAYYYY Down"

A Simple Twist of Fate
So unlike the other movies, Martin wrote and co-produced this one, so it's his "baby". It's meant to be an inspirational story of how this single guy takes care of an orphan girl whose biological father is a corrupt politician (played by Gabriel Bryne) who wants to gain custody of her when she grows up.

This movie could have had some real potential and have been a classic, but today, the movie isn't considered a classic, or a great movie, or even a cult classic. 

When I first watched the movie in 1994, I hated it. It was dull and boring. No laugh-out-loud moments that I remembered. So for almost 30 years I never watched it again.

But recently I gave it another shot. It's still not very funny, but more amusingly funny in an old-fashioned sort of way. 

And there's a few moments in the film that are kind of disturbing to watch in 2022. 

One scene involves Anne Heche's character (a very minor character) getting involved in a car crash, which is sad because she just died in a terrible crash earlier this year. 

Another scene involves Martin and his adopted girl singing an old-fashioned song about an "Indian Maiden" and wearing Native American makeup and feathers. On one hand, it's meant to be a harmless "father-daughter bonding" scene, but on the other hand, it's so unfortunate that this is the only mention of Native Americans in the whole movie and a cringy reminder that the rest of the cast is all-white. I'm sure Steve Martin would probably not include that scene if this film was made today out of respect.

So what about the rest of the movie? Well I really like the music score and premise that the Steve Martin character wants to adopt the child. However I'm not sure he's right for the part. I wonder if someone else should have played it. I really like Gabriel Bryne; he's a fantastic actor. Maybe his role and Martin's should have been switched. Martin could play the snobby, snooty politician and Byrne the dad. That would have been inspired casting! And might have made things more interesting and memorable; today, it's a forgotten vehicle in Martin's filmography that I'm not sure deserves to be proudly resurrected.

Verdict: "Thumbs Half-Way Up/Down"

The Karate Kid Parts 1-3 (1984-89)

I watched all of the first 3 movies and really enjoyed them! I hadn't seen the first in over 30 years so it was an enjoyable rewatch. The movie holds up pretty decently. I think one of the secrets to not make a film look dated is to avoid showing alot of technology like phones, camera, radios and tvs. There's not much of that in this movie so it appears more timeless. I really liked Part II and their trip to Okinawa. The scenery and music were great and I liked the love stories in the movie and the storm at the end that causes the corrupt landowner to have a change of heart. Part III spotlighted Miyagi's bonsai tree store and the "secret tree' he had hidden at the bottom of a steep cliff. That was a pretty amazing development. He also reveals something that he hadn't said before in the movies, that his heart would be empty without the young Daniel character. It was fate that they met, like many great friendships. 

I got a better sense of how merciless the "kobra kai" students and their teachers are. And now I know why the TV show has been popular using the same characters. I never saw the show but my friend was telling me that it's basically a new generation of students doing the same thing. I'm not sure I'm really that interested in it, and the drama. I guess I don't really care for the characters that much. They're a bunch of racist assholes in the movies and don't really care to spend more time with them. I asked my friend if Ralph Macchio's character Daniel still has the car that Miyagi gave him, and learned that he does, and that the Daniel character is now teaching his son the ways of the master. That's about all I really care about in the saga. 

The Man In The Chair (2007) starring Christohper Plummer

I knew I would enjoy this movie from the first few moments it begins. We see an old man (Christopher Plummer) in a theater by himself enjoying a bottle of booze and watching His Girl Friday with  Cary Grant. Then as the credits roll, he's watching another classic in the darkened theater, this time The Last Time I Saw Paris and the argument scene with Elizabeth Taylor and Van Johnson, where Van throws his writings/manuscripts in a fireplace, giving up on his dreams. Immediately, Plummer's character gets up and yells at the screen; we don't hear what he's saying but we can tell he's emotionally affected by the drama (and dashed dreams), and in love with classic movies.

Then the credits montage continues with scenes of him riding the bus at night, and walking down a darkened street, eating lunch outside, or sitting/reading on a bench - suggesting he likes to get out of wherever he's living for a while. He goes to see more films, and the cycle repeats.

It's a bit mysterious at first, but as the film continues and unravels, we learn more about the grouchy old character. He lives in a home for retired film/tv veterans, and has a past career working on classic Hollywood films. 

Meanwhile, we're introduced to another character with a troubled past, a young high school cinephile and aspiring filmmaker, who wants to make a short student action film, but struggles with writing and can't pronounce "Nietzsche". The kid - when he's not stealing cars - spends his free time going to classic film screenings; at a screening of Touch of Evil, he meets Plummer. 

The rest of the movie is about their relationship, and about they work together making the short film which they are both passionate about. It's a charming buddy film about a young movie lover and the old Hollywood vet. As the kid gets to know the old man and his friends, you can sense his inner growth, and begins to consider making a documentary instead. He also teaches an elder to use Google and introduces him to blogging.

Christopher Plummer is very believable playing a cranky old Hollywood film crew member. His character is filled with loneliness and bitterness at the start of the film, but his life changes when he meets the kid; you can sense the spark of life coming back to him. I love the scene where Plummer talks and reminisces with his old, forgotten writer friend whom he encourages to help with the film. And I love how his character imparts his wisdom on the kid as they take the bus around town; he points out landmarks of classic cinema history and tells him stories about knowing Orson Welles. 

Special appearances by M. Emmet Walsh who plays a fellow resident of the home and Robert Wagner as a rich, retired Hollywood producer - and adversary - of Plummer's. 

Filmed on location in Los Angeles/Hollywood.

Written and directed by Michael Schroeder. Unfortunately, I don't know much else about what else the director has made other than some low-budget horror films in the 80s and 90s. But if I had to guess, I would say that this is a dream project of the director's and subsequently went on to pursue other endeavors. I applaud his efforts making this film; I found it enjoyable and very memorable.

Film Critic Roger Ebert didn't like the movie when it came out (see his review here), but I really liked it. I consider it a great tribute to not only the elderly, but also aging movie stars who are often forgotten in their twilight years. 

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This is an entry in the Charismatic Christopher Plummer Blogathon, hosted by Realweegiemidget Reviews and Pale Writer. December 10-12, 2022