Warren Beatty’s Dick Tracy was a movie I watched countless times as a kid. Though I haven’t read any of the comic strips the film was based on I still enjoyed it. It’s a fun well made throwback to 30s film noir/serials. I admire Beatty’s attempt to bring the comic book world/characters/imagery to life. Even though the script isn’t anything special and lacking character development. Beatty makes up for it with the impressive production values i.e. cinematography, production design, makeup, costume design, Danny Elfman’s rousing score, Stephen Sondheim’s jazzy musical numbers, and a top notch cast (well aside from Madonna, who didn’t give a bad performance, imo).
Elfman’s old fashioned noir score has always been criticized for being “Batman-lite”, Batman leftovers, etc. Dick Tracy (both film/score) shares some similarities with Batman (1989). That’s probably the main reason Beatty hired Elfman. Dick Tracy’s score is still distinguishable from Batman (1989), imo. Elfman’s score (just as the film) is a lot more colorful, flamboyant, jazzy, lighthearted, and doesn't take itself too seriously. Aside from his Joker theme and Bruce/Vicki love theme (which was adapted from Prince’s “Scandalous” song for the same movie) Batman (1989) is mostly monothematic with the Batman theme inhabiting most of the score. Dick Tracy has a couple of recurring themes/motifs e.g. the Dick Tracy main theme, Tess’ Theme, Breathless’ theme, The Blank’s theme, Theme for “Big Boy” Caprice and his Gang, a chase/pursuit theme, an unused motif for “The Kid“, etc. Some cues also planted seeds for some of Elfman’s upcoming scores at the time such as Darkman, Batman Returns, and The Nightmare Before Christmas. Dick Tracy is sort of a stepping stone for those scores. Aside from moments with The Blank and minor moments dealing with “Big Boy” Caprice there isn’t much grim moments in the movie/score as there was in Batman (1989). Even though Elfman’s score didn’t carry the movie the way his score for Batman did I always admired it in the movie. It brought a nice balance to the Madonna and Sondheim songs. The score also injected a lot more excitement than there actually was in the movie.
When Intrada Records released a 2-CD expanded album back in November of last year. I was stoked b/c despite being an Elfman fan I never owned the original 1990 soundtrack album, which has been out of print for a while now. Plus I’m a big fan of this score. The only music I owned from the score was Elfman’s original main title of the film (a three minute cue opening with the Dick Tracy theme segueing into a very romantic rendition of Tess’ theme, which carries the remainder of the cue) from a compilation album (Elfman’s Music For A Darkened Theatre Volume 1). Disc 1 opens with the 1990 original soundtrack (which contains 16 tracks from Elfman’s score) followed by the Intrada presentation of the expanded score in mostly chronological order carrying over both discs. Normally when these specialty labels (e.g La La Land Records, Intrada, Film Score Monthly, etc.) release an expanded album the original soundtrack is presented afterwards (e.g expanded albums of Batman (1989), Batman Forever, Planet Of The Apes (2001),etc.). So listeners who already owned the original 1990 soundtrack might take issue with this. If that’s the case they could skip to the Intrada expanded presentation. It wasn’t an issue for me b/c I've haven’t heard the original soundtrack prior to this release. So listening to both presentations was like hearing the score outside of the film for the first time. Another issue is that the play list of the Intrada expanded presentation has the alternates/revised versions placed after their respective cues. Instead of presenting the tracks as close to chronological film order with the alternate/revised cues separated in the extras/bonus tracks. The way Intrada arranged the expanded album slightly diminishes the flow of the album/listening experience, imo.
The original 1990 album has different versions of cues that weren’t included in the Intrada presentation. “The Chase” and “Showdown/Reunited” are the film versions, which was apart of the 1990 album. The Intrada presentation only has the alternate versions of those cues. “Slimy D.A“ (from the 1990 album) is slightly different from the Intrada version, which you can hear Elfman‘s Darkman theme being born near the middle of the cue. So you might want hold on to the original album. Intrada made a statement that they didn’t find every piece of music from the score as well as Elfman compelling them to include the 1990 album, which I’m glad they did. I just wish they had placed the 1990 album at the end with the Intrada presentation in a more tighter and accessible album presentation b/c now I’ll have to rearrange the play list on my iTunes library for my own listening pleasure.
Critic’s always labeled Elfman’s Dick Tracy theme “Batman leftovers”, but the theme has a lot more in common with his 90s Flash theme, which also gets criticized for the same reasons. It doesn’t bother me b/c both themes (Dick Tracy and Batman’s) are distinctive enough from one another. Tracy’s theme is very heroic, mighty, bold, and authoritative without any hint of darkness or mystery unlike the Batman theme. Tracy’s theme announces the hero, whenever he’s on the scene/case, to the rescue, investigating, etc. It is an old fashioned heroic theme which characterizes Tracy as incorruptible. People complain there isn’t much nuance to the theme but the character doesn’t really evolve by the end of the movie. In fact Tracy lacks a character arc. With that said the main theme is very exciting and goes through some fun renditions throughout the score, imo.
Dick Tracy’s girlfriend Tess Trueheart is given a very romantic/nostalgic theme. Tess’ theme could also be considered the emotional theme, which establishes Tracy’s and Tess’ feelings for one another. It’s a very sentimental theme which reflects Tess’ frustrations with Tracy being married to his job and never being committed enough to their relationship. Tess’ theme is a throwback to composer George Gershwin. So those familiar with his style will notice his influence. Elfman really cuts loose with Tess’ theme during the films climax as Tess and Tracy embrace one another with fireworks in the background. It’s arguably one of Elfman’s most romantic love themes. It is easily the heart of this score, imo.
Breathless Mahoney also get’s her own theme. It’s somewhat similar to Tess’ but at the same time unique from it. Even though Breathless is a femme fatale her theme is very sympathetic, melodramatic, tragic but less sultry. It characterizes her feelings for Tracy but at the same her frustration that he doesn’t share the same feelings for her b/c of his feelings for Tess. Breathless’ theme also highlights the sexual tension between Breathless and Tracy. Some of the cues pertaining to Breathless (particularly “Breathless Again”
slightly telegraphs Elfman’s “Sore Spots” from Batman Returns, which is another moment that portrays the sexual tension between the hero and his love interest.
The theme for The Blank (just as the character itself) is very mysterious, creepy, and gloomy. Throughout the movie viewers aren’t sure whose side (Tracy’s or Big Boy‘s) The Blank is on. The liner notes mentioned that Elfman cleverly hinted at the character’s true identity by doing a variation on one of the themes. If you haven’t seen this nearly 30 year old movie I won’t spoil who The Blank is for you. I got to admit I never noticed that before. The Blank theme brings some necessary tension and menace to an otherwise fun score.
“Big Boy” Caprice and his gang get a theme/motif that’s used a couple times but doesn’t get much development. It’s a sinister theme that doesn’t take itself too seriously but it basically represents the bad guys. I really dig the jazzy rendition of the theme in “Flattops Entrance”. It reminded of old school gangster movies. I liked the use of snare drums in certain cues pertaining to Big Boy’s gang. That’s an instrument I don’t hear Elfman use that often in his scores.
There’s sort of a pursuit theme that is used in certain moments whenever a character be it Tracy, The Kid, Cops, where they’re either following/chasing somebody or running into danger. It sometimes play counterpoint to Big Boy’s theme (“Lips Get Nailed”, “Tracy Get’s Nabbed”
.
The Kid is briefly given a motif , which ended up being unused in the film. I believe it’s played on an accordion, which can be heard in "Kid Montage" “Badge“, “Badge (Alternate)”, “Badge (Alternate 2)”, and towards the end of both “Bait” and "Gasser".
I found two cues particularly unique from the rest of the score, which are “Kid Montage” (during the montage as Tracy spends the day with Kid, where he repeatedly asks Tracy “When Do We Eat?:”
and “Crime Spree” (which took place as Big Boy takes over the city as Tracy is locked up). Both cues were replaced by songs. Ironically both montage cues come off as source cues in comparison to the rest of the score. Elfman taps into some swing big band jazz. I wouldn’t be surprised if Elfman took some inspiration from Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway (both had been influences of his in the past) Aside from these particular cues, some of the Oogie Boogie cues from The Nightmare Before Christmas and the material he wrote for Chicago we don’t hear this side of Elfman on film very often.
I also like to point out the excellent unused cue “Boiler Go Boom”, which was also co-written by the late Shirley Walker. This cue would’ve took place as the Kid helps Tracy escape an exploding boiler room. The tension in the scene was instead carried by the sound effects from the exploding pipes etc. “Boiler Go Boom” (both scene and music) felt like a great throwback cue to a 1930s serial where the heighten suspense music and the heroic theme compete with one another until the hero survives the deathtrap.
One of the cues I wish was included was the music from the rare 1st trailer. That trailer cue is a very riveting variation of the Dick Tracy theme. I believe it actually made the trailer more exciting than it actually was. It even makes me want to rewatch the movie after viewing that trailer. Both the music and trailer knew what the film was aiming to achieve even if it seemed to have missed the mark based on the reception of the movie.
Bottomline: Despite the arrangement of the playlist on both discs, the absence of the trailer music, and other missing tracks. I’ve always enjoyed the heck out of this score in the movie, but I appreciate it even more after listening to this Intrada 2-CD release. Elfman’s score is underrated and often times gets lost in the shuffle for being crowned as “Batman leftovers“, which I don’t necessarily agree with. Recommend it to fans of old school Elfman, of the 1990 film, and of the score.
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