Dick Tracy

Over the weekend I played lazy, I stayed in all day Saturday and watched old movies on TCM. They had a Dick Tracy marathon. I watched 4 old Dick Tracy movies than the newest one with Warren Beatty and Madonna. I have not seen that flick on years, and I always like that movie. It’s a fun movie and has a lot of messages hidden in it.

The old RKO movies as also fun, but they took themselves to seriously, a sign of the times i guess. They were made in the 1930 and the whole cops and robbers thing was all to real.

 

 

The lessons of Dick Tracy, well the obvious ones would be:

• Crime don’t pay
• Good guy’s always win
• Love is understanding

And so on, there are a ton of them, but that’s all to easy to see, the lesson I was looking for is always just under the top layer of the film, just hidden a little bit so its not easy to get to, so you have to work a bit. Any lesson worth learning should make you work to achieve it. Those are the lessons I look for, the ones I have to work for.

Some people tell me I need help, that I try to find a lesson in everything that I go a bit over board with it. Well that may be true, but I can’t help it, it is who I am, I am always looking for way to grow and learn and ways to teach life lessons to new people. So when ever i watch a film, I am always looking for the new lesson, that new little bit of gold I can use in the class room or with my family or friends. And this weekend I found a few.

In the Warren Beatty version of Dick Tracy the action was more, but the effects where cartoonish, removing Dick Tracy from the realm of the real world and placing him in the realm of make believe. The fights where fast motion and comical in there effects leaving you with no feeling of violence having taken place and the characters were straight from the to comic strips, adding to the comic page effect. To me this is one reason why I love the film, it’s like watching the Sunday funnies come to life. But none of that is the lesson hidden under the film.

The lesson that I found hidden was the message of Family. Now for anyone who has seen the film or knows Dick Tracy you will know he is not married, sure he has a girl friend, but it seems he is always leaving her to go and find the bad guys. Tess, his girl friend is the faithful supportive person that every good man needs, but that is only part of the family. It is Dick Tracy’s relationship to “The Kid” that truly changes Tracy and Tess. The Kid is a wise guy and tuff orphan that Dick Tracy and Tess take under there wings. They take an interest in him and offer him there love, and in return The Kid offers his back. Now that is easy to see in the film, the hidden part is the Family connection.

We see changes in both Tracy and The Kid. We see the Kid gravitate to Tracy, becoming Tracy and we see Tracy softening up to The Kid, we see his heart grow and his sense of responsibility change, not only towards The Kid, but also Tess. The message is weaved in the whole movie and the end result is a happy warm glow of a feeling with in your own heart.

Paul