Dick Tracy : Dick Tracy or Sin City?

Dick Tracy or Sin City?

Sin City, easily.

Depends on what you're looking for. Sin City if you want excessively stylized violence that was made entirely by green screens. Dick Tracy if you want an old-fashioned style comic movie with a lot of creative sets and good props.

I would say Sin City has the edge by dialouge, but it's overpowered by the fact that almost no effort was put in besides the usual green screen shlick. Dick Tracy didn't overpower itself by CGI, and thank god for it, but it still needs work on some characters being developed. Nevertheless, I love them the way they are.

I wonder how 300 is gonna look like.

"Depends on what you're looking for. Sin City if you want excessively stylized violence that was made entirely by green screens. Dick Tracy if you want an old-fashioned style comic movie with a lot of creative sets and good props"

I couldn't agree more. I am not particaly into all of these dark versions of comic books today, for they simply aren't any fun. I know I most likely reflect a minority here, but it's how I feel. This goes for the movie counterparts as well. I'd take Dick Tracy any day of the week over Sin City.

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OK, so what's the speed of dark?

Sin City is a dark comic, hence the dark film.

I think I might pick Sin City cause I like the fact that it's pretty much three stories, but Dick Tracy is very good too, and I put them both in my top 10 comic book movies of all time.

I think I might pick Sin City cause I like the fact that it's pretty much three stories, but Dick Tracy is very good too, and I put them both in my top 10 comic book movies of all time.

I actually like dark versions of comic books BUT it gets tiring after a while & just OLD! Still, Spiderman was never really dark you know, & the Burton Dark Batman, still had a very light-hearted feel to it. Superman, as well as Superman Returns didn't embody this darkness as well.


Whenever I get the urge to exercise, I lie down until it passes.

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Depends on what you're looking for. Sin City if you want excessively stylized violence that was made entirely by green screens. Dick Tracy if you want an old-fashioned style comic movie with a lot of creative sets and good props.

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This.

Personally I prefer Dick Tracy but that's just me.

Honestly, I would like to see Robert Rodriguez and Sin City creator, Frank Miller do their own graphic, colorful version of Dick Tracy, possibly with Clive Owen as the lead.

"Imagination is the Figment"

i agree this is the way dick tracy shood have been made in the first place.

NO WAY! I like this version just fine & Pacino was a HOOT to watch! This should never be made, stands up just fine as it is! It will last longer than most of these CGI movies we have nowadays!


Whenever I get the urge to exercise, I lie down until it passes.

I agree, the Warren Beatty, Al Pacino version was great, but it was too colorful and it was Disney, so the mob violence was at a bare minimum. Besides, Warren Beatty was Warren Beatty, Dick Tracy was one gruff-looking/acting detective with a bad attitude. Beatty played him too calm and Richard Gere-like. Pacino was great as always, but he was offered the chance to do his own make-up, therefore, creating a Big Boy of his own image. In the comics, Big Boy was a Tony Soprano-looking dude: Fat and always chomping a cigar. Pacino looked like a cross between an old prune and a rat. Madonna as the Blank was a good twist to THAT plot of THAT movie, but once again, in the comics, the Blank was a MAN who in a conflict with the mob, had his whole face taken off, becoming much like a one man vigilante killer. Of course, Madonna's character could've possibly known about this man's existence after he was possibly KILLED, and decided to pass herself off as him. That's cool, i guess. Don't get me wrong, i liked this version as a kid and even now, but if Tarantino or Rodriguez did it Sin City style, it would be a flawless, violent gangster movie with a lot of shoot em' up gore. I'd love to see THEIR take on creating a Dick Tracy character, as well as a Big Boy, Flattop or Pruneface.

"Imagination is the Figment"

Dick Tracy

I can see you right now in the kitchen, bending over a hot stove. But I can't see the stove.

They are the yin and yang of each other are they not? The grotesques who form the rogues' gallery in 'Dick Tracy' are major players - even heroes, in Marv's case - in the universe of 'Sin City'.
I think the graphic novel and the film owe much to Warren Beatty's resurrection on celluloid of Chester Gould's creation, but 'Sin City' does a better job of "doing what it says it will do on the tin".


You can take a horse to water, but you can't climb a ladder with a bell in both hands.

Dick tracy was more creative, as far as execution from source material.
it still amazes me the timing the music the colors the characters.
its a real treat.
and then you have sin city.
now ive read all the books, and love em. really brilliant monologues by the characters, in fact thats the best part about em. but as far the moviethey're
non-existant. which was a real let down. and the fact they tried to cram three stories in there.
they could of just simply (actually truly) shot Every frame of the novel from the three books, they would have amounted enough screen time to be their own feature, and released them individually throughout the year.
while as, going back to dick tracy, the writers wanted to incorporate all the villains in one show, so they devised a fun plot, that would have them being around. rather than doing three movies with the exact same scenario: dick tracy vs big boy caprice, dick tracy vs pruneface, dick tracy vs the blank.
get it?
so what im saying is, dick tracy had the right edge, they knew what they were doing and were more skilled. sin city didnt nearly add up.

Sin City.

Dick Tracy has always been a very important film in my life. It was one of the first non-animated films I saw as a child along with "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", and it holds a special place in my heart. Watching it now brings back all sorts of childhood memories, and I'll never be able to undersrand people who say it is bad. Sin City I loved as well, but there are moments when I felt disgusted with myself for enjoying it. Great comparison though, they are probably the two best comic book/graphic novel adaptations of all time.

"Anyone who goes to a psychiatrist ought to have his head examined."

"I'll never be able to undersrand people who say it is bad"

People say it is bad because they are jaded by today's focus on excess violence and darkly toned material.

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OK, so what's the speed of dark?

i feel strongly that if frank miller was able to do dick tracy it would have far more superior the characters and scenery demand millers brilliance by putting more detail on characters involved it easily could have been better than when it was released. with that being said the 1990 film was just to candyd coated and devoid of depth in detail and demanded much more grit and grime i mean come on it is a gaingster film hopefuly later if they do another dick tracy thell notice this and do it justice and without beattys and madonna look at me egos.

But what you don't seem to get is that despite the supposed generic plot, it has a richer atmosphere & characters compared to many films nowadays. Look at how women are given roles in this film, they have substance, they're not mere faceless accessories. The style embodies more of the 1930s crime/film/noir genre, it is very original. You're one of those people that can never appreciate older material because you may find it old, passe, formulaic or just not advanced enough for your speed-induced senses. Expose your palette a little more amigo (that last one is from To Live & Die in LA btw).


Whenever I get the urge to exercise, I lie down until it passes.

it seems like your problem is not with the movie [which was excellent] but with the source material. quit debasing movies on their source and respect them on their own merits. frank miller's comics do not cater to kids, whereas the original dick tracy did.

did this movie not have enough hand/head/arm/leg severing or blood for you? yeah, that would have been appropriate

Dick Tracy for sure

"Yet in this movie, when someone get's shot, there is no blood. That shoot out in front Club Rits should have been a blood path with that kind of machine gun assult"

There was nothing wrong with how the film depicted the shoot-out. Your desire to see bloodbaths is part of the jaded expectations reflected by today's audience that I spoke of a bit earlier. graphic detail is not required to make a point or have an impact, and this is one of the things that makes classic cinema so much better.

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OK, so what's the speed of dark?

Wrong.



From the Sin City Wikipedia:

"The first story originally appeared in Dark Horse Presents comic book from April of 1991 to June of 1992, under the title of Sin City, serialized in thirteen parts."


From the Dick Tracy IMDb page:

"Release Date: 15 June 1990 (USA)"


I'm not going to argue that Sin City was a direct translation of the comics though, because they are, just that the Sin City comics weren't released before this film was.

Odd comparisonI enjoyed them both for the separate movies they were. If I could
only take one, howevermy vote goes to Dick Tracysome fond memories there.



I like to put together diverse things that don't necessarily match up
Eric Carmen

Dick Tracy. There is more attention to detail.

**Mistletoe can be deadly if you eat it.**

Hate to be middle-of-the-road but I like them botha lot.

Madonna can't act

Sin City all the f@$@#Nnnnn WAAYYYYY!!!

Jessica Alba can't act either. I don't see the point of this argument, lol.

Seriously you have to give credit to Dick Tracy for leading the way. The movie itself was made like an old 1930s gangster movie when it used to be in black & white. A whole new generation experienced it in the beginning of the 90s. I admit Madonna is a terrible actress but I think Beatty wanted it that way since the majority of gangster movies in his childhood had bad supporting actresses in it that were only there for being good looking and loving the main, masculine hero.

I really don't think both the Sin City strip and movies would have been the same if it wasn't for Dick Tracy in the first place. Besides, I don't think Sin City was the best work made by Frank Miller. I'd rather chose Dark Knight Returns anytime.

I love both movies! it's a tie, i say both are excellent pieces of movie making and the way some comic book movies should be made.

"Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb"-Batman.

Sin City Dick Tracy is still cool, but it is not as violent I like violence.

"but it is not as violent I like violence"

It's like reading posts from people with A.D.D. or something!

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OK, so what's the speed of dark?

I like Dick Tracy coz it's set in a good timeline (which got ALL the awesome weapons) and has Al Pacino in it, but I LOVE Sin City.

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"but it is not as violent I like violence"

It's like reading posts from people with A.D.D. or something!

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I am one of those people who say that violence doesn't make a movie, nor does the lack of.


For every great gorey flick you find, there are about 20 others that are pretty bad.in overall filmmaking quality.


Now, with that being said, I'll take Tracy by few feet.

I really liked Tracy, because it wasn't just comic book movie, it was a throw back to early gangster movies. We also had Warren Beatty as Dick Tracy, which well-suited for the character. While, it was kinda funny to see Pacino, Tolkien, Forsythe, and Hoffman in comedic roles all in the same movie.

The set pieces and costumes were fantasticwhile the mood (even though, it was kid's movie, sorta) was sullen and most down-trodden. It had the big depressing city feel to it.

Sin City was good movie, but not as great as everyone makes it out to be, especially on IMDB. Personally, it doesn't belong in top 250. But, it's what people today, enjoy, so who I am I to criticize.

Dick Tracy any day.

Dick Tracy. The main reason is that it is my childhood favorite, but I will elaborate on five main additional reasons (for those of you who are interested enough to read my long post):

1) The music. Danny Elfman is the best by far and the period music was great.
2) Al Pacino's amazing mobster persona - VERY unique from "The Godfather." ("I'm gonna have a thought it's coming it's coming it's gone." =P )
3) The incredibly grotesque and unique looking band of villains.
4) The kid. Cute kid and amazing actor.
5) The sets. From the lighting to the incredible matte paintings, the landscapes were practically characters on their own.

I believe that Sin City had elements of these as well, but I believe the music was not nearly as tasteful - just repetition of the same simple bass line. Bruce Willis was the only character I felt I could relate to at all in the film. The sets were good as well, but I don't believe they were intended to feel as grandiose and gothic as the ones in "Dick Tracy."

The sets in "Dick Tracy" were meant to set the tone for the period and put the viewer in a large, booming metropolis. "Sin City" takes place in a similarly thriving city, only showing the locations a long time after the city has become decrepit and crime-ridden. The locations are not meant to be loved, but instead are intended to be loathed. They fill their purpose with perfection.

The one thing I really liked better about Sin City was that it was often times the heroes that appeared grotesque instead of the villains, blurring that ever indistinguishable line between "good and evil."

Sorry for ranting. These are both amazing films, two of my favorite, and I find it difficult to compare and contrast them. However, I grew up on "Dick Tracy" and just can't get enough of it. Childhood favorites are always hard to break free from =)

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"Forgiveness is where justice and love finally meet"

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sin city most definetly

Here's my beef with Dick Tracy- it starts with such great promise and such brilliant visual flair, and then fails to deliver it. I'm going to be treading on some toes here, but I have to say that I think Warren Beaty's direction has a lot to do with this. The 'outdoor' shot are brilliantly lit and colorized, and they capture that feeling the best. The make-up and costumes are excellent and in keeping with those outside shots. The music is pretty good- could have been maybe one notch better, but overall above average. The rest of the movie, however, just doesn't feel surreal enough to match up to the aforementioned high points of the movie. I feel that colors and lighting could have been exagerated more in the indoor shots, camera angles could have been slightly more film-noir and comically cheesy- so basically, although I wouldn't go rent Sin City just because I enjoyed the movie, Sin City did manage to pull off it's ideas and concepts 100% better than Dick Tracy.

It's still a good movie, just not what I had hoped it would be.

http://ammajiger.deviantart.com
Pull the pin and count to what?

i always think these kinds of "movie A or Movie B" questions are a bit ridiculous, unless you're gonna set up the same question on the 'sin city' board of course most of the people here are gonna side with 'Dick Tracy' because, in visiting this site they're most likely fans of the film.

in saying that, i prefer sin city. at times the violence was a bit off putting but i just loved the look of the film and the storylines (FYI for the person who said dick tracy is better because it doesn't go all CGI like sin city of course DT doesn't use CGI do you how much CGI was around in movies back when DT was made? not a lot! it was a new technology which is why films like Terminator 2, the abyss etc etc were such a big deal for their time)

i also didn't think that the constant musical montages in Dick Tracy worked as well as they could, i mean i like the film, and i like the look of the film but i think that with a better director and script it could've been so much more.

also, i haven't read the comics so i'm not sure about this, but don't ya think beatty looks a bit old in the role?

I prefered Sin City, although Dick Tracy was good as well.

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Are you kidding?

We actually watched this in my Theatre class (script analysis) the month that Sin City came out. I asked the teacher if he chose this because of Sin City being on everyone's minds, but he said he was just nostalgic over this having reached the 15 year mark. Whatever works for him. The class actually enjoyed the heck out of this critical flop. The sheer camp actually turned everyone off, but the class somehow saw the camp to be what made it so much fun, while trying to figure out the key plot points.

Sin City is a better film but Dick Tracy is more fun to watch.