Dick Tracy remains, to this day, one of my favorite comic book movies of all time. I am serious.
The movie hit all the right notes for me as child and even now, despite my overall general dislike toward Warren Beatty, so many of those notes hold up today. Sure, you can argue that Beatty was not a classic Tracy, or that there was too much of the Kid and Madonna, but I was really into the movie for the look and feel it crafted, as well as those remarkably memorable gangsters!
Even as a pup, I remember seeing Dick Tracy in the theater and thinking that it looked like a comic book come to life because… it really did. All of the set designs and outlandish colors matched classic comic panels and brought them into a new dimension. The costumes and makeup used for all the rogues was somewhat over the top, but it all coalesced into a world that was wholly authentic to me then, and it remains powerfully visual to this day. Big Boy Caprice, Lips Manlis, and their assorted and freakish henchmen were magical to me, and Flattop remains one of my favorite comic movie characters of all time. Also, even though I did not realize I appreciated it when I was a kid, the soundtrack was nothing short of a revival of the Hollywood musical golden age, and I still get some of the tunes stuck in my head from time to time.
So it is no wonder that, as soon as I saw the movie, I ran as fast as I could to pick up all of the Playmates action figures based on the characters that were so cinematically vivid to me. I was (and remain so to this day) glad that, even though many of them were dispatched early on in the actual movie, guys like Shoulders, The Rodent, and The Brow all got their time to shine in toy form, and Playmates did a fantastic job in picking some of the most visually interesting rogues the movie had to offer. Upon opening my first figure, I knew these guys felt just like all the TMNT figures I had, so the Playmates “stamp” was all over these guys from the start.
All of the figures have a bit of a “cartoony” feel to them, and while their likenesses were not spot-on to the actors or movie makeup, they captured the essence of the characters very well, and the colorful palette of the movie made for a very smooth translation to the toys. While Flattop is my favorite character from the movie, and remains my favorite figure from this line to this day, characters like Mumbles, Pruneface, and even Sam Catchem (played by my beloved Seymour Cassel) got a chance to shine via Playmates. Now, not all of the figures were perfect, but you had enough of Big Boy and Lips’ henchmen to give poor Tracy and Sam a run for their money, with just a dash of Steve the Tramp thrown in for good measure.
Overall, I really liked the character selection for the line, even though it was populated by a lot of guys that didn’t hang around for very long. Sure, the coppers, Big Boy, Flattop, Itchy, Prunface, Influence, and Mumbles all had a good run, but the other guys were pretty much “bumped off” within the first ten minutes of movie. That was cool, though, because the figures actually gave you a chance to play out some of the crime and drama that took place before the movie setting. Sure, we were not treated to guys like the Kid, Breathless (well, kinda), or the fantastic Little Face, but most of my time was spent with Tracy and Sam on the sidelines while a mob war between Big Boy and Lips raged.
The figures themselves were pretty standard for the times, especially for Playmates and their five points of articulation could accomplish most of the play you were probably going for. Most came with a standard-issue firearm (ranging from pistols to Tommy Guns) as well as a more “novelty” accessory like cement shoes, a noose, or a ball and chain. Nothing, however, beat the classic board with a nail through it that was included with Steve the Tramp; not only is the greatest weapon in all of creation, but the warn down board really helped to play up his hobo lifestyle. One thing I never really liked was how a lot of the characters were featured without their suit jackets (and in the case of Tracy himself, his patented yellow trench coat), so seeing guys like Flattop with puffy sleeves and Itchy with scratched up suspenders was odd, but I suppose that was to put the old “toy” spin onto things.
As you can see, I was able to collect the entire line as kid (maaaaaan, it took me FOREVER to find my Flattop figure), with the exception of The Blank. The wildcard and (mostly) plot device was revealed to be (SPOILER ALERT) Breathless Mahoney in the final big twist, and from what I could gather, this caused Playmates to delay the figure so that it would not ruin the ending. Now, there are mixed stories about the figure only being released in Canada or some such, but I am not sure it is true. What I do know is that while it seems there are pictures of the figure out there online, I have never seen the Blank figure in person. It is a shame because I would love to have the entire Playmates lineup, but since I was never a huge fan of the “character,” acquiring such a unicorn has never been a priority for me.
So, as you can tell from yesterday’s article, these Playmates figures remain the gold standard in Dick Tracy action figures to this day. I somehow missed out on the Mezco Mez-Itz that were released several years ago, but they look fantastic, so I hope to be able to find at least a Flattop someday. I really hope a company will take a chance and give us a full line of Dick Tracy action figures one day. I don’t hold out much hope for that in the current climate, or if things are tied up and messy with the Shocker Toys thing, but I really love this property, so I would like to see it done. As it stands, this old Playmates line is still a lot of fun and can be had for a reasonable price (save for that Blank figure), so if you are in the market, head over to eBay and grab a set.
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