A rather underrated comic-strip adaptation is actor/director Warren Beatty’s Dick Tracy. Although the screenplay may be a bit thin, the film itself was designed and art directed to within an inch of its life and the results were absolutely stunning.
Another thing that it did well was how it adapted many of the comic strip’s distinctive-looking gangsters as designed by Dick Tracy’s creator Chester Gould. That is, all but one. The big chief bad guy of the film, Big Boy Caprice, was created just for the movie and Beatty allowed actor friend Al Pacino to design his own look for the character. Below is a look at some of the test makeups that Pacino worked with before settling on the one used in the movie. I’ve also added a clip of Pacino in the film as Caprice freaking out over the losses that Tracy has inflicted on his organization. Its delightfully over the top and the makeup helps the performance immeasurably.
Hopefully we’ll be getting a blu-ray release of the film soon so we can really luxuriate in the film’s look.
Via Vulture.
