Dick Tracy
By Editorial Staff
Published August 1990
What is Behind the Popularity of this Summer’s Hottest Blockbuster?
By Robert Nolte
ORLANDO, FL – Not since Chariots of Fire rumbled out of Hollywood have we seen such blatant heroism as Dick Tracy shows us in Disney’s recent hit movie.
Tracy is so heroic that an obviously impressed audience rose to its feet and gave the movie a standing ovation last month in Orlando, Florida, during a world premiere screening. I haven’t seen such obvious affection for a movie in years.
Why? Has Tracy touched a deep chord in us that strums when men act with integrity instead of compromise?
Having mused over the Tracy epic for several days, I have come to some conclusions:
- When Tracy refuses a bribe, the gangsters are incredulous. So is the audience. Perhaps we are jaded by past movie “heroes” who violate the law (re: “the end justifies the means” philosophy). At any rate, when Tracy comes along and in a masculine way turns aside temptation, something deep within us responds.
- Even Madonna cannot bring down the high moraled detective. Fidelity has fallen on hard times these days but Dick Tracy is not of their generation. Instead, he leaves us with a message that commitment to Tess Trueheart has its own rewards.
- And the gangsters offer insight by their refusal to be manipulated by “Big Boy,” a visionary gang leader who seeks to rule over a cabal of hooligans. Like the citizens of Iron Curtain nations, the mobsters seek to throw off the yoke of the despot.
Should we really analyze a movie that probably was designed just to entertain us? Does a comic book character have anything to say to such a distinguished generation as ours?
I don’t know, but if you study an audience as they watch Dick Tracy, you will probably get some insights into what people long for: simpler times, honest cops, good triumphing over evil and men of character who can overcome temptation.
There was a hunger in that theater audience to see a man of virtue, troubled yet triumphant over life issues that all of us face. Tracy was tempted by the lustful beauty of Madonna but he had his eyes on a higher prize than momentary gratification.
Movie goers that sat around me were stunned when Tracy spurned the bold advances of a scantily-clad Madonna playing Breathless Mahoney. Such purity in men is seldom seen on the silver screen.
When Tracy asks Mahoney whose side she is on, the temptress replies, “The side I am always on. Mine.” As the plot unravels, a scriptural principle unfolds that not even the most obtuse movie fans can miss. In trying to save her life, Mahoney (Madonna) loses it when she is shot to death at the end of the drama.
Tess Trueheart, on the other hand, is willing to give up Tracy whom she has loved for years. She leaves town thinking she will start a new life without Tracy but through a series of plot twists, is reunited with Tracy. Willing to lose her own life, she embodies one of Jesus’ most dramatic teachings: “Whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for my sake shall find it.”
Aside from the moral messages and possible Christian extrapolations, there is something much more powerful going on in Dick Tracy that should encourage every Christian. The movie offers hope and a possibility that external evil can be conquered as well as the beast who lives within every man.
Movies these days are looking for messiahs and Dick Tracy is no exception. “Only Dick Tracy can save us,” is a stanza from one of the musical numbers. Tracy, in fact, does save the city from a powerful crime syndicate and in that, I suppose, he represents a type of messiah-figure.
And, oh, how the movie theater audience I was sitting with wanted a savior! For those few, brief movie moments, a wave of desire for salvation swept across the auditorium. Normally tough urban citizens became vulnerable and dared to believe that men could live virtuous lives.
In that pristine moment, I longed to roll another film that told of Jesus and the redemption He offered all men.
But it was not to be. Theater patrons filed out of AMC 6 smiling, clapping and talking about the Great Tracy. I wanted to preach but took solace in the fact that this crowd was ripe for revival. These people were looking for a hope they had only caught a glimpse of in the life of a big city detective.
They had seen a man who lived with a clear conscience and now they were ready to meet the God who cleanses every man’s conscience. A God who can even use a Disney picture.
Robert Nolte is a former pastor, television newsman and newspaper reporter for the Chicago Tribune. He is presently managing editor for the Orlando Sun newspaper group, a company that publishes 18 newspapers serving over 500,000 readers in Central Florida.
Forerunner - Home » The Forerunner Newspaper » Arts and Media
Your comments are welcome!
Massacre of Innocence (DVD)
Exposing The Occult Roots of Abortion
This presentation looks at the spiritual roots of abortion and exposes the myths surrounding child killing. Little known historical facts about abortion and how they relate to modern feminism are presented logically and accurately. Has been effective in converting many to a pro-life position.
Massacre of Innocence goes where no pro-life presentation has gone before in “tearing the lid off abortion” to reveal the spiritual realities we must battle if we will bring an end to this crime. The presentation is absorbing, fast-paced, informative and incredibly devastating to any attempt to justify abortion.
“… an extraordinary statement … a powerfully articulate presentation about what abortion really means, and why a great and moral nation like the United States must not allow the slaughter to continue.”
— Congressman Robert K. Dornan
Running time: 85 minutes
$19.95 — ORDER NOW!
Click here for more information
Dr. Francis Schaeffer - How Should We Then Live? (DVD)
Special Two-Disc Set!
After 40 years of intense study and world-wide ministry, Dr. Francis Schaeffer completed his crowning work of scholarship – to present profound truths in simple film language. Dr. Schaeffer’s brilliant analysis of the past and predictions for current trends have proven so uncannily accurate that this amazing series still feels contemporary almost three decades after its initial release. Ultimately, Schaeffer concludes that man’s only hope is a return to God’s Biblical absolute, the truth revealed in Christ through the Scriptures.
Available for the first time on DVD, this documentary spectacular also includes intimate in-depth conversations with Francis and Edith Schaeffer. With the on-disc study guide, this presentation forms a unique course of comprehensive study. While this series forms an innovative analysis of the past, this outstanding work is more than history. Each episode focuses on a significant era, yet speaks clearly to 21st-century man with answers for modern problems.
$49.95 — ORDER NOW!
Click here for more information
Martin Luther (DVD) 1953 Classic
Niall MacGinnis – Digitally Remastered
The dramatic classic film of Martin Luther’s life was released in theaters worldwide in the 1950s and was nominated for two Oscars. A magnificent depiction of Luther and the forces at work in the surrounding society that resulted in his historic reforming efforts, this film traces Luther’s life from a guilt-burdened monk to his eventual break with the Roman Catholic Church.
In spite of its age, this film continues to be a popular resource to introduce Luther’s life. This historical epic captures the life and times of the greatest figure of the Protestant Reformation with depth and clarity, while giving a glimpse at the private man in the eye of the storm. Luther’s protest against the established order of the Church gave birth to one of the largest religious and cultural movements history and serves as a prime example of how one man’s spiritual convictions can change the course of human events.
Running Time: 105 minutes
$9.95 — ORDER NOW!
Click here for more information
Dr. Francis Schaeffer - A Christian Manifesto (DVD)
That Swiss Hermit Strikes Again!
Dr. Schaeffer, who was one of the most influential Christian thinkers in the twentieth century, shows that secular humanism has displaced the Judeo-Christian consensus that once defined our nation’s moral boundaries. Law, education, and medicine have all been reshaped for the worse as a consequence. America’s dominant worldview changed, Schaeffer charges, when Christians weren’t looking.
Schaeffer lists two reasons for evangelical indifference: a false concept of spirituality and fear. He calls on believers to stand against the tyranny and moral chaos that come when humanism reigns-and warns that believers may, at some point, be forced to make the hard choice between obeying God or Caesar. A Christian Manifesto is a thought-provoking and bracing Christian analysis of American culture and the obligation Christians have to engage the culture with the claims of Christ.
$19.95 — ORDER NOW!
Click here for more information
The Beast of Revelation: Identified (DVD)
Who is the dreaded beast of Revelation?
Now at last, a plausible candidate for this personification of evil incarnate has been identified (or re-identified). Ken Gentry’s insightful analysis of scripture and history is likely to revolutionize your understanding of the book of Revelation — and even more importantly — amplify and energize your entire Christian worldview!
Historical footage and other graphics are used to illustrate the lecture Dr. Gentry presented at the 1999 Ligonier Conference in Orlando, Florida. It is followed by a one-hour question and answer session addressing the key concerns and objections typically raised in response to his position. This presentation also features an introduction that touches on not only the confusion and controversy surrounding this issue — but just why it may well be one of the most significant issues facing the Church today.
Ideal for group meetings, personal Bible study — for anyone who wants to understand the historical context of John’s famous letter “… to the seven churches which are in Asia.” (Revelation 1:4)
Running Time: 145 minutes
$17.95 — ORDER NOW!
