Sondheim wrote five songs for Warren Beatty's film Dick Tracy, which starred Madonna and Beatty. The film was a stylish romp through Tracyland, and was enhanced immeasurably by Sondheim's songs, which captured the period flavor of the movie perfectly. Beatty had originally asked Sondheim to score the picture in addition to writing the songs, but Sondheim wasn't interested (Danny Elfman eventually handled those chores).
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Madonna had written a song called "Back in Business" for the montage sequence which followed the incarceration of Dick Tracy (when all the crooks come out and take over the city). However, no one was pleased with it and Beatty, with the pressure of a screening a month away, prevailed on Sondheim to write a new "Back in Business". In the song, Sondheim used words like "bang" and "boom" specifically to punctuate images of explosions and the like, although when the montage was finally edited it didn't exactly conform to his wishes.
"What Can You Lose?" is one of Sondheim's most beautiful creations for any medium - a rueful song about unrequited love, which came about because Beatty wanted a song for Mandy Patinkin, and he'd fallen in love with a line of dialogue Mandy had, which became the song's title.
"More" is a perfect example of Sondheim's trademark facility with words, and the music is brassy, sassy, and catchy. Listen to the very clever verse and see if you can catch all the quotes Sondheim used from optimistic ongs of the period.
"Sooner or Later" is a classic bluesy torch song and it won Sondheim an Academy Award.
- Bruce Kimmel Show Data
Original Film Production Info:
| Released in USA | 1990 |
| Script | Jim Cash |
| Jack Epps Jr. | |
| Chester Gould | |
| Produced by | Silver Screen Partners IV |
| Touchstone Pictures | |
| Producers | Warren Beatty |
| Jon Landau | |
| Art Linson | |
| Floyd Mutrux | |
| Barrie M. Osborne | |
| Jim Van Wyck | |
| Director | Warren Beatty |
| Cinematography | Vittorio Storaro |
| Songs | Stephen Sondheim |
| Score | Danny Elfman |
| Production Design | Richard Sylbert |
| Costume Design | Milena Canonero |
| Film Editing | Richard Marks |
| Set Designer | Eric Orbom |
| Dick Tracy | Warren Beatty |
| Kid | Charlie Korsmo |
| Mr. Gillicuddy | Michael O'Donnell |
| Stooge | Jim Wilkey |
| Shoulders | Stig Eldred |
| The Rodent | Neil Summers |
| The Brow | Chuck Hicks |
| Little Face | Lawrence Steven Meyers |
| Flattop | William Forsythe |
| Itchy | Ed O'Ross |
| Tess Trueheart | Glenne Headly |
| Soprano | Marvelee Cariaga |
| Baritone | Michael Gallup |
| Sam Catchem | Seymour Cassel |
| Pat Patton | James Keane |
| Chief Brandon | Charles Durning |
| Reporters | Allen Garfield |
| John Schuck | |
| Charles Fleischer | |
| Breathless Mahoney | Madonna |
| 88 Keys | Mandy Patinkin |
| Lips Manlis | Paul Sorvino |
| Lips' Bodyguard | Robert Costanzo |
| Customer at Raid | Jack Kehoe |
| Lips' Cop | Marshall Bell |
| Doorman | Michael G. Hagerty |
| Lefty Moriarty | Lew Horn |
| Diner Patron | Arthur Malet |
| Mike | Tom Signorelli |
| Steve the Tramp | Tony Epper |
| Big Boy Caprice | Al Pacino |
| Numbers | James Tolkan |
| Pruneface | R.G. Armstrong |
| Mumbles | Dustin Hoffman |
| Mrs. Green | Kathy Bates |
| Lab Technicians | Jack Goode Jr. |
| Ray Stoddard | |
| D.A. Fletcher | Dick Van Dyke |
| Store Clerk | Hamilton Camp |
| Cops at Tess' | Ed McCready |
| Colm Meaney | |
| Texie Garcia | Catherine O'Hara |
| Influence | Henry Silva |
| Ribs Mocca | Robert Beecher |
| Spaldoni | James Caan |
| Bartender | Bert Remsen |
| Judge Harper | Frank Campanella |
| Club Patrons | Sharmagne Leland-St. John |
| Bing Russell | |
| Bug Bailey | Michael J. Pollard |
Musical Numbers:
Recordings:
1990 Sire/Warner, 9 26209-2
1997 Varese Sarabande, VSD-5805
Awards:
Articles:
Discuss this show in Sondheim.com's
community forum: Finishing the Chat... ››
“Assassins is about how society interprets the American Dream, marginalizes outsiders and rewrites and sanitizes its collective history. "Something Just Broke" is a major distraction and plays like an afterthought, shoe horned simply to appease. The song breaks the dramatic fluidity and obstructs the overall pacing and climactic arc which derails the very intent and momentum that makes this work so compelling...”
- Mark Bakalor
“I found [the Sondheim Celebration's Company] to be completely delightful. Almost all of the numbers excited and energized me, and most of the scenes were about as pitch-perfect as you can get. I just sat there with a big smile on my face the whole show.
Which is not to say that it is perfect...”
- popcornonmyknees
Explore the rest of the Finishing the Chat Community Forum
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