| Director | Warren Beatty |
|---|---|
| Budget | $47 million |
| Box office | $162.7 million |
In 1938, a young street kid witnesses the massacre of a group of mobsters at the hands of Flattop and Itchy, two hoods on the payroll of Alphonse "Big Boy" Caprice, who leave a bullet-riddled message for police detective Dick Tracy. After catching the Kid in an act of petty theft and rescuing him from a menacing tramp, Tracy temporarily adopts him with the help of his girlfriend, Tess Trueheart.
Meanwhile, Big Boy coerces rival mobster Lips Manlis into signing over the deed to Club Ritz, then kills Lips with a cement overcoat known as "The Bath" and steals his girlfriend, the sultry singer Breathless Mahoney. Interrogating Flattop, Itchy, and fellow hired gun Mumbles, Tracy arrests Big Boy but the evidence against him proves inconclusive. Big Boy goes free, and District Attorney John Fletcher threatens Tracy's job.
Breathless, the only witness to Lips' murder, is unwilling to testify against Big Boy and unsuccessfully attempts to seduce Tracy. He follows her to the club, where Big Boy presents the city's head criminals with a plan to unite them all under his leadership. Mob boss Spud Spaldoni refuses and is killed with a carbomb, and Tracy narrowly escapes. The next day, Big Boy and his henchmen capture Tracy and attempt to bribe him, but he rebuffs them. The criminals leave Tracy to die in a boiler explosion, but he is saved by the Kid, who receives an honorary detective certificate with badge.
The corrupt Fletcher is revealed to be in Big Boy's pocket, while Breathless visits Tracy in another attempt to seduce him, and Tess witnesses them kiss. "The Blank", a mysterious figure with no face, uses the club's piano player 88 Keys to bring Big Boy an offer to eliminate Tracy for a cut of Big Boy's profits. Tracy leads a seemingly unsuccessful raid on Club Ritz, which is actually a diversion to hide Officer "Bug" Bailey inside with a covert listening device. Listening in on Big Boy's criminal activities, Tracy and the police all but wipe out the unified criminal organization.
However, Big Boy discovers the bug and lures Tracy into an ambush, but Tracy rescues Bailey and is himself saved by the Blank. A furious Big Boy accepts the Blank's offer, while a heartbroken Tess leaves the city. In love with Tracy, Breathless agrees to testify if he gives in to her advances, but Tracy cannot bring himself to betray Tess, who has a change of heart and returns home. Tess is kidnapped by the Blank, who subdues Tracy and, with the help of 88 Keys, kills Fletcher and frames an unconscious Tracy.
With Tracy behind bars, Big Boy terrorizes the city in a lucrative crime wave while also accused of kidnapping Tess. Taken to the city orphanage, the Kid adopts the name "Dick Tracy, Jr." and reunites with Tracy, who is released by his colleagues on New Year's Eve. Interrogating Mumbles again, Tracy and the police surround Club Ritz, where the Blank has left Tess to frame Big Boy for her kidnapping. In the ensuing gun battle, Big Boy's men are killed while Big Boy takes the captive Tess hostage and escapes to a drawbridge.
Tying Tess to the gears, Big Boy is confronted by Tracy, and they are held at gunpoint by the Blank, who offers to share the city with Tracy once they kill Big Boy. Distracted by Junior, the Blank is shot by Big Boy before Tracy sends Big Boy falling down a shaft to his death. Rescuing Tess, Tracy unmasks the Blank to reveal a mortally wounded Breathless, who kisses Tracy before dying. Later, Tracy proposes to Tess but is interrupted by a police dispatch, and leaves her with the ring as he and Junior respond to the call.