The Kid from Dick Tracy (1990) is it based off Chaplin's film The Kid?

January 26, 2023 11:40 AM

I recently watched Warren Beatty's film Dick Tracy (1990) and I am wondering if the character in the film also called The Kid is supposed to loosely resemble Chaplin's film The Kid (1921)?
posted by RearWindow to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (8 answers total)

I haven't seen the movie in ages, but I seem to recall there being a young boy from time-to-time in the comic strip, so maybe that's where "The Kid" came from?
posted by Thorzdad at 12:10 PM on January 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

Around 1990 I was baffled by how John Nichols had Pookie describing Jerry as looking like The Kid of Charlie Chaplin. Who? This was in his novel, The Sterile Cuckoo, and after reading it I located 'The Kid' showing at a repertory theater and went to see what it was all about. Don't recall any of this a little later, watching Madonna crawling across Warren Beatty's desk in 'Dick Tracy' at the multiplex.
posted by Rash at 12:35 PM on January 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

The Kid is straight out of Chester Gould's Dick Tracy comics.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 12:44 PM on January 26, 2023 [4 favorites]

RearWindow asking about classic film? Eponhysterical!
posted by kate4914 at 1:19 PM on January 26, 2023 [2 favorites]

The Kid at the Internet Archive, for comparison. (Skip to 4:14 to avoid intro.)
posted by Rash at 4:24 PM on January 26, 2023

Response by poster: @kate4914 I was not sure if Beatty took Chaplin's idea or not.
posted by RearWindow at 5:10 PM on January 26, 2023

@kate4914 I was not sure if Beatty took Chaplin's idea or not.

I get that, but there's a 1954 Jimmy Stewart movie directed by Alfred Hitchcock titled Rear Window. Hit my funny bone.
posted by kate4914 at 5:50 PM on January 26, 2023 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: @kate4914 It is my favourite Hitchcock film, which is why I picked the name. :)
posted by RearWindow at 11:24 AM on January 27, 2023