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Very best movie i ever watch

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

One of the fifty worst films of all time? No. The worst of the four "Dick Tracy" feature films? Yes, but that doesn't make this a bad film, unlike what a 1978 film history book insinuated. It's still fast moving, action packed, often funny and more than just a passable time filler. This time, Dick Tracy (Morgan Conway) is on the lookout for Cueball (Dick Wessel), a bald ex-con still pulling jobs, now committing murders in a diamond theft racket. Tess Trueheart (Anne Jeffreys) disguises herself as a socialite to find some stolen gems and crack the racket, while Dick Tracy searches for Cueball who is cracking necks. The supporting characters continue to be fascinating, with Ian Keith as a ham actor adept at imitating the common man you see on the street every day, Esther Howard as a saloon "madam" (who still looks like a waterfront bag lady) hiding Cueball, and Byron Foulger and Rita Corday as the brains behind the smuggling racket.While I rank this lower than others in the four part series, it isn't by much, with only a few minor flaws to keep it from being just as good. Esther Howard, who would score big in the film noir classic "Born to Kill", is unforgettable here, playing the same type of roles Thelma Ritter would later excel at (most similarly Ritter's part in "Pick-Up on South Street"), gets the showiest role and steels the film, and Corday is quite good in a scene where she bravely stands up to the much larger Wessel. Jeffreys once again proves herself the best of the Tess Trueheart's, putting on an uppity demeanor when decked out in furs and jewels. The conclusion is one that might have been pretty horrifying to watch in its day, absolutely gruesome in its insinuations. This was the end of the line for Conway as Tracy, making only one more film and replaced by serial Dick, Ralph Byrd.

The second of RKO's Dick Tracy movie series from the '40s. This is the last one featuring Morgan Conway as Tracy. The plot this time involves some stolen diamonds and a bald killer named Cueball (Dick Wessel). Cueball strangles his victims with a braided leather hatband. Why the writers gave him such a specific weapon instead of just a rope or piano wire or something I don't know but it's interesting. Cueball is not big on people double-crossing him, which several characters in the movie find out firsthand. Like the others in the series, this is an enjoyable "B" picture. I was very happy to see Vitamin Flintheart, one of my favorite characters from the Dick Tracy comic strip, show up here. He's wonderfully played by Ian Keith as a sort of send-up of John Barrymore. Another fun character was Filthy Flora (Esther Howard), who runs the Dripping Dagger bar. Interesting characters are what set the Dick Tracy film series (as well as the comic strip) apart from other detective stories.

For years, one of my favorite books about films has been Harry Medved's "The Fifty Worst Films Ever Made". It is super-intelligently written (he was only 17 at the time it was published) and clever. And as a result, I have tried to see as many of the 50 I could find, though many are so obscure I doubt if I'll ever find them. However, while I love the book, I must admit that a few of the films weren't THAT bad and a couple were even mildly entertaining (such as THAT HAGAN GIRL and DICK TRACY VS. CUEBALL).Now I DID see DICK TRACY VS. CUEBALL a long time ago and found it was pretty bad. However, decades later, I watched it again with my daughter and we both felt it was a decent film with a few excellent moments. Now this ISN'T a glowing endorsement, but I found I did need to go back to my reviews of other Tracy films I reviewed a few months back and remove any negative references to this film. So, for lovers of B-movies and especially series detective movies, this IS worth a look.So why did I like it on second viewing? Well, it wasn't because of the villain, played by Dick Wessel. His bald wig was at times obvious but the biggest problem was he had the charisma of a wet sock and said very little other than "I oughta kill you" or other such bland threats. A tuna might have made a better villain. However, Morgan Conway's Dick Tracy was a lot better Ralph Byrd (who starred in the next two films). Sure, Conway's face looked pot-marked and he was, to put it charitably, "not handsome"....but he COULD deliver his lines and he had a nice voice. Though he looked nothing like the cartoon character--which is probably why they replaced him with the super-wooden Byrd. I also liked the small role by Vitamin. He was completely annoying and mindless in DICK TRACY'S DILEMMA, but here the same actor was actually given some good lines and wasn't asked to play the character as a complete moron.At only about an hour, it's a tidy and interesting little film. Not great, but not bad at all. And if you like this one, be sure to see the first film (DICK TRACY, DECECTIVE)--it's even better.By the way, look for the slimy little guy with greasy hair and super-thick glasses. Other than Rondo Hatton, he is perhaps the ugliest character actor from 1940s film.

"Dick Tracy Vs. Cueball" does a fairly good job of creating a semi-comic book style "Tracy" atmosphere, but the story itself is largely routine. It moves fairly quickly, and has enough entertaining parts to keep your attention, but there's not really that much to the story.Tracy and assistant Pat Patton have to investigate a diamond theft and a murder connected to it. Morgan Conway makes a decent, if uninspired, Tracy, and things move along quickly most of the time. Most of the details and characters are reasonably Tracy-like. As the villain behind the crimes, though, "Cueball" is not much of a foe - while menacing, he's an unimaginative bumbler, and most of what happens is routine and somewhat predictable.Overall, the movie is a mostly average crime film of the era, worth watching for those who are fans.