Sunday, April 19, 2020

Daytime Heroes: Dick Tracy in Phony Pharmers (1961)

Dick Tracy (Everett Sloane) sends Hemlock Holmes (Jerry Housner) and the Retouchables after Flattop & B. B. Eyes (might be Paul Frees doing both) in "Phony Pharmers". B. B. Eyes is portrayed as a take-off on Edward G. Robinson, while Flattop, who was treated better in later iterations, is meant to sound like Peter Lorre.



UPA only produced the one season of shorts. If they had any sense, they'd have tried to sell a half-hour Tracy series to the networks instead of these quick fix farces.

Rating: B.

4 comments:

Steven Dolce said...

Ever heard of or seen the 1990 movie?

hobbyfan said...

I've seen the 1990 movie with Warren Beatty, Madonna, et al, and have it on VHS.

Jennifer L. Schillig said...

Isn't it amazing how they made these Dick Tracy cartoons...with hardly any DICK TRACY IN THEM?!

hobbyfan said...

The video is back up. The last copy was privatized for whatever.

Jen, they created characters like Hemlock Holmes for laughs, de-emphazing Tracy's involvement, again for whatever. No wonder the show bombed.