The Shadow, the Phantom or Dick Tracy?

[Sandman138]

He'd fit on The Shadow a hell of a lot better than he does on The Spirit. But that's not really saying anything.

 

[PB210]

The Shadow started in radio and pulps, not comic strips or comic books.

 

[ShredderX]

Gotta go with Dick Tracy. The look of that movie was beautiful !! Loved the over the top gangsters and the 30's-40's lingo and slang. Aside from Batman, Dick Tracy has the best rogues gallery in comics. Never cared about The Shadow, and I only liked the Phantom in comic strips, but he was my favorite hero on Defenders of the Earth.

 

[Baramos]

The Phantom was definitely the best of those three in my opinion.

I didn't like The Shadow, I thought too many things in it were corny/hokey (picking Khan as the villain didn't help). I prefer the Shadow to be very dark tonally (like the new comic book), whereas with the Phantom I thought they got the right tonality for the character.

Dick Tracy is right in the middle--it's definitely a good adaptation, but I just didn't care very much about the character.

EDIT: If you guys want to see a really bad The Shadow movie watch the 1940s one on Netflix called "Behind the Mask"--if you think the '90s Shadow is bad then steel yourselves for an experience like no other.

https://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Behind_the_Mask/70147315?locale=en-US

ANOTHER EDIT: There was a very funny bit in a recent movie or TV show where some guy goes, "Get me a damn super hero actor! Any of them!" for this children's event at a school. And he ends up introducing to these middle-schoolers Billy Zane. Does anyone know what movie or TV show this was? I've been trying to remember to no avail.

It was just recently, so don't say, "Zoolander" because it wasn't that one...

 

[the dmg]

The Phantom was definitely the best of those three in my opinion.

I didn't like The Shadow, I thought too many things in it were corny/hokey (picking Khan as the villain didn't help). I prefer the Shadow to be very dark tonally (like the new comic book), whereas with the Phantom I thought they got the right tonality for the character.

Dick Tracy is right in the middle--it's definitely a good adaptation, but I just didn't care very much about the character.

Of the movies, Dick Tracy is better, IMO. Speaking strictly about the characters, The Phantom is tops for me.

 

[ThePhantasm]

I loved the Shadow. I think it tends to be underrated as a film overall. For me it captured everything really well.

 

[the dmg]

I love all three films, as I believe they each do a great job of becoming the character. I think that if more CBM's from the 90's did their own thing as opposed how most were handled, they (Phantom and Shadow) could have been a lot better.

 

[grout]

You could just make a combination and come up with a new character,,, say like (Dick Shadow)... All joking aside I do think "the shadow" is underrated.

 

[the dmg]

You could just make a combination and come up with a new character,,, say like (Dick Shadow)... All joking aside I do think "the shadow" is underrated.

I give props to Baldwin for actually wanting to put on prosthetics to look like the Shadow when in costume. He could have easily just covered himself up.

 

[Thwip!]

I give props to Baldwin for actually wanting to put on prosthetics to look like the Shadow when in costume. He could have easily just covered himself up.

Exactly, I love that movie. The Shadow wins by far

 

[bullets]

Now we just need The Shadow on blu ray.It's the only film on the list that hasn't made
it yet.

 

[the dmg]

Now we just need The Shadow on blu ray.It's the only film on the list that hasn't made
it yet.

Only place to get it on BD is Germany.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

In costumes and setting I prefer the Shadow
As an adventure story I prefer the Phantom
Never watched Dick Tracy

 

[Thwip!]

Only place to get it on BD is Germany.

Would that be region free? (apologies if that's a stupid question)

Edit: Just checked it up Region B/2..PLAYABLE IN MY COUNTRY....HELLZ TO THE YEAH

 

[Edguy]

Saw Dick Tracey a few months ago, pretty funny movie.

Never seen the movie, but The Phantom was big business, as far as comics concerned, here in Norway. Even my mother (!!) has fat stacks of The Phantom comics from the seventies and eighties.

Really looking forward to see what becomes of the movie reboot they've been working on, but haven't heard any news of it in ages..

 

[Cagefighterkip]

The Phantom > Dick Tracy > The Shadow...

But the Rocketeer over ALL!!!

 

[soundofyousick]

The Phantom > Dick Tracy > The Shadow...

But the Rocketeer over ALL!!!

I could never really tune into the Rocketeer, which is a shame, as my favourite B&W serial from ye olden days, that I watched on tv during the summer holidays back in the late 70s, was 'King of the Rocket-Men', that was so good, don't know if it would still hold up for me nowadays though, but the Rocketeer was a bit dull.
The Phantom is a lot of fun though, The Shadow too, Dick Tracey looks good but i could never tune into that either, I wish they had made the Spirit movie like DT, although, y'know, not as bright and colourful, a film noir type take on the cartoon city.

 

[gwynplaine]

I don't like any of them

 

[Van Petrol]

The Shadow for me, followed by Dick Tracy. I didn't enjoy The Phantom at all.

 

[soundofyousick]

I don't like any of them

I didn't really like the Shadow at all when I first saw it, but after a few years I watched it again with far less expectations(someone had told me it was really good), and enjoyed it for what it is, a 90s comic-book/superhero(as above, there is always one person on the boards who will point out he was from the radio, we know! haha) that is not as satisfying as the new crop(from 2000 onwards), but still has a casual watchability factor as long as you are not expecting too much. Like, I'd watch it maybe once every few years or something.
The Phantom was a bit better in the fun stakes, perhaps because it has a bit of an Indiana Jones vibe in there, and was in actual fact written by Jefferey Baum, who wrote the screenplay to Last Crusade.

The Shadow for me, followed by Dick Tracy. I didn't enjoy The Phantom at all.

I should maybe give DT another watch, I have it on dvd, but haven't properly sat down and watched it for years and years. Same with Rocketeer, but I recall finding that to be a pretty good looking movie, but bland.

 

[Breogan]

You could just make a combination and come up with a new character,,,.............

As did Raimi, Another 90's movie that could somewhat be added to this list, slightly channeling the same pulpy genre, mood and with that score by Elfman (although obviously unlike the others, done in a contemporary setting)

 

[DarkSovereignty]

Gonna go with the shadow, an dark man was awesome.

 

[Baramos]

Darkman is great. It's also by Sam Raimi and while not quite as funny as Evil Dead 2 or Army of Darkness it's definitely up there.

 

[Lex Luthor]

Dick Tracy.

Felt it was a good adaptation of the comic strip, plus there's alot of nostalgia for the film as well due to it being a pretty big 'event' movie back in 1990. I like the Shadow, but the Baldwin film seemed to have just came and went. Much like the Phantom in 1996. Those two films simply did not leave an impression on me like Beatty's Dick Tracy did.

 

[CGHulk]

"Thirty seconds no more Dick!"
Did I mention my vote is for Dick Tracy?