Dick Tracy - The Plot to Kill Nato

pilot episode

USA 1967
produced by
James Fonda, William Dozier (executive)
directed by Larry Peerce
starring Ray MacDonnell, Victor Buono, Jan Shutan, Ken Mayer, Monroe Arnold, Jay Blood, Vinton Hayworth, Allen Jaffe, Gregory Gaye, Tom Reese, Richard St.John
screenplay by Hal Fimberg, based on the comic strip by Chester Gould, music by Billy May, theme song by the Ventures

TV-pilot
Dick Tracy

review by
Mike Haberfelner

Doctor Memory (Victor Buono) is a man with exceptional memory, which is good, but his exceptional memory has turned him megalomaniac, which is bad - bad especially because he presently considers himself to be more powerful than Nato, and to prove himself right, he has kidnapped three Nato officials and wants to destroy the organisation as such. Of course, Doc Memory knows the police force will send a top man after him, and he telepathically links himself to his computer to find out who that top man is: Dick Tracy (Ray MacDonnell).

Trcy soon recieves an invitation to walk into a trap and walks into it eyes wide open. But somehow Memory's plan to gas Dick tracy wasn't exactly waterproof, so instead of finding his death, Tracy finds a few clues leading to Memory's hideout, and he soon finds a way to enter, too, and ultimately renders Memory out of commission by feeding his computer a tape with ultrasonic sound - because you know, Memory never was really telepathically linked to his computer, he was just a madman who thought he was ...

A TV-pilot that just cannot decide whether to take itself seriously or to emphasize its camp value à la Batman (the Adam West version) - and the result couldn't be less exciting, a boring crime story that's far fetched in all the wrong places and that features a way too one-dimensional hero to work as serious drama. At least Victor Buono as lead villain adds a bit of colour to the proceedings, but other than that there is not much to make this one click.

Unsurprisingly the pilot was not picked up for a series.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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