Influence

Influence was originally a murderer who had developed a special contact lenses that allowed him to hypnotize anyone into thinking what he wanted. His most notable features were his round eyes, large cheekbones, big nostrils, and a hair-style similar to Flattop's (except more wavy).

He was first seen shooting a man and throwing him and his car off a pier because he had welshed on Influence. He then stopped into the restaurant of Vitamin Flintheart and used his hypnotism on him for meager things (sugar and mustard). He came back and had Vitamin take a ride with him in his car, Vitamin recognized him and Influence revealed that Vitamin had lost 20 grand in his casino and never paid up. Since Vitamin was now penniless, Influence was now using his hypnotism to make Vitamin his servant. He made Vitamin burn down his restaurant and end his friendships with singer Christmas Early and his student, Themesong. Influence also made him smoke a peice of paper instead of a cigarette, drink lukewarm tea (which Vitamin detested), keep on his coat even though it was too hot, sleep on the floor with his head on a brick instead of a pillow and swallow seed peas instead of vitamins. Influence was going to keep Vitamin under his power until his debt was paid off (maybe even after that) and he was going to do that by having Vitamin entice a fellow actress Florance Lane and have her fund a phony play.

It was also revealed that Influence had also strangled to death the optician who had made Influence's lenses of colored cellophane. Lane, under Influence's command, paid him in 5,000 dollar incraments under a phony pretense and subjected her to degrading deeds like Vitamin (neither of them cared while under his command). Influence had now made Lane his cook and Vitamin his butler, but Vitamin had no clean shirts, so Influence went to the dry-cleaners to pick up his clothes (Pat Patton had staked out the place waiting for Influence). Patton ambushed Influence but was also put under his control and was beaten by brass knuckles and left Pat in an abandoned refrigerator in the city dump. Some town officials under the command of the City commissioner had decided to burn the dump and dispose of all the litter, with Pat trapped inside unknowingly. Pat managed to reach Dick Tracy on his 2-way wrist radio and was saved just in time by them following the radio signals. Thanks to a bloodied piece of newspaper on Pat's jacket with Lane's address on it, they were able to track down Influence but Influence knocked Tracy out and escaped with Vitamin and his henchman wearing Tracy's yellow fedora and trench coat.

Influence disposed of Tracy's clothes by tossing them over the bridge, but it instead landed on a patch of ice, where it was found by a young girl named Misty Waters and returned to Tracy, who was now conscious in the city hospital. Tracy followed Misty back to the ski resort where she found his clothes, under the hunch that Influence was there, which he was. After Influence's henchman Slim won a new car in a raffle at the resort, they were about to escape when Tracy confronted Influence. Influence used his hypnosis on him again, not knowing that Tracy was prepared with a cane housing a metal chain and his own set of cellophane lenses. Tracy struck Influence with the chain, breaking the lenses in his eyes and was taken into custody.

Some time later, right after Tracy's fiftieth birthday (1981), Tracy received a note from an "old friend" saying that they were going to kill Diet Smith on his Whistle Stop Fusion Now tour, which Tracy volunteered to travel with as the Police Liason. Suspecting that it was from a convict out of jail, Tracy took some side trips along with Diet to see some of Tracy's reformed enemies including Mousey, Coffyhead, Pear Shape, and of course Influence (who had a religious conversion in prison and was paroled early). Influence was now in Texas, aiding the Police and FBI with his hypnosis and also had his own private practice. Influence's hair was now white and he was on the side of good, helping eyewitnesses to crimes remember latent details they might have otherwise forgotten. He was on good terms with Tracy so much that he, a reformed and thin Pear Shape, and a reformed Mole were happily invited and attended Junior Tracy's wedding to Sparkle Plenty, which was almost blown up by Angeltop Jones.

Known Associates:

• Slim
• Vitamin Flintheart
• Florence Lane
• Lt. Starr (after his reformation)

The Movie

Influence was portrayed by Henry Silva (Bane in Batman: The Animated Series), he didn't have many lines but he was one of Big Boy's gunmen and worked with Pruneface. He like his associates were killed in a firefight with Tracy and the Police outside the Club Ritz. His only line in the movie was in the conference with Big Boy, "Hey, when do we kill Dick Tracy?" To which Big Boy replied that if anything happened to Tracy, he was the prime suspect, and told Influence to leave Dick Tracy to him. Influence's name was never said out loud in the movie.