The Bank Dick (1940) User Reviews

Quite amusing movie, Fields seems very modern

[Freycinet · 8/10 · 21 November 2004]

The irreverent Fields gives spark to what would otherwise have been a quite humdrum comedy movie.

His politically incorrect jokes seem very present-day, and so makes you understand that the people back in the 1940's weren't so far removed from us as we sometimes think.

Fields is nasty to children, his wife and the bank examiner, whistles at pretty girls and in general just behaves terribly. You wouldn't think they would film stuff like that back in 1940, but Fields did. The movie is populated by crooks and phonies, as for instance the bank president, who says "let me give you a hardy handshake" and then just rests his hand lightly in Fields' for a second. It's a very observant and stinging visual commentary which tells more than many phrases: that's what films are good at, and it is used here to great effect.

The final car chase is really scary, with extra's ducking under cars with only inches to spare!

Classic Fields!

[Squonk · 8/10 · 18 May 1999]

'The Bank Dick' is a wonderful piece of comedy from W.C. Fields. He plays the town loser, who is given a job as a bank security guard when it appears that he helped stop a bank robbery. Fields' scenes with Franklin Pangborn as the bank examiner are the highlight of the film. The climactic chase sequence, with Fields mentioning points of interest as he is chased by the police, is also hilarious. Only a sequence early in the film, in which Fields pretends to be a Hollywood film director, fails to delight. Overall, a comedy classic!

Do you happen to live in a dysfunctional family? Congratulations!

[SnorrSm1989 · 8/10 · 15 May 2008]

The second to last film in which The Great Man starred is widely regarded as his signature work, a deserved estimation for a number of reasons. However, it should be stressed that this does not guarantee that it will preserve the curious into a fan: THE BANK DICK is a product so painstakingly characteristic for its creator that it may be required to view the comedy in context to him. With this film in 1940, W.C. Fields was at last considered powerful enough to do his whole act again, having been forced to perform on radio and only as a side-kick to other stars during the last few years, after his drinking habits had caused him severe illness. The Great Man was ready to confirm that his grit was still present; some would say more than ever before.

Problems were soon to occur, though. Universal objected to several parts of Fields's script, and hired a writer to change story structure and dialogue. Thankfully, experienced director Eddie Cline recognized which of the scripts that was superior; hence the original version passed by with minor changes. What remains is a comedy which appears surprisingly modern, not only in terms of humor but also in tone. Many viewers tend to express disappointment in the admittedly nail-thin thread to which the material is tied; and in the process, not recognizing the fact that a loose story is not necessarily a disadvantage. Having observed the dysfunctional family eating breakfast, we are hastily introduced to our hero Mr. Anti-Hero --a certain Egbert Sousé, that is-- replacing a movie director, only to soon witness his mishaps as a "Bank Dick." This lack of continuity serves at least one highly significant purpose: instead, we are presented with scenes to thoroughly characterize Sousé himself, along with his family and dubious associates. This focus on characterization is really from where the movie, and the comedy, evolves; for the most part, the eccentric personalities simply struggle to survive one another, with one hopeless dilemma leading to the next. Everything is a result of the previous. That is the one thing they know for sure in life.

Certain reviews and posts at the message board confirm that THE BANK DICK is not a comedy for the entire family, so to speak. Without underestimating the brilliance and originality of several of his contemporaries, it is a fact that screen comedy before Fields was, generally speaking, quite innocent and suitable for most ages. Problems in the family, controlling wives, and annoying children; sure, it had all served as sure-fire inspiration for all of the comedians at one time or another. However, what is unique when we see Fields confronted with such problems in THE BANK DICK, is that his character witnesses the mayhem from the perspective of a comparatively mature reality. When Laurel and Hardy, lovable as they are, elope from their wives, one can be quite certain that the women will take off in a pursuit immediately, emphasizing that what we are presented with is a truly cartoonish world, and we need not to worry about it. As a contrast, when Egbert's wife nags at her husband for smoking in the house, probably just in need for something to complain about, it's delivered in a way which seems almost uncomfortably close to a truly convincing, dysfunctional family atmosphere. So much so that, while hideously funny, much of the humor comes off as rather dark in essence. "Don't you dare strike that child!" "Well she's not gonna tell ME I don't love her!"

Apart from this, first-time viewers should be aware that based upon my experience, THE BANK DICK improves after each viewing. I did find it funny after first viewing, but much more so during the second time; having got more acquainted with the characters, I howled with laughter throughout. Numerous lines and sketches come to mind, but there is particularly one part which I simply can't resist mentioning here: bank examiner J. Pinkerton Snoopington (played by ever-brilliant Frankling Pangborn) is offered a drink by Sousé --for reasons I will not reveal-- and consequently forced to bed due to a hangover worthy of acclaim. Helping the poor thing to bed, Sousé drops him out of the window, presumably by accident. The manner in which Fields rushes downstairs in order to save him, determined yet underneath quite matter-of-factly, is a brief moment of priceless comedy which beautifully demonstrates the comedian's ability to achieve subtlety into his acts, when it was required for. Sensitive cheek-bones should stay away, though.

Thank you for reading this review. Now, turn off your computer, put this film in the player and laugh your head off. THE BANK DICK may not be the very funniest film Fields ever made in my book (IT'S A GIFT and MAN ON THE FLYING TRAPEZE share that nomination), and it seems totally deprived of the tiny soft spot which had often been present in previous Fields-films. Yet, the film easily presents the comedian at his most daring -- and purest. A feast of laughter from start to finish, once you get it.

Matriarchy triumphant

[ilprofessore-1 · 10/10 · 8 March 2008]

Has there ever been a better satire on the hypocrisies of small-town life before the Second World War than this comic masterpiece of 1940? W.C. Fields as Egbert Sousé, accent grave on the e, is the victim of female tyranny and American matriarchy triumphant: his wife, his mother-in-law and his dreadful brat of a daughter all abuse him both verbally and physically; he bears their insults stoically with no other escape than the sanctity of the local saloon, poetically labeled The Black Pussy Café, the only place in town where he is treated with any semblance of respect by a bartender, Shemp Howard, one of the Three Stooges minus his other two brothers. Into this sanctuary wander bizarre representatives of the outside world, the real world —a sissified bank examiner (Franklin Pangborn); a slick traveling salesman peddling shares in the Beef Stake mine (Pierre Watkins); a harassed assistant director (Pat West) looking for a replacement for a drunken director.

Fields deals with them all with his usual nonchalance and cunning. He is existentially alone, mumbling asides to himself along the way, caring not if anyone listens, rarely complaining, making the best of whatever good or bad fortune that comes his way. In this American Dream turned on its head and upside down and sideways, Sousé, the forgotten man, turns out in the end to be a true hero through no fault or skill of his own, and is rewarded with a contract to direct a movie as well as a hearty hand clasp! A film not to be missed if you want to understand what this crazy nation is all about.

Classic Comedy That Gets Even Better As It Goes Along

[Snow Leopard · 4 October 2002]

W.C. Fields uses his expert timing and his large collection of gags to make "The Bank Dick" a classic comedy that gets even better as it goes along. The amusing, tangled plot gives Fields plenty of material to work with, and the other characters also pitch in to keep you smiling.

After a few amusing introductory scenes that introduce Egbert Sousé, the kind of character Fields loved to play, things really start rolling once Egbert somehow manages to land a job as a bank detective. The wackier the plot gets, the more it shows just how effective Fields's dry style can be. His stoic character and the confusion going on around him often make a hilarious combination. It's very entertaining, goes by quickly, and is filled with comic detail that makes it just as funny when you watch it over again.

The Bank Dick

[Scarecrow-88 · 7/10 · 6 September 2015]

Legendary comedy released by Universal starring the popular vaudeville actor, W.C. Fields, has him starring as an aimless goof with few prospects that happens to be in the right place at the right time, even though the circumstances and dangers for sitting on the alley bench he does could have gotten him killed. A bank robbery ends with one of the thieves getting away *without the loot* while the other (knocked unconscious by the first thief) is left knocked out underneath a bench for which Fields is sitting. He's considered a hero (!) when the police and bank representatives find one of the robbers left out cold while Fields gets up, dusting himself off, taking credit (obviously) for the save of the robbed money. Awarded for his *bravery* with a "bank officer" job for his efforts, Fields "influences" his unfortunate future son-in-law into using bank funds to invest in what soon appears to be an investment scheme (a smooth-talking, enthusiastic scoundrel in the saloon "bamboozles" Fields with his delivery on the potential of the investment) involving a meatsteak mine (!) with a nerdy bank examiner arriving in the California town of Lompoc as a potential threat as his job is to look through the books for any possible "improprieties". So Fields sets out to keep the examiner in a drunken (or sickly) stooper until the soon-to-be son-in-law can get his bonus and pay back the bank what was taken to fund the investment. Included in the shenanigans of the scatter-brained plot include Fields getting involved with a film being made in town, dealing with his disapproving wife, demanding and highly opinionated mother-in-law (who doesn't like when he smokes), and violent acting-out daughter (who often hurls objects at his head!), lending his unwanted supposed expertise to a chauffeur working on his employer's car (when he balks at Fields she corrects him for his impoliteness!), & his having to drive the returning bank robber (able to rob the bank a second time and use Fields, who was to guard the bank so that he wouldn't return, as a shield to protect himself) out of town in a car that starts to fall apart all over dangerous and curvy dirt roads.

His vernacular, reactions to sudden people that jolt him when he turns around, his shtick with a "getaway hat" that he accidentally loses off his head but is always nearby, the bits with his cigarette smoking, saloon trips to keep "from getting dry", and how he walks or talks himself into one loony situation after another (sometimes by just being in a certain place, mostly the saloon, as characters appear and emerge) comprise this busy film. The movie doesn't operate under the formula of a moving plot that focuses on a singular story, The Bank Dick is more or less Fields' adventures and encounters that often present potential trouble or hardship. The end allows him to get out of every one of them and go away with a happy ending. My favorite bits involve Fields with the bank examiner. The film uses every bit of the town as Fields always winds up (even if inadvertently) in the middle of the most active of events happening there. I would be remiss to not mention that Shemp Howard has a supporting part as the operator of the Black Pussy Saloon.

Classic Field's, Classic Comedy

[medrjel · 9/10 · 20 January 2002]

This is a wonderful example of classic comedy from the late vaudeville era. Fields is brilliant in spite of the fact that he's far past his prime. The story is fun and timeless. I saw it years ago, and I have watched it a couple times since I got my DVD last week. It's a movie worth having on your shelf.

"Ever do any boondoggling?"

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 19 September 2015]

Happy to say I found this film a lot more amusing than "It's A Gift", reputed to be W.C. Fields' funniest. Made six years later than the earlier film, it's as if Fields realized that the repetitive nature of the bits in 'Gift' tended to wear the viewer out, whereas he presented each of his humorous situations here just once and moved the viewer on to the next. Yet at the same time he recycled some of the ideas from the 1934 flick, like the pronunciation of his last name (accent grave over the e, Souse/Bissonette), the irritable wife and a willingness to beat his kid to prove how much he loved him or her. I don't know if these themes were staples of his pictures because I haven't seen enough of them, so I guess I'll find out in due course.

If you stay attentive to the opening credits you'll see one for Screenplay by Mahatma Kane Jeeves. Watching this film on Turner Classics and hosted by moderator Ben Mankiewicz, the origin of the name was explained by Fields' granddaughter, Dr. Harriet Fields. It was derived from one of Fields' sayings when he was getting ready to perform. He would ask for 'My hat, my cane and my shoes'. So a clever play on words, and as a word-smith, Fields sprinkles his story liberally with uncommon words like moon calf and jabbernowl. But he really caught my attention with a line that Hitchcock wound up using in his 1945 picture "Spellbound" when Ingrid Bergman says to Gregory Peck - "Professor, you're suffering from mogo on the go-go". However the phrase used here was 'mogo on the ga-go-go'.

Anyway, I found the picture to be highly entertaining, and even a bit risqué at times, Fields' caricature of being a souse notwithstanding. Every time the Black Pussy Cat Café came into view I had to wonder what was on Fields' mind, other than ordering up a depth bomb to wet his whistle. Similarly I would never had considered his proboscis to be an 'adsatitious excrescious', and by that time I thought he might have been making it all up as he went.

Above all, make sure you stick around for the well choreographed car chase near the end of the film. It reminded me a lot of the painstaking choreography Chaplin put into some of his pictures. The ditch diggers in particular stayed right on cue for their bit, and the near misses with the dueling road cars was epic timing at it's best. Something you take for granted today but back in the Forties I imagine it was quite the feat. With all that, one's best take away from the picture might well be the advice Egbert Souse offered his soon to be son-in-law on preparing for the future, even if it was offered in convoluted Fieldsian double talk - 'Don't wait too long in life'.

The Accidental Hero

[lugonian · 8/10 · 29 September 2005]

THE BANK DICK (Universal, 1940), directed by Edward Cline, from an original story and screenplay by Mahatma Kane Jeeves, better known as W.C. Fields, stars none other than W.C. Fields in his third of four comedies for Universal, a classic in the sense of it becoming his most famous and admired works next to IT'S A GIFT (Paramount, 1934). Unlike YOU CAN CHEAT AN HONEST MAN (1939) where Fields loses screen time in favor with a ventriloquist act of Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy; MY LITTLE CHICKADEE (1940) in which he divides his time with Mae West; and NEVER GIVE A SUCKER AN EVEN BREAK (1941) where he steps aside in favor for the singing of the teen-age Gloria Jean, THE BANK DICK is pure Fields from start to finish. As the head of a household of a dysfunctional family, with Fields playing the henpecked husband on screen for the last time, the supporting players consists of a fine assortment of character actors who can be just as funny as Fields himself and not draw attention away from him.

As for the story, set in the town of Lompoc, the focus obviously is on Egbert Souse, accent over the final "E" (W.C. Fields), an unemployed husband who spends much of his leisure time smoking cigarettes and hanging around the local bar, The Black Pussy Cat Cafe, as well as coping with Agatha, his wife, (Cora Witherspoon), Mrs. Hermisillo Brunch, his mother-in-law (Jessie Ralph), Myrtle, his adult daughter, (Una Merkel) and Elsie Mae Adele Brunch, the obnoxious youngster, (Evelyn Del Rio). Of the members in his family, only Myrtle, his eldest, understands him. Aside from being a character herself, she's in love with the hayseed Og Oggilby (Grady Sutton), a bank teller who later encounters a couple of robbers at his window and forced to hand over a large sum of money at a point of a gun. When their getaway car is taken away, the crooks make a run for it. Chased by the police, one gets away while the other is found by Souse seated on a bench nearby, making him a hero for "capturing the crook." In gratitude Souse is awarded a job as a special officer by Mr. Skinner (Pierre Watkin), the bank president. In order for Oggilby to earn enough money to marry Myrtle, Souse arranges for him to invest the bank's money on Beefstake Mines Stock, which finds Souse spending much time preventing the visiting bank examiner (Franklin Pangborn) from looking over the books to find a shortage. More complications occur when the bank gets robbed again with Souse being forced to take the driver's seat in another exciting car chase from the police.

Supporting players enacting under oddball names include Shemp Howard (Joe Guelpe, the bartender whose whistle to "Listen to the Mockingbird" entices Souse to follow him to the bar); Richard Purcell (Mackley Q. Greene); Russell Hicks (J. Frothingham Waterbury); Jack Norton (A. Pismo Clam); Bill Wolfe (Otis), with Jan Duggan, another favorite of the Fields stock players, once again doing a funny bit in a wonderful cameo set in the bank. While Al Hill is credited as Filthy McNasty in the credits, he is called Repulsive Rogan in the final story. As for the support provided by the diversified Una Merkel, her performance is unlike the assortment of starlets, ranging from Mary Brian, Judith Allen or Constance Moore as Fields' daughters playing their roles in a more serious-minded and caring fashion. Merkel provides her role with comic flare and free-spirit. She and and Grady Sutton (in his final Fields comedy) certainly make a perfect odd couple.

THE BANK DICK may have some flaws, such as having the audience accept the middle-aged Fields and Cora Witherspoon as parents to a minor child while physically they pass more as grandparents. However, overlooking such minor details, highlights include Souse filling in for a drunken director (Norton) of Tel-Avis Picture Productions, a movie company filming on location; Sousé getting the bank examiner (Pangborn) ill on a "Michael Finn" drinks in order to keep him from examining the books; the climatic car chase; and bank president Mr. Skinner on two separate occasions giving Sousé the "hearty hand clasp" in which Skinner's fingers barely touches Souse's outstretched palm heightened by going to a split-second freeze-frame. While the attention is focused more on Souses' outside activities than on his domestic affairs, one cannot ignore the underscoring to "There's No Place Like Home" used during each opening scene at the Souse household.

THE BANK DICK, along with MY LITTLE CHICKADEE, became the first of Fields' comedies to be distributed on cassette during the early days of home video in the 1980s. Other than frequent revivals on commercial television prior to 1990, THE BANK DICK assured popularity to a new generation when shifted over to cable stations as American Movie Classics (1995-1999), and later Turner Classic Movies since 2001.

Fields' fourth and final starring role for Universal being NEVER GIVE A SUCKER AN EVEN BREAK (1941) not only reunites him with Franklin Pangborn, but opens and closes with the same underscoring from THE BANK DICK. It even has an in-joke of Fields, playing himself, standing in front of a billboard advertisement which reads "W.C. Fields in THE BANK DICK." Because of these similarities, these both Fields comedies make logical choices as double features whether on television or a DVD package. As THE BANK DICK is a fun movie, it's kind of sad in a way watching W.C. Fields, older and heavier, in what's to become the final phase to his long career. All good things come to an end but the legend of Fields and his movies lives on. (***)

The Bank Dick review

[JoeytheBrit · 7/10 · 1 July 2020]

A classic comedy from the irreverent W. C. Fields who unapologetically dismantles as many of the Production Code's rules as he can as he frequents the Black Pussy, a bar managed by Shemp Howard, one-third of the Three Stooges. The plot is secondary to the gags, which come thick and fast; they don't always hit, but when they do they're smack bang in the centre of the bullseye.

Overrated

[Bored_Dragon · 5/10 · 15 March 2018]

Every year, United States National Film Preservation Board selects up to 25 films of cultural, historical and aesthetic significance, which will be preserved by being included in the National Film Registry. This one was chosen in 1992 and it's considered to be one of the best comedies ever. I really have to ask - why? Although it lasts just a bit over an hour it successfully bored me so much that I fell asleep sitting at the table. In my opinion, the only thing worth seeing in this movie is hilarious, and for its time excellently shot, car chase scene. I do not recommend.

5/10

All time classic and Fields best for sure

[zickie_2000 · 10/10 · 30 November 2005]

This movie is so brilliant, it is almost sad that Fields did not make more movies than he did. As 1940 approached, he actually was doing his best work but was in deteriorating health through his death in 1946. This movie was all written and done under Field's supervision and a masterpiece it is.

The all time funniest scene in movie history, in my opinion, was when he gets the bank examiner, J. Pinkerton Snoopington drunk and sick and brings him back to the hotel he was staying at. When he allegedly falls out the window and Field's comes running down the stairs to retrieve him was so brilliantly executed, it's amazing. He moves the camera to the far side of the lobby which allows you to get the full view of him running down the stairs. While the content of this humor may seem ordinary, it was filmed and executed brilliantly and is forever etched in my mind as the single most funny scene I can think of in movie history.

A fairly enjoyable W. C. Fields film

[smatysia · 7/10 · 27 May 2017]

This was a fairly enjoyable W. C. Fields film. While the plot, such as it is, meanders aimlessly, that wasn't really the point of films like this in those days. Back then, famous comedians played their persona, with plotting as a distant afterthought. The same holds largely true of Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, The Marx Brothers, etc. Previous commenter "The_Film_Cricket" hit the nail on the head about the current popularity, or lack thereof, of Fields. His dipsomania, and his misanthropy are now totally politically incorrect. Erelong, he will likely be put down the memory hole, along with Amos & Andy, and "The Song of the South". But for now, we have his good, old-fashioned comedy.

This Bank Dick is Flaccid

[barkingechoacrosswaves · 4/10 · 30 April 2011]

I had no particularly high expectations for "The Bank Dick" but since it is reputed to be one of W.C. Fields' best movies I thought I'd take a flier on it. Not the worst movie I've ever seen but far from the best. The real problem is the acting is very mediocre. All the types are there... the shrewish wife, the nasty mother in law, the super-bratty offspring, con men, drunkards, etc. but they just don't pull their weight. Most of the lines aren't all that funny to begin with but they could succeed much better with superior delivery.

As I think about it, comedies don't seem to age nearly as well on the whole as dramas. That must have to do partly with comedies being much more culturally/contextually dependent for their success with audiences. Perhaps whatever W.C. was trying to poke fun at or deflate is so irrelevant in 2011 that this dated movie just isn't worth the bother any longer.

This is Just Too Funny

[jeffy-3 · 16 August 2000]

This is the second best Fields film (after It's a Gift) and it's similar in that it casts Fields as the lovable drunk with an absolutely hateful family. From the almost surreal episode directing the movie to the eye-poppingly ridiculous chase scene, this one is pure comic entertainment. One side note: it's sad and not a little scary how bloated and tired the Great Man looks in this compared to just six years earlier when It's a Gift was released.

In Many Ways Fields Best Film

[DKosty123 · 8/10 · 29 March 2007]

Even though Fields would go on to only do 2 more films, in many ways this film is his most satisfying effort of them all. He ghost wrote the script at Mahatma Kane Jeeves & the script is excellent. The sequences are all a perfect length & funny. The humor is Fields subtle quality & funny.

Fields often imagined himself as an accidental hero. In this film, his character Egbert Souse is exactly that. He plays the harried middle aged parent who battles his kids & his battle axed wife. He dreams of get rich quick schemes. One day on a park bench he is reading his paper when he accidentally foils a bank robbery.

From there, the comic possibilities multiply. His reward for foiling the robbery is a job as a bank guard. There he works with his future son-in-law. He gets his son-in-law into an unknowing stock scheme in Beef Stake mines using the banks money illegally.

Then when the bank examiner shows up, he connives with The Black Pussy Cafe owner (ably played by Shemp Howard) to delay the examiner. The stocks turns out to be a gold mine & the con man wants to buy it back. The future son-in-law is about to dump the stock back to the con man who sold it to him for little money because he needs to head off the bank examiner.

Fields finds out about the gold mine & stops him just in time. Then Fields gets involved with yet another bank robbery & him, the robber, the cash & the stock go on a wild car chase with the police. Fields actually borrowed parts of the chase from Harold Lloyds "Girl Shy" but then improved upon it.

After the chase, Fields daughter marries the now son-in-law from the bank & they move into a huge mansion on the Beef Stake mine money. Fields does a classic comic blackout to end the film.

The casting for this film all works very well & Fields material & comic timing are great. Even his advanced age stunts are well done. A fine film which still stands the test of time & made a lot of money for Universal when it was in theaters.

Well Worth watching

[jewelch · 6/10 · 4 December 2020]

I believe the funniest thing about this movie is that is was not as funny as I thought it would be. This is W.C Fields material, and if you don't like these early comics on film, you won't like this one. But Fields makes a point in this movie to hate kids, to be nasty to people (especially some women), and to degrade work. This would be a great film for your collection of early comedy, and Fields is always collectable, even if you don't like the humor. In this film, as the title implies, he's a somewhat lazy, irresponsible bank guard. From the time you meet his character, you just know this isn't going to go well (in the funny sense). Regardless, this is fine little film and worth the watching if only to see the social relationships of the time. James Welch Henderson, Arkansas 12/4/2020

A PERFECT PLACE TO BEGIN WITH FIELDS

[Sunsphxsuns · 10/10 · 27 August 2021]

The Bank Dick was the first W. C. Fields film I saw. I was a teenager at the time, and had to drive into Hollywood where it was playing at one of the trendy "art houses" that routinely featured films made in the 1930s and 1940s. Unknown to me at the time, there was a full blown revival of W. C. Fields films going on, but the only way I could see his films was to scout out theaters where they were featured, or hope that one of the local TV stations would occasionally play one of his better known films.

Even as a teenager I was immediately struck by The Bank Dick's crisp dialogue which was generously sprinkled with double entendres. It was obvious that Fields clearly enjoyed pushing the proverbial envelope well beyond the strict censorship which existed in 1940. I mean, come on! A bar called "The Black Pussy Cat?" Oh my! What was he thinking? Incidentally, the "Dick" in The Bank Dick isn't a reference to a certain part of the male anatomy, but rather, it was slang for "Dick Tracy," a well loved fictional comic book crime fighter of the 30s.

Whatever the case, from then on, I was hooked. One watches W. C. Fields films not for the plot, but to see Fields drinking, smoking, and his endless gibberish which seems totally normal for a man who in real life did as much drinking as he does in his films.

No matter where you begin, any film with W. C. Fields in it is better because of him. One only wishes there were more to enjoy.

Some Funny Stuff

[gavin6942 · 7/10 · 23 September 2015]

Henpecked Egbert Sousè (W. C. Fields) has comic adventures as a substitute film director and unlikely bank guard.

Otis Ferguson was not so keen on it. He said, "When the man (W.C. Fields) is funny he is terrific... but the story is makeshift, the other characters are stock types, the only pace discernible is the distance between drinks or the rhythm of the fleeting seconds it takes Fields to size up trouble and duck the hell out." It is number 8 of Stanley Kubrick's ten most favorite films. I have to agree more with Kubrick on this one. Ferguson comes down too hard, as some of the things he criticizes are what make it such a great comedy. That sort of stuff may not fly today for sophisticated audiences, but Fields fits right in with Keaton, Chaplin and others... he is a natural successor to the silent age.

One of the comedian's best.

[alexanderdavies-99382 · 8/10 · 29 July 2017]

"The Bank Dick" is the most consistently funny comedy from W.C Fields. The routines and the dialogue are far above average, as is Fields himself. The plot concerns a small town loafer who first becomes a movie director during a film's shoot. Later on, he accidentally foils an attempted robbery at the local bank. For his reward, W.C Fields is employed as the bank's security guard. All kinds of comic mayhem ensure! Released in 1940, "The Bank Dick" was about the last film of any quality from W.C Fields. He only lived a few more years and his chronic drinking was getting the better of him. The laughs are pretty good here and Fields has dialogue that's worthy of his style.

W.C. Fields is fun

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 27 October 2019]

Affable drunk Egbert Sousé (W.C. Fields) is henpecked at home. He gets a job as a film director over the more drunk director. He accidentally thwarts a bank robbery during his lunch hour claiming it as a heroic action. He is given the job as a bank dick.

This is W.C. Fields at his comedic drunk best. His charisma is up on the screen. He's fun. He's a Forrest Gump of drunks. I'm not sure why he gets the director job other than to make fun of the movie business. The story doesn't need it. I'd rather have him start right away with the bank robbery. The character as a fool works very well. There are instances where his foolishness gets unlikeable like him talking Og into taking the money or claiming his heroic takedown. Egbert needs to be blameless in his random foolish chaos and isn't as loveable as a lying braggart. It would be more appealing for Og to be taken in by the bank robber rather than Egbert. In that situation, Og has limited option other than pleasing his future father-in-law. Overall, it's a fun performance.

**Terribly Unfunny Disaster**Partially Redeemed By Special Effects Towards The End**

[HawksRevenge · 2/10 · 6 October 2007]

I don't know what to say about this film except **It Stinks** W.C Fields would star in one or two more films after this prior to his death. I have watched most of his films and I can't think of one time I have laughed at any of his antics. If I was to say anything about this film I would say it is slow and meandering and without a payoff.

I watch and love many old films and the reason I watched this one was to see Shemp Howard in a non stooges role and he is very underused in this film I think that back sixty years ago W.C Fields was probably funny to people and that was his charm, but his films today don't make any sense, because his jokes come from a lazy no good buffoon, who has no ambition, no drive, no anything!! The women in this film are bitches, and the kids are brats, and the businessmen are cold hearted bastards!! (*1/2 Out Of *****) And The *1/2 is for technical achievement towards the end Very Terrible Film!!

W.C. Fields represents America's aspirations right before we entered WWII

[lee_eisenberg · 8/10 · 21 September 2007]

As I understand it, W.C. Fields spent at least most of his career playing henpecked drunks. Believe it or not, "The Bank Dick" is the first of his movies that I've ever seen; and I really liked it. Fields plays Egbert Souse - with an acute accent on the E - a bored family man never too aware of his surroundings. One day, he accidentally stops a bank robber but is only too happy to take credit for it. So they make him a security guard.

Throughout parts of the movie, I wasn't sure whether it was going to be as funny as I usually like (and there was a scene portraying a black man in a manner that wouldn't be allowed nowadays), but it was quite entertaining overall and the whole chase was certainly beyond a hoot. I suspect that they had a lot of fun filming it. Moreover, one might interpret Fields's as a look at America's aspirations of getting out of the Depression (that's pure conjecture, so don't quote me).

So, having seen this movie, I understand what W.C. Fields's brand of humor constituted. One can see why Warner Bros. animation department liked to caricature him as a manipulative pig in some cartoons. Worth seeing.

Wanted to see a W.C. Fields movie. Check.

[paul-685-664575 · 7/10 · 20 January 2019]

I always planned to see at least one W.C. Fields movie before I die and now I have accomplished this goal. Check. Well, I expected a silly movie and what I got was a silly movie. Thus, I shouldn't complain. On the bright side, it is full of funny moments, gags, and such, e.g., W.C. Fields misplacing his hat or kicking that piece of paper (several times). The car chase at the end was hilarious.

I decided to give 7 stars because it is watchable and is better than the average silly movie.

OK, I also admit that if this movie is worth 7 stars then some of the best silly movies (Chaplin, Keaton, etc.) should get a gazillion stars.

In summary, W.C. Fields, you're no Charlie Chaplin (paraphrasing Lloyd Bentsen).

Incredibly unfunny

[preppy-3 · 1/10 · 12 November 2011]

W.C. Fields plays a henpecked husband who's a police officer in a bank. That's about it for plot! What happens is a string of disjointed and increasingly stupid escapades with Fields becoming a director and a hero for catching bank robbers.

I've never seen a Fields film but heard that this one was one of the best. I tuned in and HATED it! I didn't laugh or even smile once! This is one of those early movies where alcoholism is treated as a big joke and violence is supposed to be side-splitting. Fields mumbles most of his lines which ends up making his jokes either inaudible or lifeless. At the end it seems the filmmakers gave up and just threw in a WILD car chase which goes on forever and also isn't funny. I realize Fields is considered a genius and his movies classics but this one totally escapes me.