Never Give a Sucker an Even Break (1941)

Very well executed

Thanks for the memories!

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

There are still moments of greatness in "Never Give A Sucker An Even Break", but, by this time, they are few and far between. Fields is great in an early sequence arguing with a fat diner waitress, and his jumping out the airplane window is priceless. But I think even Fields must have known he'd had it by this point, and the most telling sign is the inclusion (at Fields' insistence) of the dreadful Gloria Jean. When heavy hitters like Fields insist on being portrayed on-screen as 'lovable', the game's over. If I never hear her insipid Bavarian yodeling again, it'll be too soon. Some people will love the utter insanity of the movie script that Fields tries to pitch to Hollywood hotshot Franklin Pangborn; I thought it dragged on a bit. A sometimes funny, but kind of sad epitaph to one of the world's greatest comedians. R.I.P. Uncle Bill!

Never Give A Sucker An Even Break was W.C. Fields's last starring film and last one that he had complete creative control. All of his future film work would be guest appearances and specialties. This film is as anarchistic as anything the Marx Brothers ever did, in fact it anticipates Monty Python by over 30 years. Most of it is Fields relating an idea for a screenplay to studio head Franklin Pangborn. This is where it gets positively surreal.To cement the Marxian connection Fields gets to pay court to Groucho's favorite foil Margaret Dumont. But the relationship here is totally different. Margaret is always the butt of Groucho's bon mots half of which she confessed herself went over her head. With Fields as with other women like Kathleen Howard who henpecked him previously, the women dominate and Fields gets his points across, but mostly with pantomime and facial expression. The film is also to showcase Universal's backup teenage soprano Gloria Jean. Remember at this time before Abbott&Costello score a hit with Buck Privates, Deanna Durbin was their number one star. But the best way to keep a star under control was to have a replacement waiting in the wings. That was Gloria Jean's function. She had done well with Bing Crosby in a film the previous year, If I Had My Way, that allowed a far better expression of her talents. She had a pleasing soprano voice and Fields lowered the cynicism quotient in his scenes with his 'niece'.Still Never Give A Sucker An Even Break is a Bill Fields film all the way. Too bad this was the last film to give his talents full range.

Having heard a whole row of unfavorable words of NEVER GIVE A SUCKER AN EVEN BREAK, my expectations were pretty low when I recently watched the film for the first time. Now that I've seen it, first of all I'd like to say that I think there's a moral to this story (a personal one, anyway); don't ever let any other than yourself tell you whether you should miss an experience or not, because if you do, you are likely to miss something which may fit your taste better than it did to others. Happily, the last starring vehicle of W.C. Fields turned out to be, as a whole, a delightful surprise to me.About ten years after he'd reached super-stardom as a screen comedian, a poorly aging "Uncle Billie" was finally permitted to do a film entirely as he pleased (or close, at least), at Universal Studios. Granted, whether or not the studio actually fulfilled its promise has been questioned in recent years. Even so, Fields was not a man to let anyone tell him how to work, a fact which made him unpopular among movie producers and, for a time, immensely popular among audiences.The film has been described as more surreal (some say even absurd) than any other Fields-film, and rightfully so (with the exception of THE FATAL GLASS OF BEER, anyway). The Great Man appears as himself, comedian W.C. Fields, trying to sell a script in Hollywood. It is somewhat sad that this was Fields' last major appearance, as everyone in town are against him; waitresses, producers, and performers alike. One would almost assume that he was trying to tell us that this was to be his final bow, that he was tired of the Hollywood-industry. However, if this attitude influenced the final product, it must be added that Fields also confirmed another, far more important thing: he was still in shape. In my opinion, he is as funny as ever. The film is filled with wonderful lines throughout, contained within a quite unpredictable structure which continually makes a point of breaking "the fourth wall."Some classic quotes include "I was in love with a beautiful blonde once, dear. She drove me to drink. That's the one thing I'm indebted to her for," and "We're falling 2,000 feet!" "It's all right, dear. Don't start worrying 'til we get down 1,999. The last foot is dangerous," or "I didn't squawk about the steak, dear. I merely said I didn't see that old horse that used to be tethered outside here," not to forget "Are you REALLY a man?" "I've been called other things..." And I must add, Waitress: "You know, there's something awfully big about you. Your nose." Studying her rear end, mumbling: "There's something awfully big about you, too." Goddfrey Daniels, I could go on and on.As the story also involves Fields' fictional niece Gloria Jean --a young performer with great charm and a terrific singing voice-- SUCKER turned out to be a part-musical, which may be the main reason why some viewers don't think the film holds up as well as other Fields-vehicles. However, one should keep in mind that unlike the "operettas" of The Marx Brothers and Laurel & Hardy, the singing included here plays a significant part of the story; she's supposed to be an up-and-coming young talent, whereas Uncle Bill is supposed to portray the washed-up comedian. The contrasting positions of the young and old talent are better emphasized by giving Gloria opportunity to actually prove her talent to us, as viewers. Also, with so many excellent comedy sequences included, such as Fields' ping-pong dialogue with the waitress at a café, or the visit at the soda-bar, or Franklin Pangborn's exasperated reactions to Fields' screen-play, the song numbers feel quite far and between in the end, and rather charming when they do turn up. The car chase at the end (or whatever one may call it) feels less motivated than the chase at the end of THE BANK DICK, perhaps, but is well executed and fun to watch.NEVER GIVE A SUCKER AN EVEN BREAK received mixed reviews upon its release in 1941, and as stated above, still seems to generate mixed reactions from viewers to this day, more so than some of Fields' other features. However, personally I've enjoyed it quite a lot; not a flawless film, but certainly one of Fields' most interesting efforts, providing some of his most memorable moments.

Without doubt, "Never Give a Sucker an Even Break" is Fields at his absolute best. The "plotline" is so completely beyond belief that it provides the nearly perfect vehicle for Fields' unique and irreverent style with its constant stream of sight gags and one-liners. His mumbled verbal interactions with Madame Hemoglobin (Margaret Dumont) and the "tiny waitress" in the café (Jody Gilbert) are as memorably irreverent as anything he had done previously and are worth listening to closely to fully appreciate. The constantly changing scenes and situations in this film provide ample opportunity for his verbal and visual "charms" to be fully utilized, and in my opinion this is his finest and most consistently funny effort. If you haven't seen this film, give it a viewing or two. If you are a true Fields fan, you'll enjoy it as much as or more so than any of his other more well-known offerings.