The Bank Dick (1940)

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Beautiful, moving film.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

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

Although not as funny as the same team's "Give a Sucker an Even Break" (1941) – even though it re-uses some of the same gags including the much-reprinted car chase finale – there's still plenty of typical Fields' humor in this entry. True, the plot does take up some precious screen time that could have been better used for comedy and Franklin Pangborn's study of J. Pinkerton Snoopington seems to run forever (although it does conclude with a marvelous gag which almost – I stress almost – makes up for all the tedium and marking time that has gone before. The rest of the support players are first class – particularly Russell Hicks and Grady Sutton. And music director. Charles Previn has provided a first-class score. In all, a very entertaining 74 minutes!

Mass hysteria ensues when ne'er-do-well husband and father Egbert Souse' (W.C. Fields) is given a job as a security guard at a bank after supposedly catching a bank robber. Abused by his wife (Cora Witherspoon), younger daughter (Evelyn Del Rio) and nasty mother-in-law (Jessie Ralph), Fields spends most of his free time (which is a lot) at Shemp Howard's bar, "The Black Pussycat" than he does looking for a job or doing chores for his ungrateful family. In fact, only his lovely older daughter (Una Merkel) seems to genuinely love him. Engaged to bank clerk Grady Sutton, Merkel has no idea that thanks to a bogus stock tip, Sutton is guilty of embezzlement with daddy Field's help. Enter J. Pinkerton Snoopington (Franklin Pangborn), the officious bank examiner whom Fields must stall from examining the bank books for four days until Sutton gets his bonus check. Pangborn, usually typecast as a nervous nancy, greatly underplays his character, allowing Fields to get him rip-roaringly drunk and ending up with a hangover to end all hangovers. By making his character quietly dignified without hysterica, Pangborn becomes the perfect "straight man" (!) surrounding the ensemble of wackos which populate this small California town.Fields is hysterically excellent as the harried "everyman", far from perfect, yet able to steal every moment on screen with his endless treasure trove of tricks. Whether it be misplacing his hat (in eye view of the audience, yet not to Egbert) or accidentally donning a featured pen, Fields surrounds himself with some hysterically named characters. My personal favorite: A. Pismo Clam! Some might find the lack of likable female characters (with the exception of Merkel) to be in bad taste, but it suits the plot. The result is a hodge-podge of comedy that ranks with the best farces of all time. This certainly is worth a nose full of nickles!

What a great chance to thrill to the adventures of a true American hero, Egbert Souse ("Soo- say", accent gravamen over the "e", please). Glory in Egbert's acrobatic family as they talk and stuff their mouths at the same time, while seated around a loving breakfast table. Catch little Elsie Mae's affectionate tribute to her dad, a billiard ball at his head, while he returns her love with a raised flowerpot. See him rescue a movie set from the clutches of a crazed downtown Lompoc ("Lom-pock", please). But most of all, glory in Egbert's fearless capture of an inert bank bandit, catapulting our hero up the ladder of success, where among other feats, he alertly disarms a maddened 11-year old cowboy. With our Egbert, the thrills just keep coming.But our hero is nothing if not versatile. Follow his genius for threading through the mysterious world of high finance. Learn from his expert use of liquid treats in greasing the wheels of finance, where he greases and greases and greases. Note how quickly he turns facts and figures into the sheer poetry of "beer beneath an arboreal dell". And finally, thrill to his NASCAR skills in maneuvering a 1930's flivver to the background demands of a Hollywood projection screen. Truly, a man for all seasons.But more importantly, one heckuva funny movie.

W.C. Fields plays a man who has a nagging wife and children who show him no respect.His name is Egbert Sousé, who must repeatedly remind people to pronounce his name with the accent over the e.People keep calling him Souse, which is a slang word for drunkard.Well our hero likes to drink, and smoke too.Then things start to happen to Mr. Sousé.First he is recruited to replace a drunken film director and then he happens to capture a bank robber.He's hired by the Lompoc Bank as a guard.There his daughter's fiancée, Og Oggilby works as a teller.Sousé persuades Og to embezzle $ 500 to buy phony stock.The real trouble starts when the bank examiner shows up.Can Sousé fix the problem? Edward F. Cline is the director of The Bank Dick (1940).It's written by Fields himself.Fields makes this character most amusing.The rest of the Sousé family is played by Cora Witherspoon (Agatha), Una Merkel (Myrtle) and Evelyn Del Rio (Elsie Mae Adele Brunch).Jessie Ralph plays the mother-in-law Mrs. Hermisillo Brunch.Grady Sutton is Og.Franklin Pangborn is the bank examiner J. Pinkerton Snoopington.Shemp Howard, one of the Three Stooges plays the bartender Joe Guelpe.This movie holds plenty of great gags inside.One funny one is where Fields entertains a group of kids by taking a drag from a cigarette, places it in his ear and exhales multiple puffs of smoke making it seem like he's using his ear to inhale the smoke.Or getting hit in the head multiple times by his young daughter is hilarious each time.The chaotic car chase is really something.What a funny guy that W.C. Fields!