The Bank Dick
Tags: cult

Plot synopsis:
Hard-drinking family-man Egbert Sousé's strained relations with his family is shown by wife & mother-in-law giving him lip about his drinking, smoking, and taking money out of his younger daughter's bank. When he tries to brain his younger daughter with a concrete urn, he is interrupted by his older daughter introducing him to her fiance, Og Oggilby. He makes a crack about Og's name.
Egbert Sousé talks his way into a temporary job directing a movie-shoot. While on his lunch break, he accidentally thwarts an attempted bank robbery from the bank where his prospective son-in-law, Og, has a job as a teller. The grateful bank president gives Sousé a job as a bank-detective. Sousé convinces Og to steal five hundred dollars from the bank to invest in stock in a questionable mining company. Og hopes to return the money to the bank four days later, when he expects to receive his annual bonus, but the bank examiner, One J. Pinkerton Snoopington, shows up the day Og steals the money, and says he intends to audit the bank immediately. Sousé invites him to a saloon and nobbles him with knockout drops. However, although Snoopington is very ill, he is nonetheless determined to proceed with the audit.
As Snoopington is about to discover the missing funds, Sousé learns that the questionable mining company has struck it rich, and he and Og are now wealthy and no longer have to worry about Snoopington. However, the escaped bank robber from the first hold-up, with a new comrade, robs the bank a second time, and escapes, taking Sousé hostage. The robbers force him to drive their getaway car in a spectacular chase, during which parts of the getaway car keep falling off. Sousé thwarts the second robbery attempt, and is rewarded again by the bank. Now that he is rich, his family treats him with more respect.

Review: 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.
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.
Fields' scenes with Franklin Pangborn as the bank examiner are the highlight of the film.
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).
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.
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 as Joe Guelpe, the bartender whose whistle to "Listen to the Mockingbird" entices Souse to follow him to the bar; Richard Purcell as Mackley Q.
Pismo Clam; Bill Wolfe as Otis, with Jan Duggan, another favorite of the Fields stock players, once again doing a funny bit, playing a mother in the back whose son pokes fun of Souse's nose.
Merkel and Grady Sutton (in his final Fields comedy) 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 it shifted over to cable stations, first on American Movie Classics from 1995 to 1999, and after wards premiering on Turner Classic Movies in 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 as well as Fields, playing himself, seen standing in front of a billboard advertisement which reads "W.C. Fields in THE BANK DICK." Because of these similarities, these 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 this comedian named W.C. Fields, older and heavier, in what's to become the final phase to his long career.
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.
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..
great moments mostly mumbled and underplayed so that the film seems so humble and so unaggressive, unlike most comedies now which would wring your neck if they could...Fields' before-its-time irony and self-consciousness about moviemaking is revealed in a throwaway line during the car chase at the end...in the midst of all the obviously speeded-up film and projection effects, Egbert Souse deadpans "you're going to make me have an accident....."  I'm almost ready to move into Lompoc, with its Spanish-Americo chili parlor, and, I hope, "rivers of beer flowing over your grandmother's paisley shawl...."   and, apparently, absinthe is still available.....
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.
It features Fields' classic double-takes, strange lines, strange names, a lot of sight gags and a chase scene at the end.I never found this film as good as its reputation, even though I own it and have watched it three or four times.
It what this "learned" Movie Reviewer had said in passing that was important to this write-up.What he said went something like that the Leads, Star Barbara Streisand(Dolly Levi) and Walter Matthau(Horace Vandergelder) "....were sort of like one of those old May West/W.C. Fields comedies, with both doing their part to impersonate the old Stars on the Modern Screen!" (Well, I didn't hire him, Schultz!) A lot of folks hold that Mr. Fields had his true Golden Age during his association with Adolph Zukor, Jesse Lasky & Paramount Pictures.
In essence, he was taking his best ideas as developed in the 4 Sennett Shorts and bring them to full fruition in his various Features, though none was by any means a "remake".And let's not forget during this period he was as well known as a Star of his own W.C. Fields Radio Show.* Oh yeah, about that 'Big Shot' movie critic of those 4 decades ago, we can agree to the similarities in Miss Streisand's and Mr. Matthau's characterizations resembling May West & W.C. Fields, though it was surely a case of purposeful impersonation, not any coincidental similarity.
And by the way, Mr. Hot Shot Movie Critic, the only film to co-star or even feature both Miss West and Mr. Fields was Universal's MY LITTLE CHICKADEE(1940)!
And when you see the film, which you definitely should, notice that Shemp Howard of the Three Stooges plays the bartender whom Fields (his name is Eggbert Souse (pronounced Soosay!)) follows around back to the bar whenever their paths happen to cross.
"The Bank Dick" is reputed to be one of or even THE best W.C. Fields movie.
I am a great fan of W.C. Fields, and ANY W.C. Fields is better than NO W.C. Fields, but this movie doesn't present the Fields that I like or want to see on screen.My W.C. Fields is a graceful man of good build, whose every movement and action seems to be executed to perfection.
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?
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!.
"The Bank Dick" features some truly hilarious moments, making this a real great and effective genre movie to watch.W.C. Fields was a great genre actor, who isn't that well known any more now days, which probably also has to do with the fact that he hasn't starred in that many movies throughout his career, especially not when comparing him to many other genre leads from the same time period.
Which is perhaps why "The Bank Dick," a solid if not classic Fields film made near the end of his career, is so well regarded.
But how safe can a bank be with W.C. in charge of security?"The Bank Dick" ends with a classic car chase that's one of several nods to the silent-screen comedies Fields followed.
His family, for example, are a genuinely funny batch of fault-finders, not the more bitter bunch you find Fields stuck with in other movies, especially Una Merkel as Myrtle, who threatens to kill herself one moment (which her devoted mother Agatha reacts to by taking another bite of her muffin) and then brightens manically when her improbable fiancé, Grady Sutton, arrives.
Sutton, Merkel, and Franklin Pangborn as a sickly bank examiner provide the best support, but nearly everyone around the film's single star gets their moment in the sun.
Even the mismatched movie couple Egbert attempts to direct are given funny lines of their own.The film is episodic, and what there is of a plot is pretty thin, designed to give Fields things to comically bounce off of.
The part of the movie in which Egbert suddenly finds himself a film director is certainly odd, but it works not only as a foretaste of the surreal Hollywood satire of Fields' final bow, "Never Give A Sucker An Even Break," but for the indignant way his family reacts when they discover him actually working for a change.Written by Fields under the pseudonym Mahatma Kane Jeeves, and directed by silent comedy vet Edward F.
If you watch it with that idea in mind, you're likely going to be at least mildly disappointed.Plot in a nutshell: A useless drunk bumbles his way into money and a job, mostly by pure dumb luck.I will say that the film gets better as it moves along.
Sousé soon finds himself entangled in all manner of situations, including foiling a bank robbery, standing in for a film director, embroiling his future son-in-law in an embezzlement/get-rich-quick scheme, and a car chase that reminded me of the climax of 1963's "The Pink Panther" (minus the gorilla suits).I like W.C. Fields, but I've always liked The Marx Brothers and Laurel & Hardy more, and I think I know why.
He'll mumble things, or make odd, out-of-place statements like "yeah we have mustard at the house" and "I'll have a fountain pen by then." (You'll know them when you hear them in the film.) They make you smile, but they aren't gut-busters.I think that sums up Fields in general, and "The Bank Dick" in particular.
"The Bank Dick" is the most consistently funny comedy from W.C Fields.
Released in 1940, "The Bank Dick" was about the last film of any quality from W.C Fields.
Sure aspects of the movie are dated, like the way Fields daughter and her boyfriend talk to each other or the scene with the black man, but overall it remains fresh.
It was a perfect way to start the movie as it set the tone for what kind of character he was, and after watching the rest of it, you know that if they didnt show up he would have launched that pot at his like 8 year old daughter.
W.C. Fields gets all the attention as a soft-hearted small-time grifter who manages to become a film director and then a bank detective.
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.
In my opinion, the only thing worth seeing in this movie is hilarious, and for its time excellently shot, car chase scene.
What kind of a rock?Egbert Sousé, the main protagonist of W.C. Fields' "the Bank Dick" has no redeeming qualities  neither does any member of his family or any other character in this 1940 movie.
In fact any one episode of "Married with Children" offers more sarcasm and mockery of family dysfunction than the whole of "the Bank Dick." It is not a bad movie, quite enjoyable to watch (with the exception of the scene of Sousé with the black bank customer, which has distinct racial undertones).
Although I will always believe that "It's a Gift" is, without a doubt, the funniest and greatest W.C. Fields film, there is no denying that "The Bank Dick" is his most iconic.
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.
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.
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.
In between he manages to make a mess of things, but in Fields fashion, it all manages to work itself out as well.What helps this film is that in addition to an excellent Fields performance is some excellent support from the likes of Grady Sutton, Shemp Howard, Franklin Pangborn and Una Merkel and they're all in top form.
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.
Basically Egbert Sousé (W.C. Fields) is a hard-drinking family man, he spends a lot of time drinking, smoking and taking money from his young daughter's piggy bank, replacing it with I.O.U.s. Due to this, Sousé's relationships with his wife Agatha (Cora Witherspoon) and mother-in-law have become strained, and he cannot help but make a crack about the name Og Oggilby (Grady Sutton), fiancé of his older daughter.
Fields became popular for his comic persona as a misanthropic and hard-drinking egotist, he is certainly likable despite growling and grumbling a lot of the time, there were the odd bits of business related stuff I didn't get, but it is a simple story, with good slapstick jokes, and the final car chase is the highlight, all in all a worthwhile classic comedy.