The Bank Dick

Viewed March 23, 2022. W.C. Fields' starring vehicles move at their own pace and internal logic, and this classic comedy where he bumbles his way into becoming a bank security guard is no exception. All of the gags are pitched in line with Fields' woozy, incensed temperament, and it's a genuine pleasure to spend 75 minutes in his quietly frustrating world. Plus, his character is named Egbert Sousé, and that's objectively funny.

One of my favorite Fields movies. It has all the usual Field comedic scenes plus a good car chase scene. A couple of Fields movies, beer and a tub of popcorn make a great Saturday night.

Haha, it's funny because he's debilitated by alcoholism.

Considered a comic classic but not my cup of tea. No recommendation here.

I chuckled a few times, but Fields' slapstick drunk humor never really won me over.

As someone who doesn't find Fields entertaining, this was at least bearable and occasionally made me smirk. He's still a grating character and a lot of the humour falls flat, but at least the movie avoids the most egregious flaw of Fields films, endlessly drawn out jokes.

WC Fields daringly takes a go at early method acting, imbibing voraciously on set between takes in an effort to make his on-screen portrayal of Egbert Souse as mumbly, incoherent, disgusting and uninteresting as possible.

# 646

Slip shod production with a sometimes barely intelligible Fields. He's at his best when he's his most politically incorrect, yet we love him all the more for it.

Every time I watch it, I'm surprised to find so many scenes that are dull and slow, but Fields--and Pangborn, Grady Sutton, Jessie Ralph and Una Merkel--more than make up for them.

Dated but charming in the way early comedies can be. So charming, in fact, that despite holding Sousè at gunpoint and the climactic car chase taking place, Repulsive Rogan take the time to replace the hat on his captives head.

Probably the best W.C. Fields movie. Decades since I saw it.

Fields is brilliant as expected, and one or two of the smaller supporting performances were great (Shemp Howard really wrung out all he could from a tiny, straight role as the bartender and Franklin Pangborn actually got bigger laughs from me than Fields), but most were pretty bad. Especially loathsome was the guy that played Og, he really stunk and you couldn't get away from him. But, yeah, Fields was great and the physical gags were pretty good.

Star Rating: ★★★★1/2

I suppose The Bank Dick was considered cutting edge comedy at the time, but it's just okay to me.

87.000

Even though I am not the biggest fan of WC Fields, I thought that this was a very delightful movie. Several funny gags involving slapstick humor with a little girl had me rolling. Some pretty funny stuff with the rest of his family as well. Got a bit of a kick seeing Shemp Howard in this as he was known for greatness as a member of the Three Stooges. A simple story with some good laughs make this a very watchable film.

Has a few moments of sheer brilliance, and a few major head scratchers, but I liked it enough.

Fields acts drunk, people in 1940 laugh, people today pretend to laugh because it's allegedly a classic. For a funny drunk watch the original Arthur.

Anyone who doesn't "get" Fields should probably stay away, but for the rest of us this is a straight-up shot of The Great Man -- not my favorite Fields, but certainly presents some of his key themes and situations in a top-notch fashion. Pangborn is a delightful foil for Fields as always.

Fields is, for me, a hit-or-miss proposition: in small bits, he can come up with some good gags, but too much of it feels very repetitive after a while. This is, as expected, about an hour of his brand of humor, some of which is pretty dated. There's a fun car chase that had some good stunts; otherwise there's very little to recommend it.

84.500

This film is really just about watching Fields yuk it up in a variety of loosely related set-pieces. Luckily, Fields is adept enough to make most of the gags worth at least a chuckle, and occasionally more. A pleasant enough time.

W.C. Fields mumbling is pure gold! And he mumbles a lot in The Bank Dick (1940). What comes out of his mouth is most bizarre stuff!