THE BANK DICK : A REVIEW

THE BANK DICK

Modern comedies tend to make fun of the marginal members of society; not so the comedy of W.C. Fields. He was more interested in making fun of himself; his dysfunctional family, his drinking, and his striving for bourgeois respectability. He was even more interested in deflating those who ran things; the bankers, lawyers, businessmen and politicians from the self-congratulatory wing of society.

While other men gathered at Kiwanis, Moose Lodge, or Knights of Columbus; Egbert Sousé' (Fields) liked to attend the Black Pussy Cat Cafe, where Mickey Finn might be available if necessary. Charlie Chaplin's message was, "watch while I win and get the girl". W.C. Fields' message was, "watch while I lose and don't get the girl". Chaplin was egotistical to the point of releasing silent films as late as 1936 with Modern Times. Chaplin almost never co-starred with another big star, lest he possibly be shown-up; Fields welcomed other comedic talents, like Mae West in My Little Chickadee.

Before W.C. Fields, American screen comedy was a fairly innocent affair of site gags; Field's pitched his comedy to mostly male adults, who couldn't help recognize themselves in Fields. No family had been portrayed before on screen as was the henpecked Egbert Sousé's family.

Jokes are liberally salted in with the plot, which revolves around Field's job as a bank security officer. There he pals with the bank teller Og Ogilby (Grady Sutton). Among the one-liners: "a river of beer over your grandmother's paisley shawl", "accent grave over the e", "the hearty handshake". The film ends with the-mother-of-all-car-chases during which while driving at 90-mph he observes, "I believe those are Catalpa Trees".

Supporting are Cora Witherspoon and Una Merkel as Egbert Sousé's wife and daughter and Franklin Pangborn as bank examiner J. Pinkerton Snoopington; and Shemp Howard (one of the Three Stooges) as the bartender. The banker's name is a nicely evocative Mr. Skinner. A good satire on the hypocrisies of small-town life A film not to be missed if you want to understand what this great country is all about.

Scenes from the Film: Egbert's Day --- Your Grandmothers Paisly Shawl

Note:
(a) Fields first two initials were meant to be funny. Up till the I930s, "WC" was the polite name for the bathroom; it stood for "water closet".