Unfunny and overrated
Added 9/15/2009
The Bottom Line:
I walked into The Bank Dick knowing little about W.C. Fields and walked out very unimpressed by his style of comedy: the film wanders freely from one boring setup to another, never finding much comic material or presenting any sort of clothesline to string gags on, leaving the audience with little to do but listen to lines that might be funny if written but sure aren't when Fields mutters them droningly.
2/4
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Beer running over your Grandmother's paisley shawl
Added 12/27/2008
Field's diehard fans debate whether this film or It's A Gift was his greatest. I prefer It's A Gift, but I still love this film very much.
Here the family relations have completely disintegrated to the point that little Evelyn Del Rio is bouncing a ketchup bottle among other things off his head. It's more a state of war with Fields as the crazy grandfather rather than Fields as the henpecked husband.
Some of Fields's regulars are here: Grady Sutton plays Og Oggilby ("...sounds like a bubble in a bathtub...") who is not an imbecile but very much a "luddie duddie." Russell Hicks is great as J. Frothingham Waterbury,the crooked beefstake (beefsteak?) mines stock grifter. Shemp Howard (of the Three Stooges)plays Joe the Bartendar. Bill Wolfe is funny just standing there in the Black Pussy Cat Cafe and being examined by Dr. Stall. Jan Duggan is funny as the mother of the little boy with the cap gun Fields attempts to apprehend. Franklin Pangborn almost steals the movie as J. Pinkerton Snoopington, bank examiner.
The plot? It's "...improbable, impossible" as Franklin Pangborn said in another Fields movie. It only makes sense because Fields is in it. It ends in a classic chase scene that even manages to include a 1930's scene out of the WPA or CCC. But along the way we are treated to a double noggin of his rich plays on the language and his willingness to play the rascal.
This was one of the movies that got frequent play in the W.C. Fields
revival of the mid to late 1960's.
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He was one of a kind, and this is one of his best. Lots of laughs
Added 7/30/2008
If you enjoy comedy films from this era, you need to see this one. Fields is at his best, screwing things up and trying to get them un-screwed up. It's one gag after another, with lots of laughs along the way. In particular, the routine where he's trying to explain the investment to his future son-in-law had me cracking up.
Yes, the film is very dated. The stunt double driving the car at the end looks nothing like Fields, and there is some racial stereotyping typical in films of this era. But give the film a chance and I think you'll find most of it holds up well after all these years. Fields was a truly original character, just about everything the guy says is funny. Good entertainment.
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The Bank Dick
Added 6/25/2007
Though his work is not to every taste, I view Fields as a comic genius right alongside Chaplin and The Marx Brothers. Along with "It's A Gift", "The Bank Dick" remains Fields's most sustained piece of hilarity. A brisk outing at just over 70 minutes, the film strikes an ideal balance between plot intrigue and broad action, as Egbert foils bank robbers, invests in a beefsteak mine, and save his prospective son-in-law's job. The immortal Franklin Pangborn is superb as a bank examiner victimized by Souse.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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Is that thing loaded???
Added 12/26/2006
Sure, its one of The Great Man's best movies, but wher are the Paramount classics, Man On The Flying Trapeze and The Old Fashioned Way??
These two Fields movies sum up his character better than any of 'em!
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Unfunny and overrated
Added 9/15/2009
The Bottom Line:
I walked into The Bank Dick knowing little about W.C. Fields and walked out very unimpressed by his style of comedy: the film wanders freely from one boring setup to another, never finding much comic material or presenting any sort of clothesline to string gags on, leaving the audience with little to do but listen to lines that might be funny if written but sure aren't when Fields mutters them droningly.
2/4
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
|
Beer running over your Grandmother's paisley shawl
Added 12/27/2008
Field's diehard fans debate whether this film or It's A Gift was his greatest. I prefer It's A Gift, but I still love this film very much.
Here the family relations have completely disintegrated to the point that little Evelyn Del Rio is bouncing a ketchup bottle among other things off his head. It's more a state of war with Fields as the crazy grandfather rather than Fields as the henpecked husband.
Some of Fields's regulars are here: Grady Sutton plays Og Oggilby ("...sounds like a bubble in a bathtub...") who is not an imbecile but very much a "luddie duddie." Russell Hicks is great as J. Frothingham Waterbury,the crooked beefstake (beefsteak?) mines stock grifter. Shemp Howard (of the Three Stooges)plays Joe the Bartendar. Bill Wolfe is funny just standing there in the Black Pussy Cat Cafe and being examined by Dr. Stall. Jan Duggan is funny as the mother of the little boy with the cap gun Fields attempts to apprehend. Franklin Pangborn almost steals the movie as J. Pinkerton Snoopington, bank examiner.
The plot? It's "...improbable, impossible" as Franklin Pangborn said in another Fields movie. It only makes sense because Fields is in it. It ends in a classic chase scene that even manages to include a 1930's scene out of the WPA or CCC. But along the way we are treated to a double noggin of his rich plays on the language and his willingness to play the rascal.
This was one of the movies that got frequent play in the W.C. Fields
revival of the mid to late 1960's.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
He was one of a kind, and this is one of his best. Lots of laughs
Added 7/30/2008
If you enjoy comedy films from this era, you need to see this one. Fields is at his best, screwing things up and trying to get them un-screwed up. It's one gag after another, with lots of laughs along the way. In particular, the routine where he's trying to explain the investment to his future son-in-law had me cracking up.
Yes, the film is very dated. The stunt double driving the car at the end looks nothing like Fields, and there is some racial stereotyping typical in films of this era. But give the film a chance and I think you'll find most of it holds up well after all these years. Fields was a truly original character, just about everything the guy says is funny. Good entertainment.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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