1940
Directed by Edward Cline
Written by and Starring W.C. Fields
Also Featuring Shemp Howard
Although the Criterion Collection's Bank Dick is no longer in print, the film is still in circulation in varying degrees of quality. The film is one of Fields later features, and although the style of comedy may be one that is no longer prominent, this excellent film hasn't aged a day. Loosely plotted around various opportunities for the type of drunken awfulness that Fields did better than anyone else, The Bank Dick is a chaotic burst of humor--it begins with the classic swallow of a lit cigarette and the abuse of children and doesn't let up until an incredibly dangerous car chase consisting of high-speed 180's. It's the type of auto-acrobatics that wouldn't look out of place in the next Matt Damon spy picture--the cars seem to be, quite literally, spinning on tires made solely of oil. Unlike the multiple versions of the "town idiot saves the day" pictures wherein Steve Martin or Chevy Chase bumble their way around well-meaning do-gooders and disturbed villains, no one in The Bank Dick is any better an individual than the mildly racist, totally alcoholic, and wholeheartedly incompetent W.C. Fields. If his compatriots don't absolutely despise him, they are despised by him, and if they don't suffer a massive amount of minor flaws, that's only due to their absolute failure to behave as human beings.
These types of films, like The Three Stooges, aren't out to win any hearts or minds--they were made for laughs and joy, and if you aren't the type of person that likes to watch a psychotically abusive 8 year old get threatened with a 50 pound flowerpot, than they aren't going to be your cup of tea. But if you're the type that fantasizes about someone slamming Dakota Fanning into a door frame, than you've got a new DVD to hunt down on Ebay.
-Tucker Stone, 2007
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