Legendary comedy released by Universal starring the popular vaudeville actor, W.C. Fields, has him starring as an aimless goof with few prospects that happens to be in the right place at the right time, even though the circumstances and dangers for sitting on the alley bench he does could have gotten him killed. A bank robbery ends with one of the thieves getting away *without the loot* while the other (knocked unconscious by the first thief) is left knocked out underneath a bench for which Fields is sitting. He's considered a hero (!) when the police and bank representatives find one of the robbers left out cold while Fields gets up, dusting himself off, taking credit (obviously) for the save of the robbed money. Awarded for his *bravery* with a "bank officer" job for his efforts, Fields "influences" his unfortunate future son-in-law into using bank funds to invest in what soon appears to be an investment scheme (a smooth-talking, enthusiastic scoundrel in the saloon "bamboozles" Fields with his delivery on the potential of the investment) involving a meatsteak mine (!) with a nerdy bank examiner arriving in the California town of Lompoc as a potential threat as his job is to look through the books for any possible "improprieties". So Fields sets out to keep the examiner in a drunken (or sickly) stooper until the soon-to-be son-in-law can get his bonus and pay back the bank what was taken to fund the investment. Included in the shenanigans of the scatter-brained plot include Fields getting involved with a film being made in town, dealing with his disapproving wife, demanding and highly opinionated mother-in-law (who doesn't like when he smokes), and violent acting-out daughter (who often hurls objects at his head!), lending his unwanted supposed expertise to a chauffeur working on his employer's car (when he balks at Fields she corrects him for his impoliteness!), & his having to drive the returning bank robber (able to rob the bank a second time and use Fields, who was to guard the bank so that he wouldn't return, as a shield to protect himself) out of town in a car that starts to fall apart all over dangerous and curvy dirt roads.
His vernacular, reactions to sudden people that jolt him when he turns around, his shtick with a "getaway hat" that he accidentally loses off his head but is always nearby, the bits with his cigarette smoking, saloon trips to keep "from getting dry", and how he walks or talks himself into one loony situation after another (sometimes by just being in a certain place, mostly the saloon, as characters appear and emerge) comprise this busy film. The movie doesn't operate under the formula of a moving plot that focuses on a singular story, The Bank Dick is more or less Fields' adventures and encounters that often present potential trouble or hardship. The end allows him to get out of every one of them and go away with a happy ending. My favorite bits involve Fields with the bank examiner. The film uses every bit of the town as Fields always winds up (even if inadvertently) in the middle of the most active of events happening there. I would be remiss to not mention that Shemp Howard has a supporting part as the operator of the Black Pussy Saloon.
His vernacular, reactions to sudden people that jolt him when he turns around, his shtick with a "getaway hat" that he accidentally loses off his head but is always nearby, the bits with his cigarette smoking, saloon trips to keep "from getting dry", and how he walks or talks himself into one loony situation after another (sometimes by just being in a certain place, mostly the saloon, as characters appear and emerge) comprise this busy film. The movie doesn't operate under the formula of a moving plot that focuses on a singular story, The Bank Dick is more or less Fields' adventures and encounters that often present potential trouble or hardship. The end allows him to get out of every one of them and go away with a happy ending. My favorite bits involve Fields with the bank examiner. The film uses every bit of the town as Fields always winds up (even if inadvertently) in the middle of the most active of events happening there. I would be remiss to not mention that Shemp Howard has a supporting part as the operator of the Black Pussy Saloon.