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The Bank
Dick (1940)
In one of W.C. Fields' classic
comedies:
- to escape from his family in Lompoc, who were complaining:
"House just smells of liquor and smoke," lush Egbert Souse
(pronounced Soo-say) (W.C. Fields) often snuck out to the Black Pussy
Cat Cafe, where he often performed a drinking routine in front of
bar proprietor Joe Guelpe (Shemp Howard, one of the replacement Three
Stooges) - he dipped his fingers in a glass of water, dried them
with a paper napkin that he crumpled and rolled into a ball, then
tossed it into the air over his shoulder and neatly kicked it away
with the heel of his shoe, followed by a burb and cough
- the sequence of Egbert's opportunity to direct a movie
in town (to replace drunken director A. Pismo Clam (Jack Norton))
- to his family's astonishment - his cranky mother-in-law Mrs. Hermisillo
Brunch (Jessie Ralph), his younger daughter Elsie Mae Adele Brunch
Souse (Evelyn Del Rio), and his wife Agatha Sousé (Cora Witherspoon);
after his chair toppled backwards off his majestic perch on the platform,
Elsie Mae approached, pulled on his coat tails, and demanded a part
in the picture: "I wanna be in the picture (he deferred her
request by patting her on the head)...What's the matter, Pop? Don't
ya love me?"; when Egbert went to slug her, Cora threatened: "Don't
you dare strike that child!" - to which Egbert replied: "She's
not gonna tell me I don't love her!"
- to be rewarded for allegedly capturing Loudmouth McNasty
(George Moran), one of two bank robbers with the money, Egbert met
with the pompous but grateful Lompoc State Bank president Mr. Skinner
(Pierre Watkin) to be congratulated on his daring, gallant deed:
"And I wish to personally give you a hearty handclasp"; Skinner
avoided shaking Sousè's outstretched limp-wristed hand, barely
touching the tips of his fingers to his palm
- the scenes of Egbert's ill-advised embezzlement plan
(with the complicity of his future son-in-law Og Oggilby (Grady Sutton),
the fiancee of his oldest daughter Myrtle (Una Merkel)) to temporarily
steal $500 from the bank (until he can repay the money with Og's
bonus due in a few days) to invest in stock in the questionable Beefsteak
Mining Company - offered by charlatan J. Frothingham Waterbury (Russell
Hicks); to convince Og, Egbert told him: "Surely, don't be a
luddie-duddie, don't be a moon-calf, don't be a jabbernow, you're
not those, are you?"
- the scene after Egbert was hired as a vigilant bank
security dick - he choked a young boy in a cowboy outfit waving a
toy gun - believing that he was a holdup man - as the bratty boy
walked out of the bank, he ridiculed the guard's shiny, bulbous red
nose: "Mommy, doesn't that man have a funny nose?" His
mother chided him for making fun: "You mustn't make fun of the
gentleman, Clifford. You'd like to have a nose like that full of
nickels, wouldn't you?"
- Souse's use of knock-out Mickey Finn drinks to hold
off effeminate, inquisitive and persistent bank examiner/auditor
J. Pinkerton Snoopington (Franklin Pangborn) - who was suspicious
of Egbert's financial dealings
- and his memorable, zany, slapstick getaway car chase
scene as a "hostage" with the second uncaught bank robber
Repulsive Rogan (Al Hill) in the back seat - it was a superbly-timed
chase amongst multiple cars (Souse's car was followed by the local
police, the bank president, and a representative from the movie
company) zoomed and circled around, barely avoiding crashing into
each other or other obstacles in the path - the getaway car careened
through streets, over ditches (over the heads of ditchdiggers),
around curves and up a mountainside, missing collisions at every
turn with the pursuit vehicles. When asked by the thug in the back
seat to give him the wheel, Egbert matter-of-factly pulled it off
the steering column and gave it to him; when the robber was struck
unconscious and apprehended, Sousè was an unlikely hero
once again for thwarting another heist
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Egbert's Drinking Routine at The Black Pussy Cat Cafe
Egbert Substituting For Drunken Movie Director
Egbert's Astonished Family
Elsie Mae Demanding a Part in the Movie
Egbert's "Hearty Handclasp" With the Bank President
Egbert to Og: "Don't be a luddy-duddy. Don't be a
moon calf..."
Egbert (Bank Dick) Fighting with Young Boy in the Bank
Meeting the Suspicious Bank Examiner J. Pinkerton Snoopington
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