Hi there, sorry I have been on hiatus for a while. Besides being busy as usual, I am trying to figure out my next film review to write about. Anyway, The Bank Dick (1940) is on “Turner Classic Movies” tonight at 8/7 p.m. central. This is part of TCM’s “Essentials Jr.” all summer long. As usual SNL comedian Bill Hader will be introducing the film. Along with 1934’s It’s a Gift, The Bank Dick represents W.C. Fields at his best. Unlike Buster Keaton or Charlie Chaplin, the screen persona of W.C. Fields represented that of an alcoholic vulgarian with hatred towards animals, children, women etc. In addition, he was also egotistical. One wonders how The Hays Code (1930-1968) could accept a character like this at the time without toning him down dramatically. A character like this could even be celebrated as an average everyday hero. One film of his that does just that is The Bank Dick. The plot has W.C. Fields as Egbert Souse, a drunken unemployed buffoon, who takes a job as a film director to support his family. When he is wrongfully credited with stopping a robbery, he becomes a bank guard. I will just stop right here and tell you that hilarity ensues. Can’t wait to revisit it tonight.