A man in a polka dot tie leans on a desk while two other men, one in a police uniform and another in a suit, engage in conversation.

W.C. Fields and the Gospel of Irreverence: The Bank Dick

part of Slapstick Festival 2026

Film

Please note: This was screened in Feb 2026

Director: Edward F. Cline, Ralph Ceder
Details: 72 mins, 1940, USA

Irreverent, subversive and gloriously funny, The Bank Dick (1940) remains one of W.C. Fields’ greatest comedies – and a perfect gateway into Slapstick’s ongoing exploration of faith, morality and rebellion in screen humour.

Fields plays Egbert Sousé, a perpetually inebriated dreamer who blunders into becoming a small-town hero and then a bank guard, where his chaotic misadventures dismantle respectability from within. Every scene preaches Fields’ personal “gospel of irreverence”. A timely sermon against pomposity and moral pretence.

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