Never Give a Sucker an Even Break is a 1941 film about a man who wants to sell a film story to Esoteric Studios. On the way he gets insulted by little boys, beaten up for ogling a woman, and abused by a waitress. W. C. Fields' last starring role in a feature-length film.
Writing
Fields wrote it drunk, fought studio cuts, lost spectacularly
Production
The 'Russian village' set is gloriously fake and Fields knows it
Director
Edward F. Cline
W.C. Fields
The Great Man
Gloria Jean
His Niece
Leon Errol
His Rival
Billy Lenhart
His Heckler (as Butch)
Kenneth Brown
His Heckler (as Buddy)
Margaret Dumont
Mrs. Hemogloben
Susan Miller
Ouilotta Hemogloben
Franklin Pangborn
The Producer
Mona Barrie
The Producer's Wife
Charles Lang
The Young Engineer
Anne Nagel
Madame Gorgeous
Nell O'Day
The Salesgirl
Irving Bacon
The Soda Jerk
Jody Gilbert
The Waitress
Minerva Urecal
The Cleaning Lady
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Universal hated it so much they buried it as a B-picture. Fields never starred in another film.
The film's nested structure—movie-within-movie-within-dream—predicts 8½ and Adaptation by decades, but with more drinking.
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