You Can't Cheat an Honest Man

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You Can't Cheat an Honest Man
Directed by	George Marshall Edward F. Cline (uncredited)
Produced by	Lester Cowan
Written by	Charles Bogle (story) Everett Freeman (screenplay} Richard Mack (screenplay) George Marion Jr. (screenplay)
Starring	W.C. Fields Edgar Bergen Charlie McCarthy
Cinematography	Milton R. Krasner
Editing by	Otto Ludwig
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	February 18, 1939
Running time	76 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
IMDb profile

You Can't Cheat an Honest Man is a 1939 comedy film starring and scripted by W.C. Fields.

Fields plays "Larsen E. Whipsnade", the owner of a shady carnival that is constantly on the run from the law. The whimsical title comes from a line in an earlier film, in which he says that his grandfather's last words, "just before they sprung the trap", were "You can't cheat an honest man; never give a sucker an even break, or smarten up a chump."

The film features Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, capitalizing on the popularity of their ongoing radio "feud" with Fields.

A scene from the film is featured in the opening to Dummy.

[edit] Plot summary

Whipsnade is struggling to keep a step ahead of foreclosure, and clearly not paying his performers, including Bergen and McCarthy, who try to coax money out of him, or in McCarthy's case, steal some outright. Whipsnade's co-ed daughter pays a visit and falls in love with Bergen, but after she sees the financial mess her father is in, she decides to marry a tiresome young millionaire. Whipsnade initially approves of the marriage, and just to be sure the penniless Bergen doesn't win out (and make McCarthy an in-law), he sets the pair adrift in a hot-air balloon. However, Whipsnade creates a scene at the engagement party, and father and daughter escape together in a chariot, with Bergen and McCarthy in pursuit.