Movie Type: Heaven-Can-Wait Fantasies, Fantasy Comedy
Themes: Redemption, Deal With the Devil
Main Cast: Elliott Gould, Bill Cosby, Susan Anspach, Adam Rich, Julie Budd
Release Year: 1981
Country: US
Run Time: 96 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
The title character, a nasty landlord (Elliott Gould), is killed in a car accident and descends into hell. There he meets the Devil (Bill Cosby), who promises him his life back if he can find three people willing to sell their souls in three months. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
Review
In all of its decades of success, Walt Disney Studios never felt compelled to make anything but G-rated films, so when they finally decided to produce a PG-rated picture in 1981, one would have expected them to have a film so good, so perfect, that changing any of it to achieve a G-rating would be a travesty. But they made The Devil and Max Devlin instead, a sloppy, uneven comedy that might better have been titled "Hell Can Wait." Elliott Gould's good-for-nothing landlord is unconvincing as both a bad guy and a converted good guy, and Bill Cosby once again proves himself unable to play anyone but Bill Cosby, with a turn as the dark lord Satan. There are a couple of forced chuckles, but even they are few and far-between, making the only real interesting part of the whole experience the performance by Streisand-lookalike Julie Budd as an aspiring pop singer. Why the filmmakers did this is uncertain, but the fact that the character is supposed to be Babs is indisputable and kind of fun to speculate about given the songstress and Gould's history. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
David Knell - Nerve Nordlinger; James Almanzar - Ticket Taker; Mark Andrews - Jock #3; Nick Angotti - TV Reporter; Army Archerd - Himself; Wally K. Berns - Fan at Party; Stanley Brock - Counterman; Richard Crystal - Award Presenter; Denise Du Barry - Secretary; Vic Dunlop - Brian; Steve Eastin - Larry Binder; Stu Gilliam - Orderly; Ernest Harada - Motorcycle Scout #1; Richard Lasting - Fan #2 at Grammy's; Ruth Manning - Mrs. Davis; Sally K. Marr - Mrs. Gormley; Gary Morgan - Record Store D.J.; Lillian Muller - Veronica, Devil Council; Reggie Nalder - Chairman of Devil's Council; Ted Noose - Officer; Julie Parrish - Sheila; Roger Price - Old Man; Pete Renaday - Studio Engineer; Sheila Rogers - Mrs. Pepper; Jackie Russell - Carnival Kid's Mom; Tracie Savage - Pammy; Ronnie Schell - Greg Weems; Chuck Shamata - Jerry Nadler; Sonny Shroyer - Big Billy Hunniker; Mindy Sterling - Fan #1 at Grammy's; Robert S. Telford - Camper Owner; Susan Tolsky - Nerve's Mom; Jeannie Wilson - Laverne Hunniker; Helene Winston - Agent Hargraves; Robert V. Barron - Mr. Pepper; Chip Courtland - Jock #1; Tak Kubota - Bruce (Devil Council); Vernon Weddle - Justice of the Peace; Madelyn Cates - Mrs. Trent; Bill Saito - Motorcycle Scout #2; Joseph Burke - Steven (Devil Council)
Credit
Leon R. Harris - Art Director, John Mansbridge - Art Director, Bill Thomas - Costume Designer, Irby Smith - First Assistant Director, Steven Hilliard Stern - Director, Raymond A. de Leuw - Editor, Ron Miller - Executive Producer, Buddy Baker - Composer (Music Score), Marvin Hamlisch - Composer (Music Score), Carole Bayer Sager - Songwriter, Louis Mann - Production Designer, Howard Schwartz - Cinematographer, Jerome Courtland - Producer, Art Cruickshank - Special Effects, Danny Lee - Special Effects, Willie D. Burton - Sound/Sound Designer, Jimmy Sangster - Screen Story, Mary Rodgers - Screenwriter
The Devil and Max Devlin is a motion picture from Walt Disney studios directed by Steven Hilliard Stern and released in early 1981 starring Elliott Gould and Bill Cosby. Gould praised this film in interviews as the finest he ever did. It was considered to be controversial material from Walt Disney at the time because of the subject matter and the fact that Bill Cosby was featured as a character of evil. It was also the first Disney film to actually contain swearing (not just religious connotations) such as "damn" and an unfinished "son of a bitch". This film was one of three films that influenced the creation of Touchstone Pictures and Hollywood Pictures to make movies for mature audiences. The film was released by Anchor Bay Entertainment on DVD in November 2000.
Plot Summary
Max Devlin (Gould) is a shady landlord of a rundown tenement who is rather jaded and callous towards his fellow man. One day while chasing an errant tenant, he is run over by a bus and killed. He descends into hell and meets the Devil's chief henchman Barney Satin (read: Satan) (Cosby). He is told of his life of sin and the fact that he is doomed. However, he is given a chance to save himself by convincing three other people, a teenage nerd, a young boy and an aspiring singer to sell their souls in exchange. He returns to earth and begins his frantic quest. Along the way, he discovers his innate decency, the fact he really wasn't so bad all along. He falls in love with the boy's mother and they plan to marry. Eventually, through various methods, he obtains all three signatures on the fatal contract. However, on his wedding day Cosby's character appears and tells him he will take these chosen ones right now rather than let them live natural lives. Max is enraged by this and prepares to tear up the contracts. In the film's most intense scene, Cosby appears in full devil regalia and screams at Max of his terrible hellish fate if he burns the contracts. Max does so anyway and suddenly realizes he is living again. His kind, unselfish act was deemed unfit for hell. The last scene shows Max looking upward (as a reference to Heaven) and saying "Thank you very much".
