The Devil and Max Devlin is a 1981 live-action Disney dark fantasy comedy film starring Bill Cosby as Barney Satin and Elliott Gould as Max Devlin. It was directed by Steven Hilliard Stern. The screenplay was done by Freaky Friday (1976) writer Mary Rodgers from a story made by her and Jimmy Sangster, a prolific Hammer Horror writer.
Max (Ellott Gould) is a selfish, sleazy landlord who got hit by a bus and was sent straight to Hell. There, he meets the Devil's assistant, Barney Satin (Bill Cosby). Barney offers to spare him if he can get three other people to take his place (by tricking them into signing contracts for their souls). Max agrees at first, but as he gets to know his victims, he comes to regret his decision.
The film has a rather colorful history as it started life as an unproduced Hammer Horror film written by Sangster titled The Fairlytale Man. It would star Vincent Price as an undead actor collecting souls for the Devil. Sangster then sold the rights to Disney and this was the result. It is noteworthy for being an unconventional Disney film in that it is Darker and Edgier than typical Disney fare at the time and even prior to that. Not only that, but it also stars Bill Cosby in an unusual antagonistic role. This film, along with Condorman, another Disney film that came out the same year, and the somewhat more successful 1982 film TRON, led to the creation of two production labels for Disney to output mature-oriented content; Touchstone Pictures and Hollywood Pictures. This is Disney's second PG-rated film right after the 1979 film The Black Hole.
This film contains examples of:
- Berserk Button: When Barney reveals he had lied about a certain term of Max's deal with him, Max knowingly risks eternal damnation to save them from that fate.
- Big "NEVER!": Max says this when he burns the contracts in an effort to save the children's souls.Max: You'll never get these kids! NEVER!
- Card-Carrying Villain: Hell's operatives are definitely not afraid to play dirty when collecting souls. Lampshaded when Agent Hargraves reveals herself to Max.Max: That's entrapment! It's not fair!
Barney: "Fair"? Are you forgetting where you are? - Corrupt Corporate Executive: Hell resembles a corporate headquarters and Barney Satin is a demonic businessman, of course.
- Curse Cut Short: At the end, when Max realizes that he had save himself by saving the three:Max: I beat that lousy, rotten slimy son of a bi—!
Penny: Beat who?
Max: Barney. I beat Barney! - Darker and Edgier: Compared to other Disney films at the time, and even prior to that, which are Lighter and Softer comedies that are family-friendly, this film is anything but. But it is still PG, so it has its limits. However, the PG-13 rating wouldn't be created in the next couple of years. At the time, Disney had a reputation of being kid-friendly. So, the then-struggling company decided to break boundaries and make films that are more adult-oriented, at least, as far as they would go at the time.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Because Max wants the children to live out their natural lives, Barney's demand that he take their souls now pushes him to pull a Heel–Face Turn.
- Family-Unfriendly Violence: Described in graphic and hellish detail even for a Disney movie by Barney when threatening Max during his Villainous Breakdown, albeit in an exaggerated manner.Barney: Burn those contracts, and eternal damnation is YOURS! You'll know the UNMITIGATING PAIN AND HORROR of limbs being torn from their sockets—YOUR limbs, YOUR sockets! You'll feel pain you NEVER imagined in your life—yours, forever! Flesh you'll smell burning—YOUR flesh, ROTTING FOREVER!
- Faustian Bargain: Barney Satin offers to restore Max Devlin to life if he gave him the souls of three children within a month.
- Foreshadowing: When he first appears, Barney hints at Hell's pride in dirty tricks in the name of collecting souls. He attempts to use dirty tricks himself later on, after all three of his target souls have been secured.
- Heroic Breakdown: Max goes through this after Barney Satin lied to him and said that he would get their souls by midnight.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Max burns the kids' contracts, yelling to the Devil that he'll never take them! NEVER! Subverted a few scenes later when, as he says his final goodbyes to the youths he had gotten to know through the contracts, he passes a mirror by chance and finds out that Redemption Earns Life.
- I Lied: Barney, after Max fulfills his Deal with the Devil. This pushes Max's Berserk Button so hard he actually destroys the contracts.
- Magical Negro: Barney Satin who provided Max with supernatural powers.
- Louis Cypher: Barney Satin. Now what other word does "Satin" resemble?
- Novelization: By Robert Grossbach.
- Redemption Earns Life: As Max found out by chance when he passes by a mirror and sees his own reflection, realizing that he actually beat the Devil by choosing to preserve the kids' souls over his own and that his selfless sacrifice deemed him unworthy of hell. He doesn't forget to thank God for His wonderful mercy during a concert held by one of the youths at the end of the film.Max: Thank you very much.
[credits roll] - Sadistic Choice: This is during Barney's Villainous Breakdown. "Burn those contracts, and eternal damnation is YOURS!" Of course, considering Max knew he'd be going back to Hell anyway when he died and his top priority now was keeping the three alive, he decided he may as well get his eternal damnation over with and burned the contracts anyway. To even his own surprise, he managed to get the Devil off his back forever in doing so.
- Scary Black Man: Barney Satin, especially when he goes full devil near the end.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: What happens to the kids after they sign the contracts.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Part of Max's Character Development, coming from the time he spends with the kids changing him to the point that he burns the contracts to save them at the risk of eternal damnation.
- Villainous Breakdown: Barney Satin revealed his true demonic form and threatened eternal damnation at Max if he burned the contracts.
