BEFORE: Sticking with the Devil theme, and it isn't even Halloween. (Damn, maybe I should've thought of that and saved this for late October. Oh, well.) Linking from "Bedazzled" is simple, since Raquel Welch co-starred in a film called "Mother, Jugs & Speed" with Bill Cosby (last seen in "Jack").
THE PLOT: When Max dies in an accident, he goes straight to hell. But the devil's assistant makes him an offer: if he manages to get three innocent youths to sell him their souls in the next two months, he may stay on earth.
AFTER: This film begins with a crooked landlord dying, and falling into the fiery netherworld. And yet, somehow, this is a Disney film? This is the type of film that Disney Co. made in the early 80's, when it seemed like they were losing their way a bit. After magical characters like Mary Poppins and umm, Pete's Dragon, somebody thought it would be a good idea to explore the magical nature of Satan and the inner workings of Hell.
This is another instance of Hell being run like a corporate boardroom, with the Devil's helpers wearing nice suits and sitting at a giant table, making deals. They've got Max's soul already locked up, but they figure if they turn him into an agent for Satan, they can send him back and get him to turn three other souls, ones they ordinarily wouldn't get, they'll come out ahead on the deal.
So I'll admit it's a unique twist - instead of Satan fulfilling people's fantasies, a regular guy is given the power to do so, so it's like the Stanley and George characters got combined a little bit. There used to be a show called "Fantasy Island", where each week different guest stars would play people who came to a tropical paradise because they wanted to be a famous skier or something (you know, that does sound odd, now that I think of it...) only to have their fantasy come true, go a bit wrong, and learn that perhaps their regular life wasn't so bad. I was always waiting for the next episode to reveal that Mr. Roarke's magical powers weren't coming from the man upstairs, but from the one down below. Didn't happen.
Anyway, Max is given the task to get three "kids" (two of them look like they're in their mid-20's, though...) to sign away their souls. He does this by helping them become a famous singer, a famous motocross racer (that's it, aim high, kid), and a kid with a dad. That last one stings, because the kid is so young! Jeez, it's the cute kid from "Eight Is Enough", for chrissakes! At what point should he realize he's doing something wrong? Maybe when he first meets him at a carnival and seems like a pedophile? What's the kid doing alone at a carnival anyway?
This gets even creepier later on, when the kid feels weird about the guy trying to get him to sign a contract, and tries to tell his mother that there's "something wrong with Uncle Max". See, lady, this is the point when any sane mother would call the police. Her kid is crying for help, and she just shrugs it off?
The singer bears more than a passing resemblance, and vocal similarity, to Barbra Streisand, one wonders if this was an inside joke, considering she was once married to the star of this film. The songs written by (the now-late) Marvin Hamlisch probably go a long way toward reinforcing that as well.
The most sensible way for Max to get out of his deal with the Devil probably would have just been to stop corrupting the other souls, consigning his own to Hell. But this would have been a selfless act, and perhaps that would have been enough to tip the scales in his favor. Instead he relied on some divine intervention here, and then...you know, I'm not really sure how he got out of the deal. It's all a bit fuzzy, since he never had a contract that signed away his own soul. But even though he failed, he kind of succeeded, erm, somehow.
Starring Elliott Gould (last seen in "Capricorn One"), Susan Anspach (last seen in "Five Easy Pieces"), Adam Rich, Julie Budd, David Knell (last seen in "Total Recall").
RATING: 3 out of 10 palmetto bugs
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