''Oh, God! You Devil'' is a 1984 American

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending ( black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the o ...

starring

George Burns George Burns (born Nathan Birnbaum; January 20, 1896March 9, 1996) was an American comedian, actor, writer, and singer, and one of the few entertainers whose career successfully spanned vaudeville, radio, film and television. His arched eyebr ...

Ted Wass Edward Wass (born October 27, 1952) is an American television director and former actor. He is best known for his roles as Danny Dallas on the series ''Soap'' (1977–1981) and as Nick Russo on the NBC sitcom ''Blossom'' (1991–1995). After '' ...

Ron Silver Ronald Arthur Silver (July 2, 1946 – March 15, 2009) was an American actor/activist, director, producer, and radio host. As an actor, he portrayed Henry Kissinger, Alan Dershowitz and Angelo Dundee. He was awarded a Tony in 1988 for Best Acto ...

and

Roxanne Hart Roxanne Hart (born July 27, 1952) is an American actress, best known for her roles as Brenda Wyatt in the 1986 film ''Highlander'', and as Nurse Camille Shutt on the CBS medical drama series ''Chicago Hope'' (1994–1998). Hart has also received ...

. Directed by

Paul Bogart Paul Bogart (né Bogoff; November 13, 1919 – April 15, 2012) was an American television director and producer. Bogart directed episodes of the television series Way Out'' in 1961, '' Coronet Blue'' in 1967, '' Get Smart'', '' The Dumplings' ...

and produced by Robert M. Sherman, the screenplay is by

Andrew Bergman Andrew Bergman (born February 20, 1945) is an American screenwriter, film director, and novelist. His best-known films include ''Blazing Saddles'', '' The In-Laws'', '' The Freshman'' and '' Striptease''. Early life Born to a Jewish family, Ber ...

. ''Oh, God! You Devil'' is the third and final installment in the ''Oh, God!'' film series, following '' Oh, God!'' (1977) and ''

Oh, God! Book II ''Oh, God! Book II'' is a 1980 American comedy film and a sequel to the film '' Oh, God!'' (1977). It was directed by Gilbert Cates, and stars George Burns, Suzanne Pleshette, David Birney and Louanne Sirota. Joyce Brothers and Hugh Downs als ...

'' (1980), based on the 1971 novel of the same title by Avery Corman. George Burns received a

Saturn Award The Saturn Awards are American awards presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. The awards were created to honor science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, but have since grown to reward other films be ...

nomination Nomination is part of the process of selecting a candidate for either election to a public office, or the bestowing of an honor or award. A collection of nominees narrowed from the full list of candidates is a short list. Political office In the ...

for

Best Actor Best Actor is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actors in a film, television series, television film or play. The term most often refers to the ...

for his performance.

Plot

Burns plays the

dual role A dual role (also known as a double role) refers to one actor playing two roles in a single production. Dual roles (or a larger number of roles for an actor) may be deliberately written into a script, or may instead be a choice made during produc ...

s of both

God In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...

and the

Devil A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of ...

. The Devil, using the name Harry O. Tophet (Tophet is a Hebrew word for "Hell"), is a lively character, taking pleasure in petty acts of PG-rated malice, such as making a waiter fall into a pool. The movie tells the story of a struggling rock musician/songwriter, Bobby Shelton (played by Wass), who cannot get a break. Bobby, desperate to support his wife, Wendy (

), and start a family, muses that he would sell his soul to the Devil to get ahead. The Devil begins to appear to Bobby as a prospective agent and offers Shelton a deal—seven years of unprecedented fame and fortune. Shelton balks at the deal and so Tophet renegotiates claiming that it will be for a "trial period", urging Bobby to leave his earnest agent Charlie (

Eugene Roche Eugene Harrison Roche (September 22, 1928 – July 28, 2004) was an American actor and the original " Ajax Man" in 1970s television commercials. Personal life Roche was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Mary M. (née Finnegan ...

). Shelton signs the document, but his signature transforms into that of established rock star Billy Wayne ( Robert Desiderio), the last person to whom Tophet offered this deal, and soon after Bobby realizes that he has sold his soul to the Devil. Shelton discovers that, though he now has the big success he wanted after a mammoth concert tour, he has lost his identity—he is now Billy Wayne. As such, his family is now someone else's—the former Billy Wayne, whose life Tophet now controls and who has assumed Bobby's identity. He also discovers that his wife is pregnant with his child. Realizing that he is trapped, Bobby asks for help from God, who has been watching over him, finally succeeding when, as Billy Wayne, he travels to Las Vegas for important shows. God appears after Bobby has "the Lord" paged in a hotel lobby and offers to help. During a climactic

poker Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game wa ...

game between God and the Devil over Bobby's soul, God raises the stakes while Bobby under Tophet's machinations attempts suicide. God claims that if he loses, in addition to Bobby's soul, he will stop protecting all those on "his list". If God wins, the Devil would be prevented from meddling with any of those on the list, even if they beg for his assistance. Considering the loss too high, Tophet folds, and finds that God had been bluffing, winning by, in God's words, "I put the fear of ME in YOU.", and that part of the reason he had intervened for Bobby was because the Devil had become too arrogant and cocky. Bobby rises from the floor of the dressing room and slips away as staffers discover the corpse of Billy Wayne, who had committed suicide. In the end, God meets with Bobby and tells him about how his father once prayed for him when he was a sick child, and that since then, God has kept his eye on him. After warning Bobby that the next time he will not bail him out, Shelton returns to happiness in a simple life with his loving wife and daughter. Years later, his daughter becomes sick and Bobby says the same prayer that his father did. The movie ends with Bobby, God, and the spirit of Bobby's father singing to his daughter the same song Bobby's father used to sing to him, "Fugue for Tinhorns" from the musical ''Guys and Dolls''.

Cast

as God and the Devil (Harry O. Tophet) *

as Bobby Shelton *

as Gary Frantz *

as Wendy Shelton *

as Charlie Gray * Janet Brandt as Mrs. K * Robert Desiderio as Billy Wayne * John Doolittle as Arthur Shelton * Julie Lloyd as Bea Shelton *

Belita Moreno Aurabela "Belita" Moreno (born November 1, 1949) is an American actress best known for her roles as Benita "Benny" Lopez on the ABC sitcom '' George Lopez'' and Edwina Twinkacetti and Lydia Markham on '' Perfect Strangers''. Early life Aurabela ...

as Mrs. Vega * Jason Wingreen as hotel manager * Susan Peretz as Louise *

Robert Picardo Robert Alphonse Picardo (born October 27, 1953) is an American actor. He is best known for playing the Cowboy in '' Innerspace'', Coach Cutlip on '' The Wonder Years'', Captain Dick Richard on the ABC series ''China Beach'', the Doctor on '' S ...

as Joe Ortiz *

Arthur Malet Arthur is a common male given name of Brythonic origin. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. The etymology is disputed. It may derive from the Celtic ''Artos'' meaning “Bear”. Another theory, more w ...

as houseman *

James Cromwell James Oliver Cromwell (born January 27, 1940) is an American actor and activist. Some of his best-known films include '' Babe'' (1995), '' Star Trek: First Contact'' (1996), ''L.A. Confidential'' (1997), '' The Green Mile'' (1999), '' The Queen' ...

as priest * Arnold Johnson as preacher * Brandy Gold as Bobby's daughter * Lois Wilde as casino patron (uncredited)

Production

After the success of ''Oh God!'' Warner Bros. approached other writers for sequels. They commissioned Josh Greenfield to write one and Andrew Bergman another. Bergman rewrote a play he had on his shelf about a songwriter who sells his soul to the devil. "Not a good play, but it was there sitting on my shelf," he says. "For me it was just an attempt to salvage something that I thought was a cute idea and was going nowhere. Also, I wanted to work with George Burns. This to me was linking up with a previous era of comedy... George was just the most fantastic person. He's so smart. Every single thing he said was funny."

Reception

Based on 11 reviews, the film has a 36% rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

References

External links

* * {{Faust navbox 1984 comedy films 1984 films 1980s fantasy comedy films American fantasy comedy films American sequel films The Devil in film Films about God Films about music and musicians Films based on American novels Films based on fantasy novels Films directed by Paul Bogart Films scored by David Shire Films set in Los Angeles Warner Bros. films Works based on the Faust legend Films with screenplays by Andrew Bergman 1980s English-language films 1980s American films