“I Put The Fear of Me In You”
George Burns as a Lovable Satan
“If I didn’t exist, God would’ve had to make me up. I make him look good.”
Harry Tophet aka The Devil (George Burns) in Oh God! You Devil (1984)
What do Al Pacino, George Burns, and Elizabeth Hurley each have in common?
They each play three of my favorite versions of the “Dark One.” I’m talking about the evil and unstoppable “Demon.” The “Beast” whom we all fear and who invades our nightmares.
I’m talking about none other than Tom Cruise.
(OK, I’m not, but there are so many Cruise haters out there that I couldn’t resist.)
Of course, Pacino, Burns, and Hurley have memorably put their respective spins on Satan. Pacino brought Shakespearian fire and fury, Burns delivered good old mischievousness, and Hurley oozed with sexy style.
While on the surface, Pacino and Hurley would seem no-brainers to play the devil, George Burns seems like the odd man out among movie Satans.
The reason? Because he already made his mark on the other side of the coin, as the Almighty.
1977’s Oh, God! saw the pitch-perfect casting of Burns as a wise and good-humored Creator who wanted John Denver’s good man to spread the good word. Coming on the heels of the unlikely comeback of 80-year-old Burns with his Oscar-winning performance in The Sunshine Boys, Burns’ casting as God was such a perfect stroke of genius that the joke could have been that God was waiting for Burns to grow into the role.
Oh, God’s success made a sequel inevitable, despite screenwriter Larry Gelbart’s insistence that it would not be credible for God to come down to Earth more than once. 1980’s Oh, God: Book II was essentially a carbon copy of the original, just lowering the age for God’s chosen messenger from a 30-something man to a teenage girl. The film failed at the box office, unable to draw even the teenage audiences who made up Burns’ biggest box office draw during this comeback period.
(Burns likely preceded Tony Bennett and Johnny Cash in proving that old-timers could draw young audiences.)
For 1984’s Oh, God! You Devil, the filmmakers shook up the formula of the first two movies. Instead of God coming down to ask a good soul to spread his word, God was now on a mission to save a good soul. The fun twist is the good soul in question had sold his soul to someone who looked familiar.
Struggling singer/songwriter Bobby Sheldon (Ted Wass) is barely staying afloat, unable to get his music heard by anyone. With a pregnant wife at home, and a hapless agent (Eugene Roache) whose best offers for Sheldon are to sing at birthday parties for rich folks, it is only a matter of time before Bobby utters those famous Faustian words:
“I’d sell my soul to make it in this business.”
Right on cue, God suddenly appears, or rather, someone who looks like God appears, but with red-tinted glasses.
Harry O. Tophet (Burns) shows up at one of Bobby’s reluctant birthday gigs. Introducing himself as one of the top music managers, Harry promises Bobby that he can make him a music superstar overnight. Bobby drops his old agent after Harry arranges a meeting with a top music label head (Ron Silver.) Bobby senses something suspicious, but when Harry agrees to a trial period of representation, Bobby signs with Harry, and suddenly is signed to the music label.
Unfortunately, Bobby doesn’t know that while he will be a big star, it will not be as himself, but as current superstar Billy Wayne. As it turns out, Harry aka Satan has used the “Billy Wayne” persona as his trap for aspiring musicians willing to sell their souls. The catch is that the deal lasts seven years, and when it is up….
Well, let’s say we get a hint of it early on when Harry has to take care of the previous “Billy Wayne” (soap star Robert Desiderio) whom Bobby will be succeeding.
With Bobby slipped into Wayne’s shoes, his dreams are fulfilled, and then some. He is selling out arenas, hitting the top of the charts, and being seduced by a parade of gorgeous women.
Oh, did I forget to mention that since he is no longer Bobby Sheldon, someone else takes his place in that persona, and therefore takes Bobby’s place as a husband and expectant father.
If you know the legend of Faust, you know what follows. Bobby (the real “Bobby”) gains the world but loses what matters to him most, his family and himself. To make matters worse, there is the little matter of his soul. Harry had promised that Bobby’s deal was only for a “trial period”, but is the Devil known for honesty?
Now, if you know the legend of Oh, God, you also know what follows. Burns will make his inevitable return as He who we all know and love.
As part of the shakeup for this third Oh, God, Burns’ God does not appear on screen as much as Burns’ Devil. God makes what amounts to a cameo appearance in the film’s climax when Bobby is at his lowest. By then, Bobby is not only trapped, but he’s unable to convince anybody he has been duped. (Among those Bobby tries to convince is a pre-Babe James Cromwell as a confused priest.)
“You made a deal with the Devil. How dumb could you be?” — God dropping a little tough love on Bobby.
Since Burns was pulling double duty, we would see George Burns go at it with…George Burns.
Few on-screen showdowns between God and the Devil have been as fun.
Fitting for a George Burns movie, God and Satan face off not on top of a mountain, but at a Vegas blackjack table. I won’t say much about who emerges as the winner of this George Burns. Vs. George Burns match. (Hint: It’s George Burns.)
Surprisingly, that fun showdown is played against a dark backdrop for Bobby, who contemplates a drastic solution to end Satan’s pull over him. As a result, as much as you’re laughing at Burns’ little quips (as both characters), you are also fearful of what Bobby might do which will make God’s task all for naught.
Paul Bogart, best known for directing television series like All in The Family, Get Smart, and early episodes of The Golden Girls, directs the movie with a steady hand. However, the film’s MVP (other than George Burns) is screenwriter Andrew Bergman. If you have enjoyed classic film comedies of the last 50 years, chances are Bergman had a hand in writing some of those. Here are some examples.
· 1974’s Blazing Saddles, which he co-wrote with Mel Brooks and Richard Pryor
· The great Peter Falk-Alan Arkin team-up The In-Laws (1979)
· The Freshman (1990), featuring Marlon Brando famously parodying his iconic Don Vito Corleone.
· 1992’s Honeymoon in Vegas, which he also directed, with Nicolas Cage, James Caan, Sarah Jessica Parker, and a skydiving army of Elvises.
· 1996’s Striptease, which I know has its detractors, but Burt Reynolds is hilarious in that film.
Discounting the second Oh, God, if any screenwriter could meet the challenge of following comedy icons Larry Gelbart and Carl Reiner with the original, Bergman certainly could. What he does with Burns’ Tophet is delicious. In his nightclub act, Burns was known for, within his old-timer persona, sneaking a naughty sense of mischief.
The sweetheart and the mischief-maker who both exist inside Burns’ persona made him one of the few people who could conceivably get away with playing both the creator and the deceiver. Burns’ Devil is friendly and good-natured. Tophet appears, in his gentle way, to embody what Al Pacino’s Satan famously declared:
“I cared about what he [Man] wanted, and I never judged him. Why? Because I never rejected him.” — John Milton (Pacino)
Of course, the teddy-bear quality Burns delivers is a perfect set-up for the deceptive pull that one expects from Satan. While Tophet never goes all “fire and fury”, his quiet evil is more chilling. Of course, like the best villains, Burns always provides the glint of clear fun that any good Satan should offer. His little asides with God are perfect asides of comic timing, matched only by God’s responses.
Ted Wass, who had tried and failed to fill Peter Sellers’ shoes as an American answer to Inspector Clouseau in the misguided Curse of The Pink Panther a year before You Devil, is well-cast as the more flawed everyman spinoff of John Denver’s nice guy. Bobby is a good man at heart, and Wass makes us care about Bobby’s trials as he goes from the rock and roll highs of being Billy Wayne to the dark lows of desperation as he tries to regain what he has lost. While the film establishes a special connection God has had over this particular soul as the movie opens, viewers can see in Bobby something of themselves and hope that God will always come through for us.
As Girlfriends’ Maya (Golden Brooks) puts it, ”He [God] may not come when you want him to, but he always comes on time.”
Those everyman qualities helped Wass years later with one of his best-known roles, as musician and single dad Nick Russo on the long-running Blossom. In recent years, Wass pulled a “Paul Bogart” of his own, going on to direct various television sitcoms including Spin City, 2 Broke Girls, and The Big Bang Theory.
(No doubt Wass took some lessons from another actor-turned-director, the late Bill Bixby, who helmed an entire season of Blossom even while battling cancer.)
Oh, God, You Devil marked the end of George Burns as God. 88 years old when he stepped down, Burns went out on top, earning a Saturn Award nomination for Best Actor for his dual role. As we all know, Burns had no intention of slowing down in 1984. He continued doing the occasional movie, logging multiple TV appearances, and keeping a heaving live schedule. My favorite Burns story is that the year he turned 95, he signed a five-year contract with Las Vegas’ Caesars Palace, promising a headlining engagement in January 1996 for his 100th birthday, followed by repeating the same celebration in London’s Palladium.
Burns would make it to 100, but not to either Vegas or London. A bathtub fall sidelined him in 1994, only months after his final film appearance, in the underrated Radioland Murders. His health slightly improved for him to make a few public appearances in his 99th year, but a winter flu around Christmas 1995 would send Burns down a slow final slide. Six weeks after his 100th birthday, Burns died quietly in his sleep in March 1996.
As Burns was buried alongside his beloved Gracie Allen, one could only imagine what happened when George’s soul arrived at the golden gates and was due to meet with the Almighty he had famously portrayed.
What would He have said as George arrived, likely looking for Gracie and his old buddy, Jack Benny?
I like to think He would have told George, to quote the famous Clown’s Prayer:
“When you made my people smile, you made me smile.”
Afterwards, He would have told George, “You weren’t bad as me. Not bad at all.”
Amen.
Sincerely: Random Access Moods
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