The Devil and Max Devlin

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The Devil and Max Devlin is a 1981 Disney film starring Bill Cosby as the Devil and Elliott Gould as Max Devlin.

Tropes used in The Devil and Max Devlin include:
  • 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.
  • Faustian Bargain: Barney Satin offers to restore Max Devlin to life if he gave him the souls of three children within a month.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Sadistic Choice: "Throw the contracts into the fire, and eternal damnation is YOURS!"
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