The Devil's 8 (1969) User Reviews

Moonshiners act tough. G-Man acts tougher. Usual result.

[revtg001 · 6/10 · 9 July 2006]

A moonshine movie is a moonshine movie. Everybody did one. Robert Mitchum. James Stewart. Richard Widmark. This one is a non-stop action piece of fluff. Really good light entertainment. Ralph Meeker is so relaxed in his role as the pin-up poster boy for moonshiners everywhere you can almost believe it. And Cliff Osmend, great actor and screen writer, plays his usual light comedy big dumb oaf. All the rest of the cast, except for Fabien, were unknown at the time.

Agent George answers his car phone (mark of a really important man back then) and his hot date is interrupted by an urgent call. He has to move now to break up a big moonshine syndicate. He recruits 8 guys doing hard time. Their reward, lots of time off. They set up a military style training camp, become commandos, infiltrate Meeker's gang and locate the down home whiskey world. Instead of a chase scene they invade with firebombs, hand grenades, sub-machine guns and much macho heroism. Many die. Truth, justice and the American way are made safe for the bonded whiskey warehouses. Fun to watch. A six-pack helps. Fun to watch a second time. Like an old western with many saloon me-lees.

Two Thirds of a dozen

[bkoganbing · 4/10 · 14 April 2019]

This is a film that is destined to have a cult following. That it is a ripoff of The Dirty Dozen will be obvious to one and all.

Christopher George is a Treasury agent who breaks six convicts off a chain gang in the south as these are guys who know the territory and would blend right in. The object is to take down moonshine kingpin Ralph Meeker who has a wired in operation and has killed a few Feds. One of those he frees is Ross Hagen who knows Meeker well and has his own reason for wanting to nail him. Hagen's ex, Leslie Parrish has moved in with Meeker.

The others are about as willing as Lee Marvin's crew was, but soon enough the idea of freedom appeals to them more than the chain gang.

The Devil's 8 is certainly cheaply made with a cast of B list players. But it doesn't take itself seriously at all.

And it does have one catchy musical score. This one will be rumbling around my head for days.

Mindless and predictable action movie is slightly better than others

[mrb1980 · 6/10 · 2 May 2021]

Moviemakers tried an experiment with Christopher George after his popular 1960s action series "The Rat Patrol". Between 1968 and 1971 George was cast in several (mostly action) films in an effort to cash in on his popularity. Among those movies was THE DEVIL'S 8, about a moonshine operation being busted by federal agents.

In an imitation of THE DIRTY DOZEN'S story, government agent Ray Faulkner is assigned to break up the moonshine operation of despicable kingpin Burl (Ralph Meeker). Faulkner liberates bad guys from a chain gang to accomplish this. Of course, Burl can't be brought down without the presence of beautiful women, racing cars, explosions, fistfights, and gun battles, so that's what happens in the movie for 98 minutes. After one last gunfight and explosion plus a tense standoff, Burl gives up and Faulkner has a drink and saves the day. Among the familiar actors in Faulkner's gang are Ross Hagen and Fabian.

The 1968-1971 "Christopher George experiment" is reminiscent of the 1964-65 "George Maharis experiment" to make these men into major movie stars. Neither one worked very well, but at least the movies are mostly fun to watch. In the mid-1970s George settled into a career of guest appearance on TV shows and TV movies, including such forgettable films as "Grizzly" (1976) and "Day of the Animals" (1977). Sadly, George died suddenly in 1983 at age 52, so we'll never know how his later career would have fared. THE DEVIL'S 8 is predictable and mild action fare but it is entertaining in a way, if you're in the right frame of mind.

Thunder Road Meets The Dirty Dozen

[Michael_Elliott · 11 August 2012]

The Devil's 8 (1969)

** (out of 4)

THUNDER ROAD crashes into THE DIRTY DOZEN in this drive-in flick from AIP. A federal agent (Christopher George) is sent to break up a moonshine business so he recruits six convicts to help with each of them being pardoned if the mission is a success. THE DEVIL'S 8 isn't nearly as fun as one would hope but the cast is good enough to make it worth sitting through at least once. The biggest problem here is that the direction is so weak that there's never really any excitement built up in the story. There's no adventure to the mission that the guys are going on and there's really no suspense anything going wrong. I'm sorry but you can't have people going into a battle and you never once fear that there's something that could go wrong and put them into harm. Another problem is that there's simply no energy to be found so at times it's a real chore just staying interested in what's going on. At 98-minutes the film runs a bit too long and I think there were several scenes that could have been trimmed to help the flow of the picture and make it drag less. The one thing that does work here are the performances with George being a lot of fun as the leader of the group. I've always enjoyed George as a character actor and I thought he gave a good performance here and as usual he's just got a certain charm when it comes to playing a tough guy. The supporting cast includes Fabian and Tom Nardini, both who are good but so are the rest of the players. THE DEVIL'S 8 is mainly going to appeal to those who enjoy watching low-budget rip-offs of bigger and better movies. This thing is far from perfect but it's decent entertainment if you've got nothing better to do.

Fabian and AIP all-stars against crime

[BandSAboutMovies · 4/10 · 31 July 2019]

Oh American International Pictures. You knew exactly what the kids wanted. In 1969, they wanted their own version of The Dirty Dozen. Who better to give it to them than you?

Based on a story by AIP story editor Larry Gordon and the first draft was by James Gordon White. It was eventually rewritten in ten days by two of his assistants, John Milius and Willard Huyck. The future director of Conan the Barbarian quipped, "It was called The Devil's 8 because they didn't have enough money for a full dozen."

White wasn't a fan of the final film. "They took the Southern flavor out of it and I'm from the south, so I know from whereof I talk." Take it from the writer of Bigfoot, The Mini-Skirt Mob and both movies about a head transplant, The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant and The Thing with Two Heads.

Originally known as Inferno Road, this movie has an all-star cast. And by that, I mean an all-star AIP 1969 cast.

Christopher George (Day of the Animals, City of the Living Dead, Pieces and about a hundred other movies that I love) plays federal agent Ray Faulkner, who starts the movie on a road gang before he breaks the rest of the guys out and forces them on to a helicopter at gunpoint. They are:

Sonny (Fabian!) is in prison for murder but he's a great driver. Unfortunately, he has a drinking problem. Frank Davis (Ross Hagen, The Sidehackers) used to drive for the mob, but then they murdered his brother. Billy Joe (Tom Nardini, Cat Ballou) is a mechanic who just wants to drive. Sam (Joseph Turkel, Dr. Eldon Tyrell from Blade Runner and Lloyd from The Shining) loves to get in brawls. Henry (Robert DoQuia, the sergeant from the RoboCop movies) is an African-American prisoner who can really handle the wheel. Chandler (Larry Bishop, son of Joey, who was in Wild In the Streets) would rather read the Bible than get involved in all this. Stewart Martin (Ron Rifkin, L.A. Confidential) is a rookie fed.

After training "The Eight...you'll either love or hate!" in high-speed driving and throwing bombs, they work their way into Burl's (Ralph Meeker, who was actually in The Dirty Dozen, as well as Without Warning and The Alpha Incident) illegal moonshine operation. There are all manner of double crosses and not everyone makes it out alive, but Burl's mistress Cissy (Leslie Parrish) ends up with her real man, Davis.

Let me talk about Leslie Parrish for awhile. She's led a pretty amazing life, starting under her birth name Marjorie Hellen, which she changed in 1959. While she was a teenager at the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music, she started modeling and became a human test pattern for NBC known as Miss Color TV, as they used her skin tones to test how well they'd transmit over the airwaves.

In 1956, she started her contract with MGM and appeared in redneck classic Lil' Abner as Daisy Mae. In fact, it was director Melvin Frank who convinced her to change her name. She was also in The Manchurian Candidate and a ton of TV shows at this time, as well as being the Associate Producer on Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Part of that job meant caring for the real seagulls and keeping them in her hotel room, as well as being the mediator between her husband, author Richard Bach, and director Hall Bartlett after they stopped talking. Despite all that, her role is only listed as researcher in the credits.

While acting paid the bills, her real job was activism. She was a member of the Jeannette Rankin Brigade, a coalition of women's peace groups and had private audiences with politicians and led huge public protests. She has also been incredibly involved in environmental activism and even created KVST-TV, which looked pretty much like C-SPAN does today, but all the way back in 1967. Today, she continues to develop and lead the Spring Hill Wildlife Sanctuary on Orcas Island in Washington. And oh yeah - she was also in The Giant Spider Invasion. Check out her official site!

The Devil's 8 is decent, but as always, I'm on the side of the bootleggers. Don't make me divide my loyalty by putting Fabian on the side of Johnny Law! Come on, AIP!

Lame and dull

[mhorg2018 · 1/10 · 26 May 2022]

Not even Christopher George could keep me interested in this lame, boring Dirty Dozen (not enough budget for 12, so they had 8) movie. Slow moving with very little action, it's hard to believe John Milius wrote this terrible movie.

Enjoyable enough for the kind of crud it is.

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 11 March 2022]

There's not much to this other than the varying relationships of the prisoners who has been aided in their escape by federal agent Christopher George to help break up on moonshine racket In the mountains of presumably somewhere in the Appalachians (although it was filmed in the mountains near San Bernardino), and the real reason why George wants to take over this racket. As if a nod to "Li'l Abner", Leslie Parrish from the movie version of that Broadway musical is cast as, what else, a girl who lives in the backwoods, basically Elly May Clampett without the funny accent. Fabian is the only well-known actor among the prisoners while Ralph Meeker is the man who controls the moonshine. There's a bit of a racist subplot involving escapee Robert DoQui, although the story is done in his favor to show him in a favorable light. For the most part, he gets along with the other prisoners forced at gunpoint by George to board the helicopter arranging their escape.

It's made clear that these prisoners are lifers, and that George has an agenda of taking over the racket, so it's George vs. Meeker, and it's never clear if George is truly on the side of the law or out to take over the racket and continue to run it illegally although it is mentioned that he's seeking revenge for other agents who had been killed in dealing with Meeker. I enjoyed the comical elements of the script, not quite out of place as the prisoners are basically trying to get through this without losing their sanity or killing each other or being killed, and humor is the way to go in trying to achieve that. It's well photographed, but it's very clear that this was made for the drive-in crowd who didn't really require a lot of quality when going to the movies. Just lots of action, some pretty ladies up with a couple of others outside of Parrish & Lynda Day George in a brief role, with two of those women seen swimming in the nude. I also liked the bluegrass theme music which aides in keeping this moving.

The Hateful Eight.

[morrison-dylan-fan · 7/10 · 3 January 2016]

Taking a look at a "Cult Movie" Shout Factory box set that a family friend has recently picked up,I was surprised to find that one of the movies was co-writer's John Milius feature film debut,which led to me getting ready to find out how devilish the 8 could be.

The plot:

Grabbing 6 convicts just before they are sent for a life behind bars,FBI agent Ray Faulkner takes the gang to a remote countryside location.Finding each of them to be confrontational,Faulkner tells the gang that they each have a choice:they can either spend their lives in jail,or get freedom by helping him to take down ruthless Moonshine maker Burl.Tempted by Faulkner's offer,the gang start going after some Moonshine.

View on the film:

Despite being the first movie and working on it as a co-writer (along with Larry Gordon/Willard Huyck & James Gordon White) the screenplay is covered in the paw marks of John Milius.Milius uses the outback location to give an outline to some of his later themes,as the gang find themselves in gritty shootouts whilst trying to get a connection with their wild life surroundings for an advantage on Burl.

Whilst John Milius builds the foundations for his later work,director Burt Topper guzzles Moonshine down and offers a terrific mix of tough men on a mission crime movie with a thigh- tapping Drive-In slide.Helped by Shout Factory giving the title a very good transfer, Topper covers the film in a golden brown which allows for the fights to spark across the screen,and the mistrust that the rest of the gang have for Faulkner (played by a wonderful Christopher George) to be given a rough, rustic atmosphere,as the gang reveal how devilishly hateful the eight can be.

Irresistible B movie.

[Hey_Sweden · 7/10 · 18 December 2013]

Aptly described by the other reviews here as "Thunder Road" meets "The Dirty Dozen", "The Devil's 8" is just pure fun. The filmmakers have a good time with the premise and deliver an acceptable amount of thrills, spills, and titillation in 99 straightforward minutes. Capably produced and directed by Burt Topper ("The Strangler", "The Hard Ride"), it features some enjoyable location work - it was filmed partly in the Big Bear Lake area - and a peppy music score by Mike Curb and Michael Lloyd. (Trust me, you'll be humming that theme song long after the movie is finished.) The cast is stocked with familiar faces and the story leads to a pretty good action-packed finish.

Christopher George delivers a very engaging performance as Ray Faulkner, a federal agent who busts several prisoners - part of the "Devil's 8" of the title - out of a work camp so that they can be made to work for the government. Their mission will be to make life miserable for various moonshiners led by Burl (Ralph Meeker), and ultimately, to take Burl alive so he can be pumped for information. Along the way the scrappy young bunch take time out to pursue members of the fairer sex and indulge in what is a good old fashioned barroom brawl.

Other members of the cast include singer Fabian as Sonny, Tom Nardini ("Cat Ballou") as Billy Joe, Cliff Osmond ("Invasion of the Bee Girls") as Bubba, biker flick veteran Larry Bishop ("The Savage Seven") as Chandler, Robert DoQui (Sgt. Reed in the "RoboCop" series) as Henry, Kubrick regular Joe Turkel ("The Shining") as Sam, and Ron Rifkin ("L.A. Confidential") as timid federal agent Stewart Martin. Ross Hagen ("The Hellcats") is particularly good as Frank, whose involvement in the mission is personal, and sexy Leslie Parrish ("The Giant Spider Invasion") is delightful eye candy as Franks' lady friend Cissy. Look for Georges' wife Lynda Day George in an uncredited bit as Faulkners' girlfriend.

Overall, this is routine but it still delivers the goods for lovers of this sort of thing.

Screenplay by James Gordon White and future directors John Milius ("Red Dawn") and Willard Huyck ("Messiah of Evil"), based on a story by Larry Gordon.

Seven out of 10.

Should be a "cult" movie

[revtg1-3 · 8/10 · 11 December 2008]

A low budget pot boiler made really enjoyable by a highly talented cast. First of all, Ray Faulkner (Christopher George) drafts, not recruits, six lifer convicts to help him destroy a moonshine gang and capture the leader (Ralph Meeker). He (Faulkner) is the seventh and he is joined by another federal agent later to make the eight. Meeker and George are underemployed in these roles and therefore it is easy for them to stand out. The plot is Faulkner will train these men in high speed "demolition derby" driving, hand to hand combat, use of explosives and firearms and then take them to Meeker's territory to disrupt his moonshine operation. Be forewarned, the special effects are really bad. Film editing is sub-standard. But all the character actors turn in solid, convincing roles, including Fabian Forte, who acts better than he ever sang, which is not a high compliment. A lot of well known actors tried to make moonshine movies, among them Richard Widmak and Gergory Peck. The difference is this movie never tries to be serious. Get a six pack, sit back and be entertained. It's lightweight but it never slows down. I watch it at least once a year and I still enjoy it.

a grittier, low-end, backwoods version of the Dirty Dozen

[buzzdaly · 9/10 · 19 January 2003]

the feds are after moonshiners, who are very well organized, and recruit some good 'ol boys to fight fire with fire...lots of action, fair amount of humor, and some killing's to give it a dose of reality, keep this flick rolling along most satisfactorily.

terrific cast, especially a sarcastic, mean spirited Ralph Meeker...likable Ross Hagen....charismatic Tom Nardini and very appealing Leslie Parrish....

believe it or not, this film has a wonderful soundtrack, including a very catchy theme, several songs that relate to the ongoing action and one that is sort of a spin off of thunder road, but is much better...i had the album on an LP (33rpm) and really enjoyed listening to it.

This film seems to have disappeared...i haven't seen it anywhere in many years....

A "Dirty Dozen" Knock-Off About Moonshiners

[zardoz-13 · 8/10 · 12 October 2013]

"Tank Commandos" director Burt Topper's gritty moonshine melodrama "The Devil's Eight" amounts to nothing short of a shameless knock-off of Robert Aldrich's classic "The Dirty Dozen." Nevertheless, Topper has fashioned a solid but predictable crime thriller with a sturdy cast and enough blazing violence to satisfy fans of movies where a lawman recruits a group of criminals to do their dirty work. Interestingly enough, John Milius contributed to the screenplay, and composer Mike Curb has concocted a catchy orchestral theme that he repeats at appropriate intervals. Hard-as-nails Federal agent named Faulkner (Christopher George of "The Train Robbers") breaks seven ruffians out of a prison and trains them as a team of fast-driving, sharp-shooting, grenade-hurling guys. He promises them a pardon if they help him demolish a massive moonshine operation and capture the mastermind behind it, Burl (Ralph Meeker of "Kiss Me Deadly"), alive so he can flush out the politicians behind him. Faulkner sets out to pull off the impossible after he learns that five other Federal agents have bitten the dust in their efforts to arrest Burl. One of the convicts that joins Faulkner menacing misfits is Frank Davis (Ross Hagen of "Speedway") who once took orders from Burl. It seems that Burl had Frank's brother killed before he had Frank sent to prison. Frank's girlfriend Cissy (Leslie Parrish of ") belongs to the evil Burl, but she still loves Frank so she is surprised and gratified when she sees him again. Initially, Faulkner's henchmen cut into Burl's operation, running cars off the road and swapping shots with Burl's men. Eventually, Burl agrees to an impromptu palaver at a place of Faulkner's choosing and he is able to persuade Burl to cut him in for a quarter of the action. Faulkner and his men move in with Burl's men, but trouble erupts because one of Faulkner's misfits is an African American who creates trouble for himself and his friends when he enters a tavern where he isn't welcomed because of the color of his skin. Not sooner has Faulkner and his men entered Burl's camp than the wily moonshiner sends his second-in-command to warn the local authorities. Davis picks off where he left off with Cissy, but he is dismayed when he learns that she like men of color, too. Naturlly, Faulkner's men succeed in carrying out their objective despite several shoot-out scenes.

Topper has appropriated a formulaic storyline about pardoned convict and pared it down to its absolute essentials. He spends the first half-hour assembling the men under Faulkner's command. Nothing about this low-budget but exciting thriller is remotely surprising. Several convicts stand out in the crowd, namely Ross Hagen as a dedicated drag racer.. During the final quarter hour, the fireworks really turn loose. Ralph Meeker is perfectly cast as a treacherous moonshine chieftain. Topper doesn't let the pace slacken, and he stages some noisy, bullet-riddled shoot-outs. Incidentally, the girl in the car with Faulkner before he is summoned to his boss's office looks like Christopher George's future wife Linda Day. Clearly, she is making an uncredited cameo. "The Devil's Eight" is worth watching. The Mike Curb theme music is catchy.

The only part I remember in the movie was...

[Rwwood48 · 10/10 · 12 May 2012]

a guy in a blue Dodge,and guy out side the car training the guys with a hand grenade. He tells the guy in the car to go to the end,and drop it into the barrel. The guy complains,and the trainer guy "Pulls the pin",and says "Shut-up...you've got 10 seconds"! I remember them raiding the still. Was made in 1969 I thought the movie was older than that.There was a lot of good "Moonshine" movies that are now classics of the film noir "Thunder Road","The Roaring Twenties" with James Cagney,and Hunphry Bogart. I consider this movie a classic.Christopher George went on to do TV shows.Was a good actor. does anyone know if this is on DVD?

Enjoyable drive-in movie outing

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 7 January 2014]

Rugged no-nonsense federal agent Ray Faulkner (played with delightfully growly macho gusto by Christopher George) recruits a motley bunch of chain gang convicts to assist him on his war against a nefarious moonshine ring run by the formidable Burl (Ralph Meeker in top slimy form). Director Burt Topper relates the entertaining story at a snappy pace, maintains an engaging breezy'n'easy tone throughout, and stages a wild barroom brawl, several car chases, and the energetic climactic shoot-out with aplomb. The neat script by William Huyck, John Milius, and James Gordon White presents a cool and colorful array of characters as well as a nifty premise that's impossible to resist. The lively acting by the stellar cast of familiar B-pic faces helps a whole lot: Fabian as the moody Sonny, Larry Bishop as reluctant peacenik Chandler, Tom Nardini as scruffy mechanic Billy Joe, Ross Hagen as the gruff Frank Davis, Leslie Parrish as the sweet Cissy, Robert DoQui as merry hipster Henry Reed, Joe Turkel as the weaselly Sam, Ron Rifkin as eager rookie agent Stewart Martin, and Cliff Osmond as dim-witted lackey Bubba. Lynda Day George pops up briefly in a small uncredited role. Richard C. Glouner's sharp cinematography makes snazzy use of fades and dissolves. The jaunty and flavorsome score by Michael Lloyd and Jerry Styner hits the rousing spot. A really fun flick.