Sammy Davis Jr. mugs outrageously in this tepid TV-made comedy which the producers hoped would evolve into a weekly series. Davis is one of Satan's disciples from "down there" who believes an overlooked accountant in San Francisco is ready to sell his soul to the Devil in exchange for success. The main problem with this Faustian teleplay (poorly-written by Earl Barret and Arne Sultan from a treatment by Barret, Sultan, and Richard Baer) is that eager salesman Sammy is bestowed with no special powers other than the occasional "Bewitched"-like entrances and exits. Since client Jack Klugman has been promised a life of luxury, it's never made clear how Davis will actually provide this for him (they empty out a department store--in a misguided bid for revenge--with help from other clients, who don't appear to gain anything from this exhausting, thankless venture). Christopher Lee is good (and almost unrecognizable) as the Prince of Darkness, Jack Klugman is as smooth as ever, but Sammy Davis is trying too hard. Bereft of an accomplished comedic actor's canny sense of timing, Davis wings it--often relying on painful exaggeration to get through a scene. The star looks out of his element, and is at times distinctly uncomfortable in front of the camera. The production is fine (with a cushy-looking Hades), but the pacing is too slow and the laugh-lines ever infrequent.
Review of Poor Devil
Poor Devil
(1973 TV Movie)
Rejected NBC pilot has some '70s kitsch value...little else
20 August 2010