The Devil's Eight (1969)

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.

"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 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.

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.