New on DVD

By Glenn Whipp
Special to MSN Movies

If a mysterious stranger offered you $1 million and all you had to do was press a button, would you take the money and run? OK, dumb question. But what if, by pushing that button, someone, somewhere, would die? Would you still flip the switch?

That's the premise of the new thriller "The Box," in which a schoolteacher (Cameron Diaz) and her NASA engineer husband (James Marsden) have to decide if paying the bills and keeping their child in private school is worth the death of a random stranger.

It's a prickly moral conundrum straight out of a "Twilight Zone" episode, and that's no coincidence since "The Box" comes from Richard Matheson, a man who wrote 16 "Twilight Zone" episodes during its original run, along with novels like "I Am Legend." In fact, this Matheson short story, originally titled "Button, Button," was a "Twilight Zone" episode during the series' 1980s revival.

The "Zone" reveled in these kinds of ethical predicaments, but the show has plenty of company when it comes to presenting devilish dilemmas. Movies have long been fascinated with the topic of selling your soul, probably because so many in Hollywood have already given the devil his due for the chance to see their names in lights. (And don't even get us started on reality TV contestants.)

Here are a few of our favorite Faustian pacts from film:

"Indecent Proposal" (1993)

Admittedly, any financially strapped couple that bets their last dime on a spin of the roulette wheel is going to look like low-hanging fruit to a modern-day Great Gatsby. So when Robert Redford's billionaire peels off a few bills and offers a million dollars for one night, no strings attached, with Demi Moore's aerobo-girl, there's a little debate -- but just a little. Soon, Demi and screen husband Woody Harrelson are making love in a pile of twenties, though it's unclear whether the scene is supposed to turn us on or function as an advertisement for a nearby bank's ATM accessibility.

As sell-your-soul stories go, this one's about as deep (and erotically charged) as a greeting card. The movie operates out of the age-old Hollywood maxim that everyone has a price and, if someone meets that price ("'Beverly Hills Cop IV'? Sure, why not?") you'd be more than happy to whore yourself out -- damn the consequences.

"The Devil's Advocate" (1997)

The idea of a lawyer selling his soul to the devil admittedly isn't all that novel since those kinds of pacts are included in most state bar exams. So the makers of "Devil's Advocate" had to take Keanu Reeves' legal eagle to an even more extreme place, having him happily defend child molesters and murders (even though he knew they were guilty) and drop off his wife at a mental institution because she was coming between him and his suddenly soaring career.

That Keanu's boss turns out to be Lucifer himself is no surprise. (Again, we always figured Satan would head a law firm or work in telemarketing.) So the filmmakers had to give Al Pacino an even more devilish connection with Keanu, though Darth Vader would have probably guessed the whole thing from the get-go. This one's more farce than force, though.

"The Devil and Daniel Webster" (1941)

If we've learned anything, it's that if you're going to sell your soul to Satan, at least get a lifetime deal. When poor New England farmer Jabez Stone (James Craig) mutters that he'd be willing to go to hell (and stay there for eternity) for a good crop, Satan (the great Walter Huston, nominated here for an Oscar) pops up and happily offers a bountiful harvest for the next seven years.

To be fair, it doesn't even take that long for Jabez to realize he has been played for a rube. After wallowing in the mud with his fellow sinners, Jabez comes to his senses and hires the great Daniel Webster to argue his case in court. Even though the devil gets to pick the judge and jury (which includes Benedict Arnold and Captain Kidd), the outcome is never much in doubt. Satan should have called Al Pacino.

"Wall Street" (1987)

"Greed, for lack of a better word, is good," and for a while things are pretty swell indeed for Bud Fox, Gordon Gekko's young charge, in Oliver Stone's screed against unchecked capitalism. Bud gets an Upper Eastside penthouse, a corner office with a view, and a shiny blond girlfriend/hood ornament. For these things, all Bud had to do was break the law, crush his father's spirit and sell out his friends and principles.

Soon enough, though, young Bud realizes that Gekko, the embodiment of everything Michael Moore sees as wrong with Our Way of Life, will never stop demanding more, since Gekko truly believes that "greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit."

Can Gekko evolve and update his flimflam act? We'll find out next year with "Wall Street 2," which, hopefully, isn't a case of Stone selling what's left of his creative soul for a paycheck.

"Bedazzled" (1967 and 2000)

In which Satan gets recast as a self-help guru, lending a hand to lovelorn young men. The original, written and starring Dudley Moore and Peter Cook and directed by Stanley Donen, is infinitely preferable to the dull remake, no matter how great Elizabeth Hurley looked in a red bikini, or a red cheerleading outfit, or that French maid costume.

Hurley played the devil in the remake; in the original, Cook played Satan, offering a suicidal Moore seven wishes in exchange for his soul. Due to imprecise wording, every wish goes awry (you've seen "The Simpsons" episode "Monkey's Paw," right?), but Dudley still gets the girl and a new perspective on life. When it was Moore, you didn't begrudge the happy ending. With the smug Brendan Fraser starring in the remake, eternal damnation would have been the only proper choice.

"Crossroads" (1986)

Not to be confused with the 2002 make-Britney-Spears-a-movie-star vehicle of the same name (which, given what's happened to Spears since then might have involved some kind of Faustian bargain), this unheralded Walter Hill film uses bluesman Robert Johnson's legendary talent-accruing deal with the devil as the starting point for a modern contest over a young guitarist's immortal soul.

The movie ends a la the Charlie Daniels Band's immortal "The Devil Went Down to Georgia," only here it's not a fiddle fight but a guitar duel with Steve Vai playing Satan's ringer ax man. "Guitar Hero" enthusiasts will love the outcome, but never be able to duplicate it.

"The Picture of Dorian Gray" (1945)

The invention of Oscar Wilde, hedonistic time bandit Dorian Gray has popped up in numerous movies (most famously in a startling 1945 film starring George Sanders and Angela Lansbury), books, TV shows, plays and even a Motley Crue song. The story: After having his portrait painted, Dorian sells his soul for eternal youth. The portrait ages; Dorian doesn't. And each time Dorian indulges in some debauched act, the painting becomes more twisted and perverse, making you wonder what kind of sick portrait is hanging in Charlie Sheen's basement right about now.

In the end, the portrait haunts Dorian and does him in. Meanwhile, "Two and a Half Men" just began its seventh season and has been renewed through nine, with Sheen pulling down $825,000 an episode. Again: Not passing judgment, but something's going on here.

"Damn Yankees" (1958)

With the Yankees in the World Series again, it's not difficult to relate to this story of a middle-aged baseball fan willing to sell his soul to prevent another title flag being raised in the Bronx. And this guy (Tab Hunter) doesn't even have to do anything stupid, like interfere with a ball in play or supply A-Rod with a new batch of steroids. He gets to put on a uniform and take the Yankees out by becoming the home-run hitter his team desperately needs.

There were reports early last year of remaking this musical, with Jake Gyllenhaal playing the frustrated fan and Jim Carrey cast as the devil. But New Line, the studio prepping the project, folded soon after it was announced. Maybe now that fans are again hurling epithets at the Yankees, the project can be revived.

"The Hustler" (1961)

Paul Newman's pool shark, Fast Eddie, wants to beat the best and George C. Scott's fearsome gambler is happy to make his dreams come true, for a price. Fast Eddie doesn't know when to quit, and Scott, the personification of the seedy world that Fast Eddie's girlfriend (Piper Laurie) decries as "perverted, twisted and crippled," enables him to keep playing so he can keep playing him.

About Scott: Anyone so convincing at making Paul Newman look like a chump deserves his reputation as one of the acting greats. Forget Patton. This monstrous user-and-abuser would slap him in the face, con him out of his stars and stripes and keep walking.

"Shadow of the Vampire" (2000)

This one's a bit of a cheat since the protagonist, the great director F.W. Murnau (John Malkovich), isn't sacrificing his own soul, just those helping him realize his vision as a filmmaker. To make his vampire movie ("Nosferatu") the legend it will become, Murnau hires an actual bloodsucker for the lead role. Max Schreck (Willem Dafoe) arrives on the set in costume and demonstrates an astonishing understanding of his character. When Schreck snatches a bat out of the air and devours it, the crew begins to suspect that there may be more than Method to his performance.

With his sunken eyes, pointy teeth and bat ears, Schreck sure looks like a vampire in "Nosferatu," so it's easy (and fun) to buy into the film's premise. Maybe if Michael Bay could cast actual robots, there'd be hope that the next "Transformers" movie wouldn't be such a colossal bore.

What is your favorite film in which the protagonist sells out? Write us at heymsn@microsoft.com