The Witches of Eastwick (1987) Warner Bros./Comedy-Fantasy RT: 118 minutes Rated R (language, strong sexual content and references, some violence, projectile vomiting) Director: George Miller Screenplay: Michael Christofer Music: John Williams Cinematography: Vilmos Zsigmond Release date: June 12, 1987 (US) Cast: Jack Nicholson, Cher, Susan Sarandon, Michelle Pfeiffer, Veronica Cartwright, Richard Jenkins, Keith Jochim, Carel Struycken. Box Office: $63.8M (US)
Rating: *** ½
In The Witches of Eastwick, Jack Nicholson plays the role he was born to play, the Devil himself. There’s always been something devilish about him. You can see it in the way he works his eyebrows. You can hear it in his voice. Then there’s that devilish grin. He puts all of that to good use in The Witches of Eastwick, a loose adaptation of John Updike’s 1984 novel. Director George Miller (the Mad Max movies) merely uses the book as a foundation. He takes the central premise- three women inadvertently conjure up Old Scratch when they wish for the “perfect man”- in a more comedic direction. It works like a charm because The Witches of Eastwick is never anything less than enchanting.
The action takes place in a picturesque small New England town- Eastwick, RI- where the residents still cling to old-fashioned values. It’s one of the quaint little towns with knick-knack shops and a small newspaper that prints mainly local gossip. The story centers on three women- Alex (Cher, Moonstruck), Jane (Sarandon, Bull Durham) and Suki (Pfeiffer, The Fabulous Baker Boys)- dissatisfied with their lives. Alex is the widowed mother of a teenage daughter. Jane has just finalized her divorce. Suki’s husband left her because she gets pregnant at the drop of a hat (she has five young daughters). Every Thursday, the three of them get together to drink wine and talk about men. They don’t yet know that they’re witches. One stormy night, they describe their idea of an ideal man. One of the ladies says something about him riding into town on a black horse. Obviously, the forces that control the supernatural misheard her. Nicholson arrives riding in a black hearse. Oops!
He immediately stirs up controversy by moving into a mansion that many see as a landmark property. His name is Daryl Van Horne (ha ha!) and he wastes no time getting to know the three ladies who summoned him to Eastwick. By that, I mean he seduces each one. This enables the ladies to let go of their inhibitions and enjoy life on a level they’ve never experienced. It also makes them the target of all sorts of vicious rumors instigated by Felicia (Cartwright, Alien), the devoutly religious wife of the newspaper’s editor Clyde (Jenkins, The Visitor). So convinced she is that evil has taken over their little town that it literally drives her insane. Of course, Daryl has a hand in it as well. You’ll never look at cherries the same way again.
Full disclosure, Nicholson is one of my all-time favorite actors. In my eyes, he can do no wrong even if some of his choices have been questionable- e.g. Man Trouble and How Do You Know? He consistently puts all of himself into whatever role he’s playing. His performance in The Witches of Eastwick is a mix of sly and over the top. He manages to charm his way into the lives of the three witches and goes bonkers when they try to get him out. This is classic Jack! While it’s clearly his show, the three actresses don’t simply recede into the background. They’re all great in this movie especially Sarandon who goes from repressed to gleefully slutty after first playing a musical duet with Daryl (as well as a certain other two-person activity). She’s teaches music to the local kids which means she also conducts the school band. The scene where she encourages them to toss away the sheet music and play from their hearts is a true highlight. Such reckless abandon, so open and free. Cher is always great. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her deliver a bad performance even though she’s been in a few bad movies- e.g. Faithful and Tea with Mussolini. Pfeiffer I simply gorgeous even when she glams down as she does here as a single, harried mom who doesn’t even have time to comb her hair. Cartwright tops it off nicely the way she camps it up as a woman slowly going mad. Rarely have I seen such perfect chemistry as I do here. It’s like a perfect alignment of stars and planets. Is it wrong that it made me crave cherry pie afterwards?
I really LOVE The Witches of Eastwick. It’s wickedly and darkly funny. Nicholson gets off many great lines. During one of his rants, he says “Women, a mistake, or did He do it to us on purpose?!” Despite his many misogynistic remarks, The Witches of Eastwick is ultimately a story of female empowerment. A tale of three women who decide they don’t need a man to define them. In the end, they use their magic to combat Daryl, hoping it will send him back to wherever he came from. It turns into an effects-driven vehicle in its final 20 minutes which is a bit of a cop-out. Don’t get me wrong, it’s cool. It just feels like Miller felt it necessary to fall back on something that conventional, especially after delivering such a sharp satire of gender dynamics. Still, it’s a great movie. In fact, it’s positively bewitching (sorry, I had to).
