Les sorcières d'Eastwick

This is a genre blending film I found at Fry's Horror section for only $2.49 retail. It can be described as a supernatural Battle of the Sexes with horrific, comedic, and dramatic elements with a bizarre love story/ orgy at the center of it. The 3 "witches" (Cher, Susan Sarandon, and Michelle Pfeiffer) make a request for the perfect man who is delivered to them in the form of Daryl Van Horne (Jack Nicholson) aka the Devil. According to Daryl, when a man is encountered by a strong woman, his manhood goes limp. The woman is called a "witch" and set on fire. This is used to make women scared of men and scared of themselves. Daryl's attention allows the 3 women to embrace their sexuality, fertility, passion, and ambition. Eventually, they realize they no longer need men for anything, including Daryl. This culminates in the ultimate showdown with man vs. women. The SFX quality was good enough to win the BAFTA Award in 1987. The music by John Williams earned him an Oscar and Grammy nomination. Nicholson gives an incredibly over the top performance that was good enough to win both the NY & LA Critics Choice Awards. There is a lot of back story to this as well. Bill Murray was originally set to play Darryl and Cher and Sarandon switched roles once they walked onto the set. The studio execs hassled the director so much that Miller halted production. When they threatened to replace him with another director, Nicholson said he would walk away from the production. This ended the feuding. Favorite Quote: Almost all the dialogue. Cher asks Nicholson's character if he is married. To which he responds, " I don't believe in it. Good for the man, bad for the woman. She dies, she suffocates. Then the Husband complains that he is f*cking a dead woman and he is the one that killed her. Where is your Husband?" Cher replies, "Dead." DVD Extras: Full Cast & Crew Bios, a set design feature entitled " Conjuring Eastwick", a "Bewitching Look Back" at the history, Awards, Commentary, Interviews, and a Trailer (which indicates there are deleted scenes missing from the DVD. There should also be the numerous alternate endings they had shot). Bottom Line: Bewitching tale (pun intended) with something for everyone. Rating: 8.5/10

John Updike probably panicked when he saw what screenwriter Michael Cristofer and director George Miller did to his book.....but this movie is all the BETTER for what they did! Careening wildly between scenes of light fantasy, full-bore horror and extreme gross-outs, this film is wildly imaginative and terrifically entertaining. With Jack Nicholson as the devil himself, things just don't get any better than that! Actually, the whole cast is very well-chosen and all give great performances.

A great cult film...can't wait to see and hear those barfing scenes on DVD! Four stars!!!! ****

From the director who brought us Mad Max comes a modern-day fairy tale of sorts that examines the age-old battle of the sexes. Alex (Cher), Jane (Susan Sarandon) and Sukie (Michelle Pfeiffer) are three single women who live in the sleepy New England town of Eastwick. Since all of them lack a man in their lives, and are dissatisfied with the ones who are in town, they wish for a handsome stranger to visit. Miraculously, their wish is granted when Daryl Van Horne (Jack Nicholson) strolls into town and succeeds in turning their lives (and the town's) upside down. For the most part, I thought that the story was very effective in setting up its characters and giving them depth, even Daryl. The three women who are the titular "Witches of Eastwick" were all distinct personalities and had situations that made you care about them. Generally speaking, the performances were all very good, although Jack Nicholson towers above the rest of the cast as he brings his brand of insanity to what is essentially the devil in human form. Even the whole "witch" thing was dealt with rather subtly, as the women only become witches by finding the power within themselves. It is this struggle between male and female power which forms the core conflict of the film, and it is a compelling one even though it has been many times over in various forms. The townspeople are also given some development, although probably not enough to warrant the attention provided them. There are references made to the Salem witch trials, and the wife of the town's newspaper editor (Richard Jenkins...with hair!) acts as the mouthpiece for morality when the the three "witches" start their relationship with Daryl. Despite this interesting aside, I think it detracts a little bit from the main conflict. Moving on, I also thought that John Williams' score was fantastic and had this magical/mysterious quality that really meshed with the story and visuals. It's not his best score, but it was still a very good one. There were also a number of special effects by ILM which I thought were also well-done, especially considering this was made in 1987. Overall, I thought this was a very entertaining and funny movie that presented a well-worn theme in a fresh way. The only detraction, I think, is that there's a bit of a mean streak in regards to the portrayal of the male characters which might turn that half of the audience off. Still, this is a quality film that shows off director George Miller's versatility and the acting talents of its cast.

George Miller (Mad Max) creatively sets the stage for a story of three witches and one Lucifer, who are in regular human form, in a small, uptight New England town. Of course, for a tale like this one can try to suspend disbelief, and it has to be when dealing with the supernatural. Thankfully, Miller has great casting tastes- Cher, Sarandon, and Pfieffer are wonderful in their roles, each with an acute, potent sexuality that was at their peaks in the late 80's. And then there's Mr shark grin himself, Jack Nicholson, who gives another superb layer to the performance of the dark prince. There are other actors who have portrayed the man downstairs- Al Pacino in Devil's Advocate was the devil as lawyer, Billy Crystal was himself in the Woody/Dante sequence in Deconstructing Harry, even Elizabeth Hurley in Bedazzled.

But rarely have they had this much outright fun and charm with the role, enough to almost make me, a man in his 20s, charmed too. Maybe it's the eyebrows. Nicholson gives one of his best over-the-top performances as the "horny-little devil" Darryl, who comes into town during a storm and cooks up more than that for his avid female guests. Of course, he doesn't have control for long, when the girls find they have powers of their own. When the movie gets overly fantastic (which is a number of times) it gets a little hard to take, yet the acting is above par, and the special effects are a delight.

What fun Nicholson must have had with this! He really hams it up here. Very good supporting work by Cher, Susan Sarandon, Michelle Pfieffer, and Veronica Cartwright. The plot is a little bit impenetrable. The "witches" are at first unaware of their power. I suppose I should read Updike's novel, but the one book of his I did read sucked. Anyway, I recommend the film, for it seems a bit different than normal Hollywood formula.