Les Sorcières d'Eastwick

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.

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

Three lonely New England women (Cher, Susan Sarandon and Michelle Pfeiffer) dream of a man to satisfy their every need as they suffer from isolation with their husbands constantly away. That man---Jack Nicholson (always on a lucky streak it seems). Wicked little comedy with Jack going over the top and having great fun with the helter-skelter material. The women (Cher and Sarandon in particular) match his intensity and the star power makes up for the crazed screenplay and unsteady direction by George Miller. Overall I liked "The Witches of Eastwick". I am not quite sure why I did, but once again Nicholson proves that if there is just enough substance available that he can raise mediocre film-making techniques and share the spotlight with his fellow co-stars. 4 stars out of 5.

Alexandra Medford, Jane Spofford and Sukie Ridgemont are three dissatisfied women living in the small town of Eastwick, New England. Alexandra (Cher) is a sculptress and single mother, Jane (Susan Sarandon) is a newly divorced music teacher incapable of having children, and Sukie (Michelle Pffeifer) works as a journalist. Then a strange, wealthy , overweight , menacing but nonetheless charming man (Jack Nicholson) knows their deepest desires and makes them come true with descent excess . In turn , the three women blossom emotionally and sexually , getting their sexual liberation. Something wicked this way comes !. Three Beautiful Witches, One Lucky Devil !. Three Beautiful Women !. One Lucky Devil !.

Very loosely based around John Updike novel about three lonely women , bored by their dreary life in a sleepy , small New England town find that they can make bizarre things happen . Trio starring are fine as the explosive women who conjure up this perfect man , Jack Nicholson in the most manic part of his career to date . The four set up home together , but after a succession of mishaps , the girls realise that the decadent idyll has to come to an end . Here stands out Jack Nicholson who in spite of his overacting wildly as Mephisto , he's really amusing and funny . Along with three seductive and charming actresses : Cher , Susan Sarandon , Michelle Pfeiffer . Being nicely accompanied by a fine support cast , such as : Veronica Cartwright , Richard Jenkins and Carel Struycken of The Addams Family. For three-quarters of the movie , director George Miller lends a bombastic violent edge to the effort , sometimes at the expense of the story , as he triumphally welds a strong comic element on to a taut , truly threatening atmosphere , but the last twenty minutes resulting in calamitous set pieces , diving straight to the bottom of the proverbial barrel with a final grossy orgy of FX.

It displays a colorful and glamorous cinematography by excellent cameraman Vilmos Zsigmond , shot on location in Cohasset , Massachusetts . Special mention for the great maestro John Williams , the veteran and stylist composer who is still composing delivers a jaunty and rousing musical score , as usual. The motion picture was professionally directed by George Miller. Here ¨Mad Max¨ filmmaker Miller meets Hollywood in this unrestrained , vomit-filled treatment of John Updike's novel. Miller takes over the filmmaker's chair for this trip and he brings more effects , more money, and more crass but attractive frames than his previous Australian movies . Miller is author of the excellent post-apocalypse ¨Mad Max¨ trilogy along with the writer and producer Byron Kennedy. The first was ¨Mad Max¨ (1979) with Mel Gibson . Followed by a sequel titled ¨Mad Max 2, the Road warrior¨ with Gibson , Bruce Spence , Vernon Welles and Mike Preston . It's continued by ¨Mad Max beyond Thunderdome¨ with Gibson , Tina Turner, and finally ¨Max: Fury Road¨ (2015) with Tom Hardy , Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult . Rating : 6/10 . Decent comedy but neither notable , nor extraordinary , but acceptable and passable. The flick will appeal to fans of the magnificent starring quartet : Jack Nicholson, Cher , Susan Sarandon and Michelle Pfeiffer.

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!!!! ****