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The Witches of Eastwick (film)
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Wikipedia article
'The Witches of Eastwick' is a 1987 American dark fantasy-comedy film directed by George Miller and starring Jack Nicholson as Daryl Van Horne, alongside Cher, Michelle Pfeiffer and Susan Sarandon as the titular witches. The film is based on John Updike's 1984 novel of the same name, telling the story of three women who are unaware of the power of the words they speak; as they tell each other their deepest desires, a man arrives just in time and fulfills them, but has a dark side of his own.
Plot
Scupltor Alexandra "Alex" Medford (Cher), music teacher and cellist Jane Spofford (Susan Sarandon), and columnist Sukie Ridgemont (Michelle Pfeiffer) are three single friends maneuvering their lives in picturesque town of Eastwick, Rhode Island with various difficulties: Alex, mother of one, struggles to find artistic inspiration as well as consumer of her artworks, Jane suffers both from frustrating performance issues and sexual harassment from lewd principal Walter Neff (Keith Jochim) and Sukie juggles her job and her own six children. The three meet weekly to drink, chat and, in one particular stormy Thursday night, lament about their bad fortune in romance (Alex's husband is dead, Jane's recently divorced her for not being able to have children and Sukie's left her for having too many children). The women, however, are witches with supernatural powers (previously manifested as a storm by their collective boredom at an event) unbeknownst to themselves and they, seemingly via their discussion over ideal qualities in a romantic interest, inadvertently summon a stranger to Eastwick in the same night.
The stranger purchases and moves into the Lenox Mansion, the town's landmark property with his giant and mild-mannered manservant Fidel (Carel Struycken). His arrival draws strong curiosity from Eastwick's public about everything including his riveting charm and inexplicably elusive name. Felicia Alden, the religious wife of Clyde Alden, editor of the town's newspaper and Sukie's boss, however, appears weary of the stranger's occupation of the mansion and believes the man to be malicious.
After the mysterious man's rude spectacle at Jane's recital and flowers with a card signed with initial "D" sent to Jane, Sukie and other townspeople whom he first encountered suddenly remember his name to be Daryl Van Horne (Jack Nicholson), which prompts Felicia to express mockery. Mysteriously, Sukie's pearl necklace snaps at the mentioning of his name and the beads cause Felicia to fall and break her leg.
Alex encounters Daryl on the way to see the mansion and is invited to lunch by him. Repulsed by his loathesome manners, inappropriate behaviors and abhorrent opinions, Alex berates him and prepares to take her leave. Daryl, however, eventually appeals and emotionally manipulates Alex into succumbing to his seduction.
Daryl next pays the timid Jane a visit, during which she mentions that Lenox was a site of witch execution in the past. He then encourages the cellist to perform with more passion while accompanying her on piano. Jane proceeds to play with such vigor that the instrument catches fire, and they proceed to make love.
The following week, Daryl invites all three to the mansion with the intention of courting Sukie. Envy and rivalry among the three result in a magical tennis match that ends with another rainstorm. Now fully aware of their magical abilities, the women agree to share Daryl and further explore their growing powers, such as flight.
As the women spend more time at the mansion, Felicia, who has grown more unstable during her recuperation, explicitly rants about their liason with Daryl during a church sermon, making the trio Eastwick's outcasts. The witches begin to question their attraction to Daryl and even suggest temporary separation, he however manipulates them to relent and unknowingly cast a spell against Felicia by eating cherries. Later that night, while talking to her husband about Daryl being the Devil and the town's supposedly eroding morality, she begins to vomit cherry pits and behave maniacally. Horrified, Clyde kills her with a fire poker.
In the wake of Felicia's death, the trio, fearing their powers (which cause an earthquake during an intense argument), agree to avoid each other and Daryl until the situation subsides. Upset at being abandoned, Daryl begins to torment them mentally and physically with their fears: Alex and Jane are haunted by vivid visions of snakes and old age; Sukie with near fatal pains. Upon discovering themself pregnant, the witches realize that they must embrace their powers and retaliate against Daryl with witchcraft and thus feign returning affection then reuniting with Daryl, who eagerly welcomes them.
One morning, after sending Daryl out for errands, the coven collects materials to make a voodoo doll which they hope to use to drive him away. The spell successfully takes effect and Daryl is immediately affected by whatever is inflicted upon the doll, including excruciating pains from needles puncturing the doll and powerful gales blowing him towards the church where he takes cover. Daryl then goes on a tirade about women before vomiting cherry pits on the congregation just as Felicia did. Enraged, Daryl races back to Lenox to punish the witches for their betrayal.
Unsure if the spell has produced the desired result, the coven cleans up the place in case of Daryl's return. As he arrives to the mansion (having been further mangled on the way from the witches' constant handling of the doll), they are forced to flee to the pantry and retrieve the doll. In the ensuing chaos, the doll breaks into pieces, results in Daryl abandoning his human form for a monstrous form that attempts to destroy the mansion and subsequently, the coven. The witches then toss the pieces into the fire, ultimately vanquish Daryl in a blast and reduce him to a shriveled homunculus which then vanishes.
Eighteen months later, the women are now living together in Daryl's mansion with all of their children and taking care of their new baby sons (whose hair colors resembling that of their respective mothers) with the help of Fidel. They are determined not to mention or even to think of Daryl when together to avoid conjuring him. The boys are playing together when Daryl's spirit appears on the video wall, beckoning them to "give Daddy a kiss", hoping to sway them to his influence. However, Alex, Sukie and Jane appear and shut off the screens, much to his chagrin.
Cast
* Jack Nicholson as Daryl Van Horne
* Cher as Alexandra Medford
* Susan Sarandon as Jane Spofford
* Michelle Pfeiffer as Sukie Ridgemont
* Veronica Cartwright as Felicia Alden
* Richard Jenkins as Clyde Alden
* Keith Jochim as Walter Neff
* Becca Lish as Mrs. Neff
* Carel Struycken as Fidel
Differences from novel
While the film follows the basic structure of the novel, several major developments are dropped, with the book being darker in tone. The setting of both is Rhode Island, but the novel sets the time during the early 1970s. In the novel, Daryl is more devil-like: less of an enabler and more of a selfish, perverse predator and architect of mayhem.[https://www.nytimes.com/1984/05/13/books/updike-witches.html Books: 'The Witches of Eastwick' Review by Margaret Atwood, May 13, 1984. 'The New York Times'.] Also, the film omits a key episode in the book, where Daryl unexpectedly marries a young, innocent girl named Jenny, and the jealous three witches magically cause her to die of cancer. None of the three witches gets pregnant and at the end Daryl flees town with Jenny's younger brother, Chris, apparently his lover. Also in the book Alexandra's last name was Spofford, not Medford and Jane was Jane Smart, not Jane Spofford, and Sukie was Rougemont not Ridgemont. There are differences in their hair and build too; Alexandra is plump and Sukie is the redhead.
Production
Casting
Jack Nicholson expressed interest in playing the role of Daryl through his then-girlfriend Anjelica Huston, after hearing that the original actor for the role, Bill Murray, had dropped out. Huston was in the running for the role of Alexandra Medford, and screen-tested opposite Michelle Pfeiffer, who had already been cast as Sukie, and Amy Madigan, who was being considered for the role of Jane. After giving a self-confessed "terrible" audition in which she struggled with the "tough" dialogue, Huston realized she had lost the role, and it would be eventually acquired by Cher; but Cher insisted on playing the part of Alexandra, which had already been given to Susan Sarandon. Producers gave in to Chers demands and cast her in the role instead, without ever giving Sarandon proper notice of the revision. She did not find out that her role had been given to Cher, and that she herself had been re-cast as Jane, until the day she turned up on location to start filming.Filming
'The Witches of Eastwick' was originally set to be filmed in Little Compton, Rhode Island but controversy erupted in Little Compton over whether or not its Congregational church should be involved with the film's production. Warner Bros. instead turned to locations in Massachusetts. Principal photography began on July 14, 1986, and took place over the course of six weeks in Cohasset and nearby Massachusetts towns, such as Marblehead and Scituate. Castle Hill in Ipswich, Massachusetts, was used for the exterior of the Lenox Mansion, while the lobby of the Wang Theatre in Boston stood in for the main hall. Other interiors were filmed at the Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills, though the swimming pool and Daryl's library were sets built on the Warner Bros. backlot.Prior to filming, a small carving shop led by woodcarver Paul McCarthy was commissioned to hand-carve all the wooden signs for the businesses shown in the movie, including the newspaper where Michelle Pfeiffer's character worked 'The Eastwick Word'.
Music
The musical score for 'The Witches of Eastwick' was composed and conducted by John Williams. A soundtrack album was released by Warner Bros. Records in 1987.Reception
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes the film has a rating of 66% based on 90 reviews. The site's consensus states: "While devotees of John Updikes novel may want to put a hex on George Millers cartoonish and effects-laden adaptation, Jack Nicholson lends enough decadent devilry to make this high-concept comedy sizzle." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 67 out of 100 rating based on reviews from 11 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.'The Washington Post' wrote that "Hollywood pulls out all the stops here, including a reordering of John Updike's original book to give you one flashy and chock-full-o'-surprises witches' tale." Janet Maslin in 'The New York Times' commended the "bright, flashy, exclamatory style." 'Variety' described it as a "very funny and irresistible set-up."
Some critics thought that the last part of the film spiraled into ridiculousness. 'The Washington Post' wrote that the second half "lost its magic and degenerated into bunk." According to 'The New York Times', "beneath the surface charm there is too much confusion, and the charm itself is gone long before the film is over." 'Time Out' wrote that "the last 20 minutes dive straight to the bottom of the proverbial barrel with a final crass orgy of special effects." Roger Ebert in the 'Chicago Sun-Times' gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four, acknowledging that "the movie's climax is overdone" yet added that "a lot of the time this movie plays like a plausible story about implausible people."
The majority of critics saw the film as a showcase for Nicholson's comic talents. The 'Chicago Sun-Times' thought it "a role he was born to fill... There is a scene where he dresses in satin pajamas and sprawls full length on a bed, twisting and stretching sinuously in full enjoyment of his sensuality. It is one of the funniest moments of physical humor he has ever committed." 'The New York Times' wrote that although "the performers are eminently watchable... none of them seem a match for Mr. Nicholson's self-proclaimed 'horny little devil'." 'Variety' called it a "no-holds-barred performance," and wrote that the "spectacle of the film is really Nicholson." 'The Washington Post' wrote that Nicholson was "undisputably the star of 'The Witches of Eastwick', despite formidable competition from his coven played by Cher, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Susan Sarandon," although even more praise was reserved for Veronica Cartwright in an eccentric, scene-stealing supporting role.
Ruth Crawford wrote: "This film includes many fantasy elements. By far the most fantastic of them is the depiction of a single mother of five, who has to work for a living and still has plenty of time and energy left to engage in wild adventures of sex and magic. If being a witch gives you the ability to do that, quite a few women I know would be very happy to sign up at the nearest coven."Ruth M. Crawford, "The Reality of Women's Lives as Compared to Media Depictions" in Dr. Sarah Bresford (ed.) "Interdisciplinary Round Table on the Condition of Women's Issues at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century"
Accolades
The film was nominated for two Academy Awards in the categories of Best Original Score (for John Williams' music) and Best Sound, losing both to 'The Last Emperor'. The film did win a BAFTA Award in the category of Best Special Effects, and received a nomination for the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation. Williams was also nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Album of Original Instrumental Background Score Written for a Motion Picture or Television, and won a BMI Film Music Award.Jack Nicholson won a Saturn Award for Best Actor, and the film received nominations in a further six categories: Best Fantasy Film, Best Actress (Susan Sarandon), Best Supporting Actress (Veronica Cartwright), Best Writing (Michael Cristofer), Best Music (John Williams), and Best Special Effects.
Jack Nicholson also won Best Actor awards from the New York Film Critics Circle (for his work in 'Witches', 'Ironweed' and 'Broadcast News') and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association (for 'Witches' and 'Ironweed'), the latter shared with Steve Martin for 'Roxanne' (1987).
References
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