The Witches of Eastwick (film)

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 eponymous witches. The film is based on John Updike's 1984 novel The Witches of Eastwick.

The Witches of Eastwick
Theatrical release poster
Directed byGeorge Miller
Produced by
Screenplay byMichael Cristofer
Based onThe Witches of Eastwick
by John Updike
Starring
Music byJohn Williams
CinematographyVilmos Zsigmond
Edited by
Production
company
Distributed byWarner Bros.
Release date
  • June 12, 1987 (1987-06-12)
Running time
118 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$22 million[2]
Box office$63.8 million (North America)[3]

Plot

Alexandra Medford (Cher), Jane Spofford (Susan Sarandon), and Sukie Ridgemont (Michelle Pfeiffer) are three dissatisfied women living in the picturesque town of Eastwick, Rhode Island. Alex is a sculptor and single mother of one daughter; Jane is a newly divorced music teacher unable to have children; while Sukie has six daughters and works as a columnist for the Eastwick Word, the local newspaper. The three friends all have lost their husbands (Alex's died, Jane's divorced her, and Sukie's abandoned her). Unaware that they are witches, the women unwittingly form a coven where they have weekly get-togethers and share their fantasies about ideal men.

A mysterious man (Jack Nicholson) arrives in town and stirs up trouble by buying the town's landmark property: the Lenox Mansion. The arrival of this enigmatic stranger fascinates the townsfolk, all except for Felicia Alden (Veronica Cartwright), the devoutly religious wife of newspaper editor Clyde Alden (Richard Jenkins), Sukie's boss. Felicia senses that this man (whose name is easily forgotten) is up to no good. One night, at one of Jane's music recitals, the strange man appears and makes a spectacle of himself, which leads to more gossip. After the recital, Jane receives a bouquet of flowers with the initial D written on it. This sparks Sukie's memory, finally revealing the man's name as Daryl Van Horne. However, as chaos over the name spreads through the crowd, Sukie's bead necklace inexplicably breaks and falls to the floor, causing Felicia (who had mocked Daryl's name) to trip down a large staircase and break her leg.

The following day, Daryl sets out to seduce Alex. As he converses with her, he says insensitive, disgusting, and rude things every time he speaks. Appalled, she tells him off, refuses his amorous advances, and begins to walk out. Before she opens the door, he speaks to her, manipulating her emotions until she eventually agrees. The next morning, Daryl visits the shy and insecure Jane. As the two sit down and share polite conversation, Jane explains that the Lenox Mansion was built on a site where alleged witches were burned at the stake. Later that night, Daryl encourages Jane to play her cello with wild abandon, never before achieved, playing faster and faster while accompanied by Daryl on the piano, until finally the strings emit smoke, the cello sets on fire, and Jane flings herself upon Daryl with passion. The following week, Daryl invites all three of the women to his mansion, his sights now on Sukie. Later, as envy and rivalry emerge among the women, they inadvertently levitate a tennis ball. Finally aware of their magical abilities, the women agree to share Daryl.

As the women spend more time at Daryl's mansion, Felicia spreads rumors about their indecency. Alex, Jane, and Sukie become social outcasts. As the witches begin to question their loyalty to Daryl, he causes them to unknowingly cast a spell against Felicia. Later that night, while ranting to her husband about Daryl being the Devil, Felicia begins to vomit cherry pits. Horrified by her uncontrollable behavior, Clyde kills her with a fire poker.

After Felicia's death, the three women become fearful of their powers and agree to avoid each other and Daryl until the situation has quieted down. Upset by this abandonment, Daryl uses his own powers to bring their worst fears to life. Alex awakens to a bed full of snakes; Jane's body begins rapidly aging; and Sukie experiences sudden, agonizing pain. Realizing the only way to get rid of Daryl is by using witchcraft against him, the women reunite with him, pretending to have made amends.

The next morning, Daryl sets out to buy bagels and ice cream, as per the request of the three women. While he is out of the mansion, Alex uses candle wax and Daryl's hair to create a voodoo doll in his image and the three women begin to harm the doll, hoping that Daryl will leave as a result. As the spell takes effect, Daryl - still in town - is buffeted by a sudden wind and begins to feel excruciating pain (each event corresponding to something the doll undergoes). He runs inside a church to hide from the wind and finds it full of people praying. Realizing the source of his troubles, he begins ranting about the women, cursing them as a group before vomiting cherry pits like Felicia did. An enraged Daryl then races home to punish the witches for their betrayal. Realizing their plot to make Daryl leave was ineffective, they attempt to hide their spell and toss the voodoo doll into a fire just as he enters the mansion. Daryl vanishes as a result, but not before reverting to a large, monstrous form that attempts to shake the mansion apart.

Eighteen months later, the women are living together in Daryl's mansion, each with a new baby son (each boy shares his mother's hair color). The boys are playing together when Daryl appears on a wall filled with video screens and invites them to "give Daddy a kiss". Before they can do so, Alex, Jane and Sukie appear and switch off the televisions.

Cast

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 late 1960s. In the novel, Daryl is more devil-like: less of an enabler and more of a selfish, perverse predator and architect of mayhem.[5] 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 get pregnant and at the end Darryl 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.[6][7] 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 was eventually offered to Cher.[8]

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.[9][10] Principal photography began on July 14, 1986, and took place over the course of six weeks in Cohasset and nearby Massachusetts towns,[11] such as Marblehead and Scituate.[12] Castle Hill in Ipswich, Massachusetts, was used for the exterior of the Lenox Mansion, while the lobby of the Wang Center 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.[13]

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,[14][15] 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.[16][17][18]

Reception

Critical response

The Witches of Eastwick received positive reviews. It currently holds a rating of 76% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 33 reviews, with the consensus "A wickedly funny tale of three witches and their duel with the Devil, fueled by some delicious fantasy and arch comedic performances."[19] On Metacritic, based on 10 critics, the film has a 68/100 rating, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[20] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.[21]

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."[22] Janet Maslin in The New York Times commended the "bright, flashy, exclamatory style."[23] Variety described it as a "very funny and irresistible set-up."[24]

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."[22] 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."[23] 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."[25] 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."[26]

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."[26] 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'."[23] Variety called it a "no-holds-barred performance," and wrote that the "spectacle of the film is really Nicholson."[24] 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.[27]

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."[28]

Awards and honors

The film was nominated for two Academy Awards in the categories of Best Original Score (for John Williams' music) and Best Sound, winning neither. The film won a BAFTA Award, however, 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).

Awarding body Award Nominee Result
Academy Awards[29] Best Original Score John Williams Nominated
Best Sound Wayne Artman,
Tom Beckert,
Tom E. Dahl, and
Art Rochester		 Nominated
BAFTA Awards Best Special Visual Effects Michael Lantieri
Michael Owens
Ed Jones
Bruce Walters		 Won
Grammy Awards Best Album of Original Instrumental Background Score Written for a Motion Picture or Television John Williams Nominated
Hugo Awards Best Dramatic Presentation Nominated
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Best Actor Jack Nicholson Won
(tied with Steve Martin)
New York Film Critics Circle Best Actor Jack Nicholson Won
Saturn Awards Best Fantasy Film Nominated
Best Actor Jack Nicholson Won
Best Actress Susan Sarandon Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Veronica Cartwright Nominated
Best Writing Michael Cristofer Nominated
Best Music John Williams Nominated
Best Special Effects Michael Lantieri Nominated
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References
  1. "THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK (18)". British Board of Film Classification. June 25, 1987. Retrieved March 19, 2015.
  2. "The Witches of Eastwick - PowerGrid". thewrap.com. Retrieved August 23, 2015.
  3. The Witches of Eastwick at Box Office Mojo
  4. Chaney, Jen (October 30, 2017). "The Witches of Eastwick Is a Fascinating Movie to Watch Post-Weinstein". www.vulture.com. Retrieved August 6, 2019.
  5. Books: The Witches of Eastwick Review by Margaret Atwood, May 13, 1984. The New York Times.
  6. Locke, Greg W. (August 26, 2011). "The Top 25 Roles Bill Murray Didn't Take". Archived from the original on November 25, 2011. Retrieved May 25, 2015.
  7. Evans, Bradford (February 17, 2011). "The Lost Roles of Bill Murray". Archived from the original on May 20, 2015. Retrieved May 25, 2015.
  8. Anjelica Huston (2014). Watch Me. Scribner. p. 167.
  9. Taylor, Clarke (September 29, 1986). "A Ballyhoo Raised Over 'Witches'". Los Angeles Times. Tribune Publishing. p. 1. Archived from the original on January 10, 2016. Retrieved January 10, 2016.
  10. "Filming of Updike Book Divides a Seaside Town". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. May 27, 1986. Archived from the original on January 10, 2016. Retrieved January 10, 2016.
  11. "Site Chosen for 'Witches' Film". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Associated Press. June 15, 1986. Archived from the original on January 10, 2016. Retrieved January 10, 2016.
  12. Ocker, J.W. (September 20, 2010). The New England Grimpendium: A Guide to Macabre and Ghastly Sites. New York, New York: The Countryman Press. p. 146. ISBN 0881509191.
  13. "The Witches of Eastwick (1987)".
  14. "Paul McCarthy Bio". Nantucket Carving and Folk Art. 2006. Archived from the original on May 9, 2015. Retrieved January 10, 2016.
  15. "Bold and Brash (and almost over!)". Somma Studio. Archived from the original on January 10, 2016. Retrieved January 10, 2016.
  16. Clemmensen, Christian (August 11, 2009). "Filmtracks: The Witches of Eastwick (John Williams)". Filmtracks.com. Retrieved January 10, 2016.
  17. "The Witches of Eastwick Soundtrack". Soundtrack.Net. Autotelics. Retrieved January 10, 2016.
  18. Ankeny, Jason. "The Witches of Eastwick (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved January 10, 2016.
  19. "The Witches of Eastwick Movie Reviews, Pictures". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Archived from the original on October 2, 2009. Retrieved November 5, 2019.
  20. "The Witches of Eastwick". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved March 19, 2015.
  21. "Cinemascore :: Movie Title Search". web.archive.org. December 20, 2018. Retrieved July 27, 2020.
  22. Howe, Desson (June 12, 1987). "The Witches of Eastwick (R)". The Washington Post.
  23. Maslin, Janet (June 12, 1987). "Movie Review - The Witches of Eastwick - Film". movies.nytimes.com.
  24. "The Witches of Eastwick Review - Read Variety's Analysis Of The Movie". Variety. June 12, 1987.
  25. "The Witches of Eastwick Review, Movie Reviews - Film - Time Out London". timeout.com. Archived from the original on June 7, 2011. Retrieved September 15, 2009.
  26. Ebert, Roger (June 12, 1987). "The Witches of Eastwick". rogerebert.suntimes.com.
  27. Kempley, Rita (June 12, 1987). "The Witches of Eastwick (R)". The Washington Post.
  28. 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"
  29. "The 60th Academy Awards (1988) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved October 16, 2011.
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