"Witches of Eastwick" Week!
Sunday, June 10, 2012 at 9:00AM Starts now! Happy 25th Anniversary to The Witches of Eastwick (1987). Normal blogging will run concurrently but we'll pop on over to that supernatural New England town at least once a day this week. We'll discuss the famous vomiting scene, Michelle Pfeiffer's fruitful loins, Cher's sculptures and more. We'll also look for fun Witches-related articles online this week to share.
But first... FUN FACTS
Title: The Witches of Eastwick (1987)
Director: George Miller of Mad Max fame. He directed every feature in that franchise and will also direct the reboot Mad Max: Fury Road to star Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron.
Release Date: June 12th, 1987
Based on: the novel of the same name by John Updike. I haven't read it but from my understanding it isn't what you'd call a "faithful" adaptation.
Legacy: The Witches of Eastwick has since been adapted into a television series a remarkable three times (only one version went to series, though) as well as a stage musical.
Movie's Running Time: 118 Minutes
Star Billing Hierarchy:
- Jack Nicholson
[TITLE] - Cher
- Susan Sarandon
- Michelle Pfeiffer
[CO-STARRING] - Veronica Cartwright
- Richard Jenkins | Keith Jochim [shared title card]
- "And Carel Struycken as Fidel"
Switcheroo: Cher's "Alexandra" role was supposed to be Susan Sarandon's and it was given to Cher without Sarandon's knowledge prior to shooting, leaving Sarandon with "Jane" instead. Sarandon was initially angry and coverage at the time suggested a very tense set. Yet Sarandon was the only Eastwick star to work with Miller again; they reteamed 5 years later for Lorenzo's Oil which won Susan her third Best Actress Oscar nomination.
Box Office: The tenth highest grossing film of 1987, just ahead of Dirty Dancing (Nobody puts These witches put Baby in a corner!) Just below Lethal Weapon. i.e. as popular in its year as, like, Thor or Rise of the Planet of the Apes last year. It's the 2nd biggest hit movie about witches ever behind only The Blair Witch Project (1999).
Box Office Rank For Each Star's Whole Career: Jack's tenth biggest hit, Cher's second biggest hit (Moonstruck in the same year being #1), Sarandon & Pfeiffer's 5th biggest hit.
Are you ready, ladies?"
Oscar attention: 2 nominations for Score (John Williams) and Sound. Cher won the Oscar for Moonstruck released six months later and this movie couldn't have hurt; it was Her Year as they say (two #1 movies and a new platinum comeback album inbetween them titled simply "Cher")
Oscar-less: Only LaPfeiffer is Oscar-less now of the principal quartet.
Acting Kudos: Jack Nicholson took home Best Actor from the twin towers of critics awards: LAFCA and NYFCC (shared with Ironweed for which he was Oscar nominated). Nicholson, Sarandon and Cartwright all won Saturn Award nominations, too. Oddly there was zero attention from the Golden Globes despite the film being a hit prestige all star Comedy aimed at adult audiences.
Name your favorite personal "fact" about this movie in the comments. When did you first see it?
Cher, Oscars (80s), The Witches of Eastwick, critics awards, witches
Reader Comments (15)
I remember there being a pretty important gay subplot in the book that is missing from the film.
My Favorite Scene: Jack & Susan's seducton scene, nobody can convince me anyone actually played their "instruments" with more gusto.... The movie, as a hole was a non-stop hoot, I personally felt like I was having a good laugh along with the actors. A complete and absolute "funny as hell" tale.
...and an amazing job done by Veronica Cartwright
Susan Sarandon teaching music to children after her encounter with Jack Nicholson.
Why not take this chance to mention my devotion to both Cartwright sisters? I've been following Veronica since her Daniel Boone days, and Angela ever since Sound of Music and Lost in Space. Veronica's performances both in Eastwick and Alien were deserving of Oscar nominations... It's a real pity that Angela gave up acting.
- Favorite personal fact: This was my introduction to the magnificent Susan Sarandon.
- Saw it right when it opened!
Fun Fact the principle female cast are still immaculate while the devil has seen better days.
The three leading divas were all amazing but the entire movie was stolen by the extraordinary Sarandon's comic turn.
The brilliantly edited Daryl Van ? guessing-game scene and, of course, Alexandra's verbal eviceration of a hilariously writhing Daryl. Delicious.
Susan Sarandon is one of those women that will never not be gorgeous.
I liked how lively and fun the movie was. Wasn't there something about the continuity with a cold sore for Pfieffer? I did miss the satisfyingly neat ending of the book though. Spoiler: the Devil runs away with a beautiful young man to NYC (the younger brother of the Cartwright character?) and each chagrined witch does an extremely appropriate spell for their true love. All 5 characters end up happy.
The 80s were awesome! "Moonstruck" was the 5th top grossing-film of 1987. Try that in 2012.
I remember being absolutely fascinated by this film and with the three actresses (and their hair)...1987 was a classic year for studio releases and it was pretty much the first year I started to become obsessed with the movies...I mean Can't Buy Me Love, Adventures in Babysitting, and The Lost Boys in one year!
Nathaniel...please do a piece on The Lost Boys...that movie has definitely held up with time...Schumacher's masterpiece!
As for Witches, it was a pretty raunchy R-rated film for it's time, so I was surprised my parents allowed me to watch it after they previewed it...it wasn't exactly what I was expecting...a little over my head and a little too talky for a pre-pubescent teen. I would love to see it again with with an adult's understanding. I also would love to see these actresses share the screen again with Nicholson...maybe a sequel?
And so glad Susan Sarandon played Jane...good to see her play a comedic character role...she should do it more often.
The first time I saw this movie was on some random weekend in high school and it was on TNT or TBS (I can't remember which one, but are they really that different?). I saw Pfeiffer, the other two, and "Witches" in the title and decided I needed to watch it because I was a fan of the show "Charmed" and willing to watch anything "witchy". I ended up loving it and thinking that Sarandon and Cartwright were best in show.
cartwright should been nominated as best supp actress.
Veronica Cartwright has been on the tv series Revenge lately