The Witches of Eastwick - in photos - mostly - because I'm lazy

Tags

Cher, humour, Jack Nicholson, Michelle Pfeiffer, movie review, Susan Sarandon, witches of eastwick, writing

Nat Thought – proof yet again a stellar cast can turn good into great.

Sometimes there’s just nothing left on the television, internet, cinemas, Netflix, Love Film, Youtube to watch. So I was having me one of those nights and pulled out The Witches of Eastwick, an in depth discourse on the vilification of women in 17th century England.

Errr, kidding.

The Witches of Eastwick is the 1987 film about three bored, lonely, small-town-USA girlfriends who dream up their idea of the perfect man one stormy night. It’s not long before they learn that sometimes you should be careful what you wish for. When a mysterious stranger rolls into town and a series of unusual events begin to occur, the women soon realise that together they must stop what they never knew they began.

Did you, like me, end up reading that in deep voice-over man voice?

If it sounds all a bit dark and gloomy, don’t worry, it’s not. Well, there is a thunderstorm. And  a feather-storm (wait and see). Oh and a flood. But there’s plenty of light bits too. Like this…

If the plot isn’t enough to reel you in, then perhaps the cast list will do the trick. Michelle Pfeiffer is Sukie, a single mother of 6 kids, Cher is Alex, the sexy sculptor, Susan Sarandon is Jane, the virginal high school music teacher and the legend that is Jack Nicholson is the aforementioned mysterious stranger.

Here they are trying to look all hocus pocus in a promo shot…

Hmm, Cher doesn’t look very into it does she?

What about 80′s fashion then? Do you like you some glasses with frames that were bigger than people’s heads, shoulder pads big enough to be used by a quarter back, off the shoulder tracksuit tops, tracksuit bottoms rolled up at the top? Ohhhh and the perms. Hi-larious.

Yes Cher, I agree. If I had pigtails and funny yellow clips in my hair, that’s what my face would be saying too.

Apparently the women didn’t like each other much to start with, the actresses I mean. Cher says that she and Susan didn’t speak to each other for two weeks at the beginning of production. But they patched up their differences and from them on the three were inseparable and remain friends today.

The first time I watched this I had no idea who Susan Sarandon was. And I’d only ever seen Cher acting once, in Mask. Michelle and Jack of course I wanted to have babies with. So it’s only now on this re-watch that I appreciate the cast even more. Michelle must have been sleeping with the lighting and the camera guys, because even though she’s trying to look frumpy, every shot of her makes her look inhumanly beautiful. Cher seems like one of those really cool women who you’d love to have in your circle, one of those loud, sexy, witty chicks who’d get the party started and keep it going. Did I just say chick? Jack is just being Jack; sexy ugly, naughty and irresistible.

Oh wait, that’s just ugly. How about this?

There’s a really fun scene in Jack’s mansion with thousands of pink balloons and a  catering trolley. If I had more money than sense, that’s exactly what I’d be doing in my enormous Gothic mansion. And maybe a bit of this…

OK that bit’s not actually in the film, so don’t blame me when you watch it waiting for that scene and it doesn’t come.

The Witches of Eastwick is silly, it’s fun, it’s frivolous, it makes me wish Cher would go out drinking with me. And I’ll just bet it makes you think twice about eating cherries next time they’re offered to you.