Arizona Republic from Phoenix, Arizona • Page 37

REPUBLIC MAIL The Arizona Republic Friday, June 12, 1987 Klnsey D2 Ginger Hutton D3 Calendar D3, 5 Clnemafare D14 Television D16 Comics D17 A bid to be Mr. Lucky J. David Sloan, the talented resident singer at Mr. Lucky's, hits the road for Nashville and his second shot at country music's big time. D3.

WEEKEND HIGHLIGHTS oOOOV. GO COMEDY San Francisco's zany Duck's Breath Mystery Theater comes to Arizona State University's Gammage Center with Dr. Science in tow for one performance tonight. Details on Page D3. POPULAR MUSIC Tonight show band leader Doc Severinsen conducts the Phoenix Symphony Pops in concerts today and Saturday at the amphitheater at the Pointe Tapatio Cliffs.

Details on Page D3. SPECIAL EVENTS The Flagstaff Pine Country Pro Rodeo is today through Sunday at Fort Tuthill Fairgrounds; on Saturday, there's a rodeo parade in downtown Flag. Story on Page D2. Doc Severinsen 'Eastwick' humorously conjures up modern women and their ideal man II III fjiIJi Movies Review MOVIES New films on Valley screens this week include Festival of Claymation, an animated film from Will Vinton, who gave us the singing and dancing raisins of TV commercial Dollar Mystery, partially set in Arizona, featuring comic Rich Hall and offering a $1 million prize; My Life as a Dog, a Swedish film about young boy coming of age in the 1950s; The Witches of Eastwick, with Jack Nicholson, Cher, Michelle Pfeiffer and Susan Sarandon (reviewed on this page); and Predator, with Arnold Schwarzenegger fighting all that moves in Centeral America. Details on Pages D12-15.

I ty Jack Nicholson has a devil of a time in Eastwick. THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK A Warner Bros, release directed by George Miller; script by Michael Christofer, based on the book by John Updike; photography by Vilmos Zsigmond; edited by Richard Francis-Bruce; music by John Williams. Cast: Jack Nicholson, Cher, Susan Sarandon, Michelle Pfeiffer, Veronica Cartwright. Rated: R. By MARSHA McCREADIE The Arizona Republic You always knew he had it in him: Jack Nicholson makes a most astounding, alarming and totally charming devil in The Witches of Eastwick.

And we mean Beelzebub himself, not just a bad guy you want to call a rat. In the film taken from the John Updike novel, Nicholson is clever, manipulative and ultimately diabolical in dealing with the vagaries of contemporary woman. He just wants a little respect. And somebody to do a decent job ironing his shirts wouldn't hurt either. Happily for The Witches of Eastwick, contemporary woman ranging from the liberated woman to the earth mother is represented by Cher playing a feisty and independent sculptor, Susan Sarandon playing an uptight and somewhat frustrated music teacher, and Michelle Pfeiffer as a waiflike mother of many who apparently can't help from getting pregnant at the proverbial drop of a hat, wink of an eye, or something more graphic.

They all live in the charmingly photographed New England town of Eastwick, with rolling hills and picturesque seaside squalls. The women also have each other, especially on Thursday nights when they do macrame and martinis, the latter with more fervor. SHORT TAKES Mevjs briefs Without being heavy-handed about it, the trio represents just about every type of modern woman. Every type, that is, who is divorced, widowed or recently single. Fortunately, the film never careens off in the direction of one or the other of them, despite the strength of Alexandra (Cher), the sweetness of Sukie (Pfeiffer) and the interesting neurosis of Jane (Sarandon).

At one point, Jane retorts to the comment "I don't think men are the answer to everything," by saying, "Why do we always end up talking about them?" in an observation quaintly reminiscent of consciousness-raising sessions. ARTS HEAVIES HONORED Singer Ella Fitzgerald, writer Robert Penn Warren, art patron Armand Hammer and eight others will receive the 1987 National Medal of Arts award Thursday at the White House. Congress authorized the awards in 1984 for "individuals or groups who in the president's judgment are observing of special recognition" for their contributions to art. President Reagan and his wife, Nancy, wil present the awards at a White House luncheon to seven artists and four art patrons, who were recommended by the National Council on the Arts. Artists chosen were: Fitzgerald; Warren; sculptor Isamu Noguchi; composer William Schuman; painter Romare Bearden; author Howard Neme- Through their friendship and their shared imaginings, the three women conjure up a fantasy of the perfect man: a stranger, dark and so forth.

It's the stuff of fairy tales, of course, but it's used consciously, even self-consciously, while being tongue-in-cheek. All of this plays against the historical background of witch hunts in Eastwick. In fact some of the film's most clever dialogue, spoken by Daryl Van Home (Nicholson), is the subtle satire of the contemporary feminist line of reasoning about the historical witches: They were midwives that the establishment, i.e. doctors and the patriarchy, wanted to get rid of. Well, when these three conjure, they do a whale of a job.

Daryl is their fantasy realized, and a hearty, gutsy, updated Prince of Darkness. Just as likely to spout contemporary feminist jargon as he is to seduce in old-fashioned ways, Daryl moves into a deserted mansion, rumored to have been the site of some witch burnings. Except for his miniponytail, which makes him look like a samurai who has had one too many sake, he could be any run-of-the-mill wealthy, decadent bachelor. Daryl works his charm on the three, though it doesn't destroy their friendship. And when the four -set up a kind of semipermanent household arrangement in the mansion, it's the scandal of the town.

The scenes in the mansion are joyous and extravagant, and too funny to be lascivious. And the transformation of Jane, a cellist, is especially funny to behold: She changes from a New England spinster to an LA princess overnight. Without meaning to be heavily allegorical, or coming off that way, The Witches of Eastwick addresses some major philosphical issues. An angry Daryl has a brilliant monologue in a church, haranguing the parishioners. "When we make mistakes we call it evil," he spits out.

"When God makes a mistake we call it nature." He's mad because his threesome have caught on to who and what he is, and have turned the tables on him. "You're not the only three women in the world," he threatens. But by the end of the film, it becomes clear that he wishes they were, and that he could best them with a flourish. There are the inevitable devil accompaniments to the genre in The Witches of Eastwick: Exorcist-hke vomiting, unnatural tunnels of wind. I guess these things are just part of what Hollywood thinks folks need to recognize the supernatural.

Thankfully, they are rather restrained, and minimally used. rov; and choreographer Alwin Nikolais. Art patrons selected were Hammer; J.W. Fisher of Marshalltown, Iowa; and Frances and Sydney At i. Lewis of Richmond, Va.

CLOSING NOTICE It's curtains for A My Name Is Alice next weekend, says Tom Oldendick, producing director at Phoenix Little i heatre. The musicals sellout run in Theatre One has been extended three times, topping out at 18 performances. Only two other recent PLT produc tions, Greater Tuna and Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You, have outrun Alice. IT DOESN'T STACK UP Columnist Marilyn Beck reports Robert Stack, who portrayed Eliot Ness in the vintage TV series, The Untouchables, is distressed by inaccuracies in reviews of Para- mount's Untouchables feature that say Ness committed suicide. Stack, who met and befriended the widow of the real Eliot Ness, says Ness died of natural causes and he did.

The man who helped put Al Capone behind bars in the '30s died of a heart attack in Coudersport, on May 16, 1957. Cher, Susan Sarandon and Michelle Pfeiffer get what they wish for in The Witches of Eastwick. if )H I -Mil 'Golden Age' reveals Europe's great divide '44 y' "4 4 iff, AS A 9 7 ''i '4' Art Preview '4 t' ICSA V'V- A a a i i 7 A 4" 1 i JOHN McENROE and his wife, Tatum O'Neal, pose with son Kevin for the cover of July's Esquire. "We have some beautiful fights," an accompanying story quotes O'Neal as saying. "He gets so angry with me, and finally he says, 'You know who you are? The female John McEnroe." A i By RICHARD NILSEN The Arizona Republic Phoenix and Tucson are farther apart than Amsterdam and Antwerp.

Yet, in the "Golden Age of Painting," the distance between the two low country cities is measured more in centuries than miles. The 80 miles between the two cities defined the difference between the old way of thinking the Age of Belief and the newly emerging sense of humanism the Age of Reason. Viewed in chronological order, the paintings in the Phoenix Art Museum's new show, "A Golden Age of Painting" outline how Protestant northern Europe took a 90 degree turn while Catholic Europe kept to the straight and narrow. The paintings also will tell us something of ourselves. Whether from the Netherlands or from what we now call Belgium, the painters displayed are often called the Old Masters.

And, until the Impressionists unseated them, the Old Masters defined what most people called art. The Rembrandt look was instantly recognized as fine art there was a seriousness to it that was morally and intellectually edifying. Where even middle class families now might hang a copy of Renoir's Girl With a Watering Can, they used to hang copies of Rembrandt's Old Mill or Girl With a Broom. Yet, though we recognize all the Old Masters as great ajrtists, we feel more at A GOLDEN AGE OF PAINTING 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Tuesday through Saturday (until 9 p.m. Wednesday), 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays. Saturday through Aug. 2 at the Phoenix Art Museum, 1625 N.

Central Ave. home with the Dutch painters than with the Flemish. Even the lesser Dutch masters are more congenial than Rubens or Abraham Janssens. And the reasons are not hard to fathom. The Flemish painters, as Roman Catholics with centuries of art tradition behind them, continued to paint Madonnas and Crucifixions even if their brush style was more modern more "painterly." There is something innately theatrical and supernatural about Catholicism before this century.

The Dutch painters, in the throes of revolt against their Spanish and Catholic overlords, distrusted anything that was not of the here and now. They painted apples, tulips, horses, clouds and the neighbors. Even when they painted a religious painting, they tended to humanize its biblical subject. Elisha in the House of the Shuham-mite Woman, by Barent Fabritius, a student of Rembrandt, turns what in II Kings 8 is a tale of the raising of tho "I Our daily quote "I don't know. I don't even remember where I park my car.

If I knew where the money was hidden, I'd already be living in Malibu." Comedian Rick Overton, who co-stars in Million Dollar Mystery, the movie-game that opens nationally today. He says he doesn know how to Al put together clues to the whereabouts of $1 million in prize money. Compiled from Associated Press. United Press Interna tional, Washington Post and Tribune Media Services reports by Hardv Price. Franz Hals painted Pcraitofa Woman in 1650 as Dutch art Jit its stride..