Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • 144

Friday A Section 7 Chicago Tribune, Friday, Jun 12, 1987 TfJ: Flick of Week: 'Witches' offensive, cross, but fun By Gene Siskel rj Vjs ur Flick of the Week is "The Witches of I A Eastwick," a comic devil story that is a fJKi lot of laughs until it needlessly overdoes "sassi! its grossout special effects. A little vomiting and disfigurement go a long way, especially when you have a cast that includes Jack Nicholson as the devilish answer to the prayers of three bored women (Cher, Susan Sarandon and Michelle Pfeiffer) who live in an uptight New England V. i town. Nicholson's arrival and seduction of the film are a masterpiece of comic acting, and Nicholson also excels when he rages in seriousness about men not getting enough respect from women. The film is so exciting at that point that it is disappointing when it slowly unwinds into a cherry-barfing contest and Nicholson i Susan Sarandon and Jack Nicholson In The Witches of Eastwfck." For a good time call on the 'Witches of Eastwick' 1 first, it might seem a long I7T "The Witches of Eastwick" 1 way irom uie extravagant ac- tion of "Mad Max" to the Directed by Qesros aeean wriMen by Michael Citatoler, literary conceits of John Up Iran the ihwI bv JotM UocUke: DlwtowtMd by Ztkjrmnd; mm by Richard Frenraa-Bnjca; music by Jam WiSiams; produced by HeM Canton, Retar Outer and Jon Patera.

A Warner Brae, ralene; opens June 12 at the McCturg Court and outtying theaters. Running km: 1:5. MPAA mane: It THE CAST Dan Van Hama Jack NichohKm dike, but director George Miller makes it appear a very small step in "The Witches of Eastwick," his new film based on Updike's comic novel of three modern-day New England sorceresses. Updike may be a venerable figure of contemporary American literature, but Miller gives him anything but the "MactArnir Alaundra MadloW Char Jane Seortont Sufcie Rtdgamor tatoeinont Gabriel a laaai mi waWiaWignv Theater" treat I hero from the faceless masses of the postnuclear society that surrounded him. In turn, the visual and kinetic power of the -images gave the films their hold over an audience.

"The Witches of Eastwick" is about power, too, though here it's a sexual power, and the visual dynamics are confined to the gestures and bearings of the actors. Miller builds his humor and suspense around the central, unanswered question of who, exactly, is in charge here is it the women, whose unconscious power has summoned up Daryl, or is it Daryl, whose diabolical genius for seduction keeps the women, up to a point, in the palm of his hand? The supernatural elements of the story, which are played with an enjoyable ofF-handedness until some unfortunate special effects crop up near the end, are metaphorical extensions of the magic and mystery that exist in every relationship, as well as the cruelty and resentment that come in the drive for dominance. Miller, of course, is working on a much more intimate scale than in his "Mad Max" films, but the movie is participates in ghoulish special effects that are needless considering his talent Nicholson doesn't need special effects; he is one himself. Yet on balance, the film is mostly an outrageous, foul-mouthed good time. "The Witches of Eastwick" is playing at the McClurg Court and outlying theaters.

Rated R. Flicks Picks guide New this week THE BELIEVERS (Dearborn, Water Tower and and ouayng). Here's a very ambitious film about an essentially boring subject, a bunch of Latino and American curtists who are out to destroy a few foks, including a family headed by Martin Sheen. The nm alternates between the jungle culture of South America and tie occult practices that have been aansported from there to New York City. Sheen plays a police psychologist whose wife is luted and whose child is threatened by avs curests.

The movie features plenty of gory deaths and a very weak message, which is: You are stupid rf you don't believe in powers that people from another -culture believe in. The movie was attractively filmed by John Schkainger, but the subject matter is stultifying and not the least bit spooky. R. BEVERLY HILLS COP I (Dearborn, Water Tower and outlying). A high-powered but empty sequel to the best-selling movie oomsdy of all time.

Even more so than In the original, the writers and director have wasted the film's singular asset Eddie Murphy, a man who needs no car chases, no bullets and, frankly, no one else to keep us entertained. Yet as directed by Tony Scott (Top Murphy explodes like a jet from the Urn's very first scene as ha returns to Beverly Hats to trail thieves and an amis dealer. His white partners for the first Hm (Judge ReMtold and John Ashton) are along for the ride, and that's precisely what the Nm Is a carmonba-like run through Los Angeles with infrequent pauses for Murphy's wonderful one-linera. The film's blaring soundtrack pins you aqanst your seat wtien what you realy want to do Is get dose to Eddie Murphy, ki a recant press conference. Murphy said that there vri be more "Beverly His Cop" movies.

He's right, of course. Let's hope he gets to talk in the next one. R. THE CHIPMUNK ADVENTURE (Chestnut Station and outtying). Baby-boomers wi recel with annoyance the whiny voices on the best-soling 'Arvin and the Chipmunks" records of the lets 1950s.

Back then, two minutes of nasal nattering about Hula Hoops were more than most people could handto. So how would you Ifce to try 80 minutes of Atvin and the gang ki an overblown Saturday mcrring TV show? No way. Added to the east are the Ctvpottes, who, mistakenly, are Ittte girta and not Ittle girl chipmunks, rf a movie cant get fiat right what's tie point of additional criticism? And, no, I don't think this la one of those cases where the movie wi irritate adults "but kids wi Ike It" wi Irritate kids, too. Q. ERNEST GOES TO CAMP (outlying).

A dim-witted summer camp oomsdy starring the popular, rubber-faced TV pitchman Jim var-ney In his nrst Nm as the pushy Ernest Ernest la a would-be camp counselor who fats down a tot at least a dozen ernes while tying to save the camp from unscrupulous sMp-mlnera. The laughs are preoMabts, as Ernest makes Pes wee Herman seem ike a genius. Moat of tie youngsters In tie Mm come serosa as ethnic types designed by a Hotywood oornpukv. PQ. EXTREME PRfJUOtce fouiytig).

This crazy. mtxedHjp, violent, modenvday western la so packed with acton and characters that the Nm winds up winning you over simply wWi da energy. Nick None stars as an MependenMrtnded Texas ranger whose boyhood friend has become a drug kingpin just over tie border It contains Daryl Van Home (Nicholson), balding, pot-bellied and fabulously rich. He buys the restored colonial mansion on the hilltop, moves in with his collection of antiques and Japanese sport coats and out to seduce each of the three women separately, at first, and then together. Daryl is a creation very much in Nicholson's eccentric late manner, but it may be the first no-stops Nicholson performance to be as much fun for the audience as it evidently is for him.

Daryl's line is based on a shrewd combination of flattery and insolence: ment. His turn is rowdy, vulgar, impolite and ul-timately very seductive and entertaining much in the image of its male protagonist, a self-styled "horny little devil" played with magnificent mmm still visually spectacular, though in a He builds up a woman selt-conti dence while looking for weak points different way. The same eye for move-that might allow him an opening. The ment that captured motorcycles lack of restraint by Jack Nicholson. The witches are Cher, Susan Sarandon and Michelle Pfeiffer, three middle-aged women each rendered single by one element of what the movie describes as "the three death, desertion, divorce.

They have all chosen to stay in the small town of Eastwick, where they meet once a week for a therapeutic bridge game sprinkled with martinis and bemoan the lack of available, attractive men in their village. During one such session, they begin to fantasize about their perfect lover a romantic figure, perhaps a brooding aristocrat on a big, black horse, hand- i some but not too handsome and charm of the role, and its liveliness and unpredictability, depends on Daryl's manic swings of mood and personality, something Nicholson is uniquely qualified to convey. He plays his. facial muscles like a master at a Steinway, shifting through a greater range of expressions in a single shot than some actors manage in an entire career. He metamorphoses before the camera, his features shifting from the sheer lewdness of a John Bclushi to the calculated sincerity of a Warren soaring across a desert is now applied to actors moving through a widescreen space.

The little dance of rage that Nicholson does when his three women threaten to abandon him; the sinuous drift of the three actresses one blond, one brunet and one red-haired as they move in and out of synchronization; the wild athleticism of Daryl's discourse as he brings his sad case De-fore the local church all of these moments and a couple of dozen others give the movie a vivid, cinematic edge throughout "The Witches of Eastwick" is Beany. someining in uie intensity oi uicir Mad Max" movies. Miller shared desires calls torth a respoi in nis Continued Mr C. filmmaking of a very high order' it's As.tfeev sneak, a KoralbrpvtJ.ro.J' aaaMaiaaaaia iii iiaa iiini nil iii iiammmmmmWmvmmmmmmmmWmmmamWmWmWmmmmWmmmWkm.