Daily News from New York, New York • 50

Saturday. Juno '13, 1987 DAILY NEWS 11 ATTENTION l3MUST BEEJ IMiMlllilHIMWIWW By KATHLEEN CARROLL could call it body-raising since the night's activities usually include a little levitation) at Van Horn's Playboy mansion. As you might have already gathered, this raunchy fable about a flaming devil-about-town, who ignites the powers of three modern-day witches, is a curious brew. Using just the bare bones of John Updike's witty original novel, Australian director George Miller creates quite a stir, at first, with some impishly funny scenes. His leading ladies, namely Cher, Susan Sarandon and Michelle Pfeiffer.

romp MIUJON DOLLAR MYSTERY. With Tom BosJey, Kevin PoHak, Eddie Deezen, Wendy Sherman. Directed by Richard Fleischer. Running time: 1 hour, 35 minutes. Rated PG.

ILLION DOLLAR (J Tj Mystery" is just a cheap I I ripoff of the ded 1960s corned "It's Mir a Mad Mad Mad Mad World." But it may be worth a million bucks to some sharp-eyed viewer. Indeed, the DeLaurentiis entertainment group is offering a fortune to those" actually foolish enough to sit through the movie, and figure out the mystery. The deal is this. Some greedy characters charge through the Sunbelt in search of $4 million. The money was stashed away in four separate locations by a corrupt SATANIC MAJESTY? Nan, just Jack Nicholson in "Witches of Eastwick" A mm HELPING OF DEVILED HAM Vis through the movie with just the right giddy, tongue-in-cheek approach.

Cher can make you laugh by just tying her tumbling locks into pigtails and dressing like the farmer's daughter. Sarandon's split-second timing and charm make her amusingly bewitch-' ing as Jane who goes strawberry blond, after her first passionate tumble and starts wearing lace-trimmed ankle socks to the supermarket In one deliciously light-hearted scene the trio play tennis with their host who hits the highest lob in the history of the game. But no one really has a chance as long as Jack Nicholson, in a Samurai hairdo and brocade lounging robe, is chewing up the scenery as Van Horn. He hams it up with a gleeful vengeance, raising bis pointed eyebrows and flashing his trademark grin in a souped-up replay of every B-movie role he has ever played. Wallowing in Nicholson's excesses (like the scene in which he spits blood at a startled church congregation and insists he's just the victim of a domestic squabble) can be a howL But, by placing the ball in Nicholson's court Miller allows the movie to run away with his megabuck star.

It ultimately disintegrates into just a routine horror flick with some cheesy-looking special effects. THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK Jack Nicholson. Cher, Susan Sarandon. Directed by George Miller. At the Beekman, Criterion Center.

Loews 84th St. Movieland and the Gramercy. Running time: 2 hours, 1 minute. naieo k. 1 LEXANDRA MEDFORD, A I Jane Spofford, and Sukie Ridgemont, the spellbinding earl trio in "The Witches of ing by collectively wishing for "a talL dark Prince Charming traveling under a curse." That very second Daryl Van Horn blows into during one of these nasty thunderstorms that always herald the arrival of the bad guy.

He makes his presence felt immediately by snoring loudly during Jane's cello recital and soon they are making steamy music together in Van Horn's newly acquired mansion. Alexandra is also persuaded by this veteran seducer to test his king-sized bed which he claims was once owned by the Borgias. Sukie succumbs as well and soon all three women are holding their consciousness-raising (you Eastwick," usually do nothing more than overdose on dry martinis and cheese whiz at the weekly meeting of their coven. But tonight the frustration of being single in an uptight New England town has driven them to drastic measures. They have decided to test their powers of positive think- i live STALKING THE WILD 'Si: ASPARAGUS eludes a wise man in the team.

The audience already knows that Dutch ana nis men are Deing dogged by i carnivorous creature from an un PREDATOR. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers. Directed by John McTieman. At National, Embassy 72d St, 86th St East and Movieland. Running time: 1 hour, 46 minutes.

Rated R. HE THUNDEROUS ROAR of a helicopter hails the arrival of Arnold Schwarzenes- fl ffiliil named planet because the movie includes footage inside the jungle, alien's head, showing just how his prey looks to him. The not-so-jolly green giant proceeds to devour the entire cast with the obvious exception of the movie's star who, as you would expect meets him head on in a man-to-beast combat sequence. The flesh- I eer and his Armv rescue team of Rambo lookalikes in the opening scene of "Predator." Schwarzenegger, playing the terse, action-minded Maior (Dutch) Snhaefer. is in.

ON THE TRAIL in "Million Dollar Mystery" government official (Tom Bosley is the only actor in the movie with any kind of a reputation and, fortunately for him, he's not around long enough to do serious damage to his career). Just before dying in a roadside diner from an overdose of lethal chili, Bosley mutters "Start at the city of the bridge. That's just the first clue in this ongoing scavenger hunt The bungling fortune hunters, who include a smooching honeymoon couple and a would-be Rambo, take to the road in whatever vehicles they can' grab. They bump into the movie's most obvious talent, impressionist -Kevin Pollak who, as a small-town' cop, does an eyeball rolling imitation of Lt Columbo that's pretty impressive. And they get to explore that bizarre Arizona tourist attractionthe London Bridge.

But they also manage to find and instantly lose $3 million. What of the remaining million? According to the game plan, you, the viewer, can figure out the location by playing close attention to the additional clues. The trick is to stay awake long enough so you can spot them, which this writer, much formed of his new mission by the base commander who claims they're in "a charming little country." Charmine indeed. This unnamed Latin American hellhole, complains one tough survivor, "makes Cambodia look like Kansas" for in the thick nf the jungle they stumble across a grue some spectacle tne Doaies ot several men who have been skinned alive. A little later a member nf the team is VEGG1NG OUT: Arnold Schwarzenegger in "Predator" mysteriously disemboweled by what looks like a jungle fern (this movie, need I say, is not for the squeamish).

uia you nnd Hawkins?" asks eating monster "is a bit of a chameleon, though. In his final denouement he no longer looks like a plant but suddenly changes into a mighty warrior in metal armor. He also seems strangely taken with Schwarzeneroer Schaefer. "I don't know reDlies the I say strange because the former beefcake artist has not only shed some of his greatest assets namely his vein-popping muscles he, perhaps be-" cause the jungle heat sapped his en-ergy, shows so little animal feature soldier who has just discovered the remains. "There is something out there wait who, in case have trouble ing for us and it ain't no man," con- 11" Tif ST-" t1 Yi? ireaiure you telling magnetism that this creature I nasi sn i taj, at i-Wi -f" vuc lu crewfcui up iusi.

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