Santa Cruz Sentinel from Santa Cruz, California • Page 64

4 pot li fi San ta' Cl-uz Sentfaef- i'(JayV jiirte T9J you would never laugh at otherwise, But for the occasional miscue or excess, there's also Nicholson, whose performance by itself puts the film into the must-see category. Devilish or not, what he does is as wickedly delightful as anything the screen has produced this year. It miTED ARTISTS 'Witches' devilishly funny s- mwks mm and his witches come at their story with a wild sense of gusto. The inherent contrasts between New England's puritan past and Nicholson's wanton decadence lead to similar swings in the script and cinematic texture. Nicholson doesn't really need any help from the special effects department, but Miller gives him some anyway.

A tennis game turns into a cartoon; the climax of the movie turns into a large-scale, and very expensive, assignment for the folks in make-up, stunts and effects. The wildness dilutes the film's impact just a bit. The three actresses initially establish themselves nicely, but then get stuck, like caricatures to hang as trophies on the mansion walls. The wild tone of "Witches" will put some people off. Indeed, the funniest scenes are also the most outrageous, and you laugh at things MATINEES DAILY AT All THEATRES FIIMS.

'ADMISSION TAX OF 8 IN EFFECT BY wn ve. a onwi inin nui Arrtcituj 41.1 A CAM TOLA RD. 476 1841 ISHTAR" (K.j. DAILY EXCEPT SAT, 1 20-3 30-3 43-6 00 TO 05 SAT ONLY, SEPARATE ADMISSION REQUIRED "INNERSPACE" at boo wplacis too show MARTIN SHEEN "THE BELIEVERS" (fi DAILY. 1.00-310-5 50 CRISPIN GLOVER-DENNIS HOPPER 'RIVER'S EDGE" DAILY.

RANCHO Df MAR CENTER CM-SMI EDDIE MURPHY BEVERLY HILLS COP DAILY, MICHAEL i. FOX SECRET OF MY SUCCESS" (pgi3) DAILY: 40-5 50-fl 10-10 30 1203 SOOUtt SANTA CRUZ 423-2000 JACK NICHOISON-CHER "THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK" (R) DAILY. 4 STARTS WEDNESDAY JI LY I All SEATS FOR FIRST 2 MATINEE ORDER OF SANTA CRUZ CITY COUNCIL. 1 134 PACtflC. SANTA CHUZ 421-0616 KEVIN COinHR-aUUI CONNiRY AND ftMMT MNMO AL CArONI "THE UNTOUCHABLES" OAIIV.

1 1 5 STEVt MAR1IN-DARYI HANNAH "ROXANNE" iks) DAIIY: 12.20-2:30-5.00.7,15-9:40 "CHIPMUNK ADVENTURE" (oi DAILY, 1230 4,007.30 with "ERNEST GOES TO CAMP" mi DAILY, "NIGHTMARE ON ELM ST. DAILY. 12.43-3.10-9,20 with "ANGEL HEART" DAILY. I S3 SO. RIVII.

SANTA CRUZ 436-1313 ARNOLD SCHWA RZ EN NEGGER "PREDATOR" DAILY: JOHN UTMGOW DON AMECHE "HARRY AND THE HENDERSONS" (pg DAILY. 1 2.30-2:43-3:00-7:30-1040 REGULAR ENGAGEMENTS us By RICK CHATENEVER Sentinel Staff Writer YOU might say the devil made him do it. Actually, it looks more like a matter of striking a deal with the devil, the way Jack Nicholson and his role in "The Witches of Eastwick" seem so perfect for each other. In fact, he is the devil playing the fiendish fellow to comically absurd perfection in this latest war correspondence from the sexual battlefront now at the Rio. Loosely taken from John Updike's popular novel, the witches in question are of the contemporary, unmarried.

Cosmo-reading, martini-drinking variety as opposed to the black-hatted broom-riding sort whose burnings at the stake used to provide entertainment for New Engenders back before television. Cher. Susan Sarandon and Michelle Pfeiffer portray the ladies in question, their witchy talents all hidden even from themselves for most of the film. Indeed, the supernatural connection gets played mostly for laughs, as does the projectile vomiting which figures heavily in the plot. Australia's George Miller comes at the task of directing this heady brew of wild laughter and disturbing implications with flamboyant style.

The Massachusetts village of Cohasset makes the setting of "Eastwick" picturesque as all get-out, and the local mansion bought by the fiendish Daryl Van Home (Nicholson is spectacular and ridiculous in equal measures. Micahel Critofer's screenplay is clever enough, using all this witch and devil business to disguise its funny, painfully acute observations on the state of affairs between men and women. I'ht film intimates the supernatural powers of Alexandra (Cher), Jane (Sarandon) and Sukie (Pfeif-ferl early on, although the women themselves seem to have nothing on their minds that couldn't be resolved by an hour of "The Phil Donahue Live Theatre 'j, i. Jack Nicholson Show." They gather once a week to drink martinis and complain about men. Actually it's the absence of men that bothers them the most, drat it.

But one stormy night they get to imagining, if they had their druthers, just what he would be like and the next thing you know, the big Mercedes carrying big bad Daryl shows up. Nicholson gets laughs everytime he appears on-screen for the first half of the film. He gets laughs with his wardrobe. He gets laughs with the way he walks. He gets laughs with the back of his head.

He knows art; he plays a mean violin. And when he opens his mouth, it's outrageous to the max, spouting self-righteous feminist rhetoric in one breath, then pulling out every raunchy talk-dirty cliche to get one, then the other, then the third of our girls into his oversized bed. He's a devil, alright. Not until a little later do the ladies begin to realize that it's not a devil, but the devil they're dealing with. By then they have undergone some, uh, changes that have the biddies at the supermarket saying nasty things, and have the local alderwoman (Veronica Cartwright).

a puritan holdover, getting quite upset. Quite. Writer Cristofer and director Miller (best-known for creating "Mad Santa Cruz County ill in Santa Cruz County To And out what's playing this weekend, call the Live Theatre Hotline: 476-2166 Want to know more about what's happening onstage In Santa Cruz County In upcoming months? We'll send you a free calendar. Write: SC Performing Arts Alliance, P.O. Box 1058, Santa Cruz CA 95061 feThl ad was made pocilble by a grant from the SHOWTIMIS.

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