The Academy Award-nominated
The Witches of Eastwick captures composer
John Williams at his most rapturous and playful, brilliantly communicating the sinister seductiveness of the Devil (played by
Jack Nicholson) as he wreaks romantic havoc on the desperate housewives of a picturesque New England hamlet.
Williams' score is romantic yet dark, its swelling strings underlined by a vague but palpable sense of menace. At the same time, however,
The Witches of Eastwick is an archly comedic effort, embracing everything from wry satire to pure camp. (At one point in the film,
Nicholson's Daryl Van Horne even whistles his own
Williams-penned theme song.) Taken as a whole, it represents
Williams' most complete and imaginative comedic score, with none of the heavy-handed whimsy of better-known works like Home Alone. ~ Jason Ankeny