Stepford Feminists

I was too young to see this when it originally came out, but finally saw it on cable. This is a movie whose themes have not aged well, but it is a very campy little time-capsule of a film.

The politics of the 1970's equal-rights movement are really perplexing viewed through a post-feminist lens. The women in this movie all whine because their husbands want them to actually stay home, cook, clean, and raise the children. Horrors!

Before I became a mother, I met more than enough working moms to realize that most working women WISH they could afford to be a stay-at-home mom. Of course, in the movie, the main character has a fabulous career awaiting her as a photographic artist, complete with a gallery wanting to show her work, and it's the burdens of husband, home, and children that are holding her back. I guess in the rarified air of feminist fantasies, women are all being held back from becoming captains of industry, professional artists, doctors or other high-powered career professionals...not the office, factory, service, and retail workers that most women (and men) really are.

Frankly, with such selfish, self-absorbed, whiny creatures as depicted in that movie, I found myself rooting for the husbands for turning them into robots. Thankfully, the Battle of the Sexes is fading into the shadows of pop-culture history, and I think (hope) men and women are re-learning to value and respect each other and the complementary roles we play.

"She cooks as good as she looks, Ted."

Writer Ira Levin sure has a thing for secret societies...just look at the some of the films based off his novels...Rosemary's Baby (1968), The Boys from Brazil (1978), and this one, titled The Stepford Wives (1975), all featuring some sort of shrouded community within the community, ones with chilling agendas. Adapted by William Goldman (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President's Men, Marathon Man), and directed by Bryan Forbes (The Raging Moon, International Velvet), the film stars Katharine Ross (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Voyage of the Damned, The Swarm). Also appearing is Paula Prentiss (Where the Boys Are, Catch-22), Peter Masterson (The Exorcist), Nanette Newman (International Velvet), Patrick O'Neal (Silent Night, Bloody Night), Josef Sommer (Close Encounters of the Third Kind), Franklin Cover ("The Jeffersons"), Tina Louise ("Gilligan's Island"), William Prince (Kiss Me Goodbye), along with some early appearances by Mary Stuart Masterson (At Close Range, Some Kind of Wonderful) and Dee Wallace-Stone (The Howling, Cujo).

It's moving day for the Eberharts, as Walter (Masterson), Joanna (Ross), their two, young daughters (don't forget Fred the dog) pack up and leave the dirty, noisy, dangerous city for the quiet, picturesque town of Stepford, as depicted through a traveling montage. As the family begins to settle in to their new surroundings, Walter seems to take to the town like a fish to water (he even joins the local men's association), but Joanna, a semi-professional photographer, is having a bit more difficulty (we quickly get the sense moving wasn't her idea), exacerbated by the fact that a majority of the men in town seem like awful bores, while their wives are all stifled, bubble headed, prairie dress wearing housefraus, obsessed with all things domestic. Eventually Joanna finds a kindred spirit in Bobbie Markowe (Prentiss), a recent ex-Gothamite who's quite an outspoken character in her own right, and the pair embarks on a (fruitless) venture to raise consciousness among the women in the town. The duo eventually learns there was a woman's organization within the town at one point, but it has since disbanded due to a lack of interest. This, along with a variety other events, add up to Joanna and Bobbi believing the drone-like mentality among the housewives of Stepford may be the result of some sort of plot, perpetrated by the men in the community. The women both agree perhaps its time to move (both their husbands are surprisingly receptive to the idea), but soon Joanna finds herself alone as Bobbi has since `gotten with the program', after a weekend retreat with her husband. Fearing she's losing her mind, Joanna seeks outside, professional help, finally deciding on taking the children and leaving, but it may be too late as she realizes her time draws near...her time for what? You'll have to watch the film to find out...

I did enjoy this film a lot, and while the pacing is fairly slow (at some points it virtually crawls), the characters and story were both generally interesting enough to keep my attention during the nearly two-hour running time. Katharine Ross seemed an excellent choice for the lead, as I think she's a strong actress who really seemed to embody an individualist quality that made her perfect for the role...not only that, but she's really beautiful to boot. As the story progressed I could actually feel her fear in terms of having that which made her who she, her creativity, spirit, and individuality, taken away from her by some unknown force bent on a sense of domestic conformity not seen since the late 1950s television show "Leave it to Beaver', a fear that changed from an amorphous apprehensiveness to a concrete nightmare once Bobbi was `turned'. I mean think about it...imagine all the things about you that make you who you are, your essence, and then imagine all those things, good and bad, drained away, replaced with only a sense of unquestioning servility to another, an unwavering desire to please. Some may be critical of the obvious, misogynist sentiment within the story, but I felt it was purely superficial as the idea of having a non-questioning, mindless, drone-like automaton catering to my every desire, no mater how filthy, may sound desirable on some primitive, socially retarded level, but eventually such obedience from my significant other would reveal itself for the drag it is, and ultimately force me to blow my brains out if only to provide an escape from the mind numbing tedium. I mean seriously, what reasonably intelligent individual knowingly wants to spend his, or her, life with a soulless husk of a human being? I really liked the ominous tone that permeated the story, although I felt the revelation of a prior occupation of the leader of the men's association, played by Patrick O'Neal, a little clumsy, as it give away a lot early on and in a short amount of time. The only thing left after this was the question of the fate of the women when it came to be their `time'. This aspect wasn't revealed until the end, and was handled perfectly, in my opinion (sometimes less is more). I thought Prentiss' character a bit over the top, but then I think this was purposeful if only to highlight the differences after the change, and to drive home the fact to Joanna that she's not going crazy, but that there is truly sinister forces at work within the town. While the female characters were definitely the strongest elements in this feature, the male characters, on the other hand, were relatively weak. I guess that's to be expected given what they were into, but I felt there could have been more involving Walter, as, at times, he seemed to struggle with his choice to commit Joanna to the process, eventually acquiescing to the group mentality. I thought director Bryan Forbes did very well presenting this story to the screen, keeping things low key and generally eerie (the ending was immensely creepy and effective), but the inclusion of his wife, Nanette Newman, in the cast smacked of a certain amount of nepotism. She seemed a capable actress, and attractive on an Earthy level, but hardly the trophy-type wife coveted by the men in the community, one that included Tina Louise. My favorite sequence in the film was when Joanna and Bobbi managed to get the wives in the community together in order to start a consciousness raising dialogue with regards to issues shared by women in the community, and it ends up breaking down into discussion about floor waxing and brands of coffee.

The DVD I own was released by Anchor Bay Entertainment, and states it's the Silver Anniversary Edition. The picture, presented in widescreen (1.85:1), enhanced for 16X9 TVs, looks decent, although I thought the Dolby Digital mono audio could have been better (it seemed soft at times, and the loudness level varied from time to time). As far as extras, there are interviews with the director Bryan Forbes, producer Edgar J. Scherick, and stars Katharine Ross, Paula Prentiss, Peter Masterson, and Nanette Newman. Also included are a theatrical trailer, two radio spots, a Bryan Forbes biography, and an insert booklet with liner notes by someone named Jay Marks.

Cookieman108

2004 saw the release of a remake featuring Nicole Kidman, Matthew Broderick, and Christopher Walken, which I have yet to see, but the reviews seem to indicate mixed feelings towards the production. Hey, at least we'll always have the original.

"I'll just die..."

After all these years, the original STEPFORD WIVES still plays as a perfect blend of black satire and bone-chilling horror. Forgot the horrid recent remake with Nicole Kidman, stick with the 1975 version, which scared me to death (and made me laugh at the same time) when I saw it as a young kid in the theaters - those were the days, and this is still a scary, mature little gem of a horror movie that doesn't rely on today's CGI effects to get under your skin. Chock full of priceless dialogue and pitch-perfect performances (especially Paula Prentiss as the coffee-serviing Bobbie!), STEPFORD takes it time to rachet up suspense and deliberately build to a disturbing, ironic conclusion that will stick with you for days. Katherine Ross' climactic confrontation with her black-eyed drone is terrifying, while the final supermarket sequence is all about what becomes a legend most. Def worth a rental or purchase.