I would not call it a great movie, no one would ever mistake this with Citizen Kane but it is a very interesting sci-fi – horror movie. When I first watched this movie…I did not know what it was about and I ended up liking the twist. I wanted to know where the term came from…Katherine Ross is great as Joanna. I have not watched the remake of it nor have I read the book. I liked how this movie draws you in suburbia only to start hinting at things that were not completely right with the Stepford Wives.
A husband and wife with kids (one kid being future 80s star Mary Stuart Masterson) move from New York City to Fairfield County, Connecticut to a suburb called Stepford. Walter Eberhart (Joanna’s husband) made the decision to move here without much input from Joanna. She is not happy about the move but tries to make the best out of it. Walter joins a men’s social club and Joanna starts noticing the wives not acting normal. All they talked about is cleaning and cooking and are happy all of the time. All the wives have model looks, spotless houses, and are sickeningly optimistic.
Joanna meets two other women (Bobbie and Charmaine) who notice the same thing and together they start investigating what is going on.
After Charmaine takes a trip with her husband, Joanna and Bobbie notice that when she returns she is not the same anymore. She is just like the others. They both at first think the men are adding something to the water but it is much worse than that.
It’s interesting to see Tina Louise from Gilligans Island in this as Charmaine.
It’s a fun sci-fi movie.
The Cast from Wiki
- Katharine Ross as Joanna Eberhart
- Paula Prentiss as Bobbie Markowe
- Peter Masterson as Walter Eberhart
- Nanette Newman as Carol van Sant
- Tina Louise as Charmaine Wimperis
- Patrick O’Neal as Dale “Diz” Coba
- Josef Sommer as Ted van Sant
- Franklin Cover as Ed Wimperis
- Toni Reid as Marie Axhelm
- George Coe as Claude Axhelm
- Carole Mallory as Kit Sundersen
- Barbara Rucker as Mary Ann Stavros
- Judith Baldwin as Patricia Cornell
- Michael Higgins as Mr. Cornell
- William Prince as Ike Mazzard
- Carol Eve Rossen as Dr. Fancher
- Robert Fields as Raymond Chandler
- Remak Ramsay as Mr. Atkinson
- Mary Stuart Masterson as Joanna’s daughter Kim
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I’d never seen it until recently. Now I get the ‘Stepford Wives’ references when they come up in conversation. This was a movie where I truly didn’t know how it was going to end until it got to the ending.
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It really surprised me…at first this could be any adult drama show.
I didn’t add this but at the time some feminist hated it and others loved it…it was a big controversy…that didn’t help the box office.
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I like to watch women doing domestic chores.
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LOL…
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This was and still is a powerful political manifesto for our society. They took it to the extreme because that’s what horror movies do, but think about the message and see this author (of Rosemary’s Baby!?!?) was spot on. As I watch the youtube I almost have to laugh as we’ve come so far from this — but not really. Max, what was going on??? It has been awhile since seeing it. Are they robots?
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Yes…I didn’t want to give that away in the post but yes…
The women are killed.
Here is the thing that confused me. Feminst of the time really railed on it saying it was anti woman…I didn’t get that at all. I thought it made men look stupid who would want a brainless slave to be their partner.
The women in the film defended it also…if anything to me it was anti-man. I’ think I told you that my mom worked 3 jobs to support my sister and me… I look how the men were in this film and they are terrible. They didn’t want their wives to think…
The film is still relevant today though…I agree.
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Max, I really think you are different than most guys as far as how their ideal woman would be. Many men would love an always-smiilng, always eager-to-please, never thinkng for themselves, and mindlessly scouring the house so it’s gleaming and having hot meals ready 3 times a day. What the author did here was take that ideal to an extreme, which hopefully opened some eyes. I can’t speak for feminists of the time, but probably any woman wearing a bra was their enemy. The movie showed how the women were “brainwashed” but it sounds like it was even worse than that, so the feminists should have admired the way the film highlighted that brainwashing. As far as men looking stupid in the movie, no comment…. lol. Your mom is a model of the strong woman. I’m just sorry your dad wasn’t the model of a strong man.
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I have known some guys like that. Since we are talking movies…Doyle from Sling Blade…. an extreme but yea I’ve known those and don’t associate with them.
I’ve dated girls who…ahhh…well I’m not the brightest bulb but girls who would agree with every opinion I had…why the heck would I want that? I like a challenge and I’m assuming they do.
I think the feminist at the time did go overboard on this one. The movie still works though…because we are still talking about it.
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Max, you chose this movie because you knew we would talk about it, didn’t you? It’s fun to bounce ideas around. I like what you say here about the movie still works because we’re still talking about it.
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I like discussing movies! Especially ones that go a little deeper than marvel lol. Nothing against marvel because it is fun.
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I miss having someone to talk movies with. We should do it more often.
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That sounds good… I’ll do more movie posts
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Have to admit I didn’t read much of your description of it because I’ve never seen it but have long had it on the “to watch” list… eventually. Meant to see the Nicole Kidman version when it was out, but somehow never got around to doing it. But it’s intriguing from what I know of it. I’ll file this one away to re-read after I eventually do see it!
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Yea I try not to give things away… don’t read the comments!
It’s not great but it was interesting… plus it’s good to know where the phrase came from
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really good movie that one, loved Tina Louise back in the day, but I havent seen it in decades – TV is pretty poor at showing films older than 40 years in the UK, and black and white films/TV shows are nowhere to be found….. 😦
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I didn’t watch it until probably the 90s and I always heard the expression “Stepford Wives” and didn’t know what they were talking about. I l really liked the movie after that.
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