You can get it all in Stepford, Connecticut. If you are a man. If you are a woman; your days may be numbered.
I just saw this movie last night on AMC. Oh man, what a thrill! The last time I saw this movie, must have been in the late '70s, when I was a pre-teen. It still has not lost its' edge.
**Plot Summary**
Walter (Peter Masterson), his beautiful wife Joanna (Katherine Ross) and their two children move to the sleepy bedroom community of Stepford, CT. Joanna is particularly unnerved about the situation. She had no input on this decision. But she has no alternative, since Stepford does offer: a non-existent crime rate, clean air and good schools! Always for the children first. Not in this particular case. All seems well in the beginning. She meets the town batty; who runs the social column of the local paper. The batty asks more about her husband than about Joanna. Joanna meets the locals, and feels stifled by them. The women of Stepford have no personal opinions, ideas or interests. Joanna meets Bobbie (Paula Prentiss) and later Charmaine (Tina Louise). At last real women! But not for long. Meanwhile, Walter has joined the local "Men's Association". Eventually, Joanna's marriage starts to unravel. Joanna and Bobbie start to suspect something sinister. But too late for Charmaine. Charmaine laments that her husband (Franklin Cover- Mr. Willis from the Jeffersons) never loved her and only married her for her looks. When "Charmaine" comes back from a romantic weekend, she's changed. Her prized tennis court is being torn away for a new heated pool, for hubby. Bobbie is next. Joanna finds "Bobbie". Joanna is scared sh**less, and decides to make a run for it with the kids. She can't find them! She doesn't make it, either. All events lead to the climax at the Men's Association Mansion. Joanna faces herself in the frightening conclusion.
**Analysis**
1. Plot: While you know almost from the get-go what will most likely happen. It doesn't deter you from enjoying this as a movie. Psychologically speaking, it's as if you were taking a drive through, say, Stamford, CT with Dali as your tour guide and landscape artist.
2. Acting: Katherine Ross and Paula Prentiss are absolutely wonderful. Tina Louise puts in a nice performance. Patrick O'Neal gives a stupendously creepy turn as Dale Coba; the mastermind behind it all. Everyone in this picture is solid.
3. Cinematography: The film has is shot like a fairy tale gone bad. Excellent. But actually, fairy tales were written for adults as morality plays, so it's dead-on.
4. Score: Very, very subtle. Only enhances, never detracts from screen.
5. Direction: Very competent.
**Commentary**
This is film is brilliant.
Much like a multi-faceted gem. Whenever you shine a light on a different aspect of the film, it sparkles.
1. Bobbie offers up this line, about alcohol (and the men's dissuading of women drinking), "If I were to apologize for every time I got smashed, I'd spend my life wandering around saying I'm sorry, I'm sorry, sorry."
2. When Joanna's two children, get on the schoolbus, they run in, and all the children are silent and well dressed. The boys in little suits and the girls in little dresses. Way scary!
3. The haunting, yet beautiful drawings of the women's faces displayed in their homes, after the change. These drawings were made by a former Playboy illustrator.
4. When Carol Van Sant (Nanette Newman), gets into a car accident; she keeps saying; "I'm really fine, it's just my head". Her really great line, is at a cocktail party, after she get knocked down, by accident, she repeats, "I really must get that recipe"; over and over again.
5. Dale Coba, when he is watching Joanna, he says, "I like to see women doing small domestic chores". Joanna retorts back, "You came to the right town."
6. Even the family dog is taken away and is replaced.
**Conclusion**
Needless to say, I love this film. I like it because you can delve into each scene and extract a different meaning or tangent. This is a film about feminism and equality. "Equality" between men and women, between women and "women" and men and men. This movie challenges the notion of suburbia at it's heart. These rules are:
1. Only men who have power, money and prestige are offered to be "in the club".
2. Only women who are "feisty", or at least until the 4th month of residing there "change". I don't know if the gas station owner's wife is or was in jeopardy.
3. Women who may be "vacant" already may not need "changing".
4. Children and pets are also subject to replacement as a matter of fact.
In this light, it is not so much a treatise against feminism but a thesis that Man(kind) can control all of his society and environment at the detriment to others and ultimately to himself. The men of Stepford, are only slightly more autonomous than their robotic wives are. They become devoid of character, feeling, and most importantly spirit. Because these are the men: who could not leave because they had no spine; or would not leave because they have no soul. After all, who needs a soul, when you won't even pass on a legacy! The only things that comforts them in the end are: liquor, "mechanical" lovemaking and rampant consumerism. All are played as folly for Dale Coba's amusement; he, a former Disney executive (in animatronics!), is the mastermind and overlord in Stepford.
Some people don't like this movie because it can date itself in the 1970's. I, myself, believe it's not precisely due to the fashions or ideas but to the vernacular. Joanna and Bobbie try to start a "Consciousness Raising Session", only when they ask Charmaine, and she calls it a "b*tch session" is it recognizable. Well, that's probably due to my age, I was eight when it came out. Also, there are some references, to "Mrs. John Doe". Those are the only refs in which I had a smirk about. Other things like Joanna's indecision and seeking approval from her husband and her art critic are in context from my point of view. Joanna is in her early 30s and she had a college boyfriend 12 years earlier. The character's formative years were in the early to mid '60s, so it's plausible that women of that age would be unsure of their role in society, at the time. They just missed out on the "Maidenform Bon-fires", that Joanna speaks of. You can't really fault a movie because it was made in a certain decade.
In fact, I rather enjoy it.
Only in the 1970's, could you find a sci-fi movie that raised questions about consumerism and feminism. Consider this: it's a thoughtful movie with excellent social commentary, it doesn't have a happy ending, it's chilling, frightening and funny. Could you imagine a sci-fi movie with Arnold or Sly with all that? I don't think so.
Perhaps Mel in the first two Mad Max pictures. Oh wait, the first was in 1979.
Well, this is why it's great flick. God bless Ira Levin. I hope I can find the book, "The Stepford Wives" too.
Product DetailsOriginal Title:The Stepford WivesActors: Katharine Ross - Nanette Newman - Paula Prentiss - Peter Masterson - Tina LouiseCondition: NE...More at iNetVideo.com
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