It is hard to believe it has been 50 years since the release of The Stepford WivesA film based on the novel of the same name from 1972 by Ira Levin. It may not be to everyone's taste, but the permanent cultural influence cannot be denied. A psychological horror/thriller with a touch of sci-fi, the film produced several made-for-TV followers and a Campy Remake, and inspired one of the main characters in the HIT series Desperate housewives. The term “Stepford Wife” became part of our shared cultural lexicon, and Jordan Peele even called the film as one of the most important influences for his 2017 masterpiece of 2017 Come out.
(Spoilers below for the novel and both film adjustments.)
Levin's novels were a hot commodity in Hollywood at the time, especially after the success of his most famous novel, Rosemary's baby (1967), adapted in a horror film from 1968 starring Mia Farrow. (The Novels A kiss for dying, the boys from Brazil, sliverand Levin's game Deathtrap were also adapted to film.) The plot of the The Stepford Wives Film follows the plot of the novel quite closely.
Katharine Ross shines like Joanna Eberhart, a young woman and mother and aspiring photographer who moves with her family to the apparently idyllic fictional Connecticut -Buitenwijk of Stepford with her husband Walter's (Peter Masterson) insist. She connects with Sassy Colleague Newcomer Bobbie (Paula Prentiss) about Scotch and Ring Dings (and their respective messy kitchens), wondering under the vacual behavior of the women of the other neighborhood.
There are soon hints that everything is not good in Stepford. Carol (Nanette Newman) has a little too much to drink at a garden party and starts to glitter. Together with dissatisfied trophy-wife Charmaine (Tina Louise), Joanna and Bobbie hold a “consciousness-dependent” meeting of women (aka a bitch session), just to leave it everywhere in the other women who are enthusiastic about the time-saving earnings of easy on spray starch On spray starch on spray starch on spray starch on spray flour. In the meantime, Walter has joined the exclusive Stepford Men's Association and is becoming increasingly mysterious and distant.
When Charmaine suddenly transforms into another vague housewife after a weekend away with her husband, Joanna and Bobbie become suspicious and decide to investigate. They discover that there used to be a women's group in Stepford – head of Carol, no less – but all transformed women suddenly lost interest. Is it something in the water that causes the transformation? That turns out to be a dead end, but an indication is that the scary head of the men's association, Dale “Diz” Coba (Patrick O'Neal), used to work for Disney Building Animatronics. (When Diz Joanna tells about his background for the first time, she says she doesn't believe it: “You don't look like someone who likes to make people happy.” Her instincts are correct.)
