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| The Stepford Wives - 1975 |
Coming up next is 1975's "The Stepford Wives", a story about a woman who moves from New York City to the suburb of Stepford, Connecticut. There, she finds that the women of the community are anything but normal, and her arrival there is more than just a coincidence.
The film's cast includes Katharine Ross, Paula Prentiss, Peter Masterson, Nanette Newman, Tina Louise, Paula Trueman, Mary Stuart Masterson, Patrick O'Neal, and Emma Forbes.
Photographer Joanna Eberhart is moving from New York City to the suburbs. She's very reluctant to do so, because she's happy where she is. However, her husband makes the decision to move the family.
So, she and her husband Walter pack up their two kids and dog and make their way out of New York City.
Their destination is Stepford, Connecticut, which on the surface seems to be a nice, quiet community.
After a while, Joanna finds herself completely bored with life in Stepford. Everything seems mundane.
Her interactions with other wives in the community are a bit puzzling. When Carol Van Sant has an very minor car accident, she repeats the same phrase over and over. An ambulance arrives and carts her away.
One night, Walter is invited to join the Stepford Men's Association. He goes to the club meeting, but on his return, Joanna finds him out of sorts and a bit upset. She's very puzzled as to why.
A bright spot in Joanna's life comes in the form of Bobbie Markowe, another New York City transplant to Stepford. Bobbie is equally confused about life in the Stepford community. "I can't figure out this burg. It's like maids have been declared illegal, and the housewife
with the neatest place gets Robert Redford for Christmas. And believe me, if that's the prize I'd enter, but nobody will tell
what the contest rules are," she muses.
A member of the community the men seem to revolve around is Diz, so named because he used to work at Disneyland. None of the men seem to make a move without his approval. He makes Joanna very uncomfortable.
Joanna and Bobbie join forces in an effort to figure out just what makes the women of Stepford tick. However, another interaction with Carol Van Sant results in Carol exhibiting the same behavior as before, repeating the same phrase over and over.
They become more confused when they try to form a sort of women's club. Each woman they visit seems to have no other interest than cleaning her house and making her husband happy.
One woman, Charmaine, is also new to the community and desperate for some friendly interaction that doesn't revolve around cleaning. Bobbie and Joanna feel they have found a kindred spirit.
Joanna and Bobbie get together frequently trying to piece together what exactly is going on in Stepford. They always end up more confused than they started.
Charmaine surprises the two ladies when they visit her one day. She appears completely transformed into one of the Stepford wives. All she wants to do is clean and please her husband. They are horrified at the change.
It freaks Joanna out enough that she wants to move. When she brings the subject up with Walter, he tells her no. Maybe they will think about it a little bit later on.
A little while later, Bobbie is transformed into one of the cleaning freak wives. Joanna can't believe that whatever it is has happened to her best friend.
Joanna decides to see a therapist. There, she appears to have some sort of breakthrough in determining what is going on in Stepford.
"If I'm wrong, I'm insane...but if I'm right,
it's even worse than if I was wrong," she sobs. The therapist tells her that if she is truly concerned for her safety, then she needs to gather up her children and leave without telling anyone where she is going.
A visit to Bobbie proves what Joanna was thinking at the therapist's office. She plunges a knife into Bobbie's abdomen. There is no blood, and Bobbie begins acting like a defective robot. Joanna realizes that all the women have become robots.
She goes to the Men's Association where she finds out everything she thought is true. There is already a robot ready to replace her. The robot stands ready to strangle Joanna.
All of this is watched by Diz, who holds Joanna's dog while it happens. His work with animatronics at Disneyland seems to have found new purpose in Stepford.
Some time goes by and we arrive at the Stepford supermarket. The robotic wives of Stepford are busily shopping and greeting one another cordially.
And we find the new Joanna, who, after a few words of greeting to Bobbie, places a cleaning product into her shopping cart and continues through the store.
Cast rundown:
Katharine Ross........................................Joanna Eberhart
Paula Prentiss..........................................Bobbie Markowe
Peter Masterson......................................Walter Eberhart
Nanette Newman.....................................Carol Van Sant
Tina Louise.............................................Charmaine Wimpiris
Paula Trueman........................................Welcome Wagon Lady
Mary Stuart Masterson..............................Kim Eberhart
Patrick O'Neal..........................................Dale Coba
Emma Forbes..........................................Alison Van Sant
And that's it for The Stepford Wives. This movie has been named as one of the top thrillers of the 1970s. It affected female audiences so much, that the director was hit over the head with an umbrella by one lady after she saw the film. I just wish it had a happier ending. It was followed by three television movies ("Revenge of the Stepford Wives", "The Stepford Children", and "The Stepford Husbands") and was remade as a feature film in 2004.
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