The Stepford Wives

1975 "Something strange is happening in the town of Stepford."
6.9| 1h57m| PG| en| More Info
Released: 12 February 1975 Released
Producted By: Palomar Pictures International
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Joanna Eberhart has come to the quaint little town of Stepford, Connecticut with her family, but soon discovers there lies a sinister truth in the all too perfect behavior of the female residents.

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Director

Bryan Forbes

Production Companies

Palomar Pictures International

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The Stepford Wives Audience Reviews

Karry Best movie of this year hands down!
UnowPriceless hyped garbage
Cleveronix A different way of telling a story
Taha Avalos The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.
Rainey Dawn OH yea this the boring film of robot women - I refreshed my memory now on which film it was. I was getting the title of this film mixed with another 70's horror film "Hungry Wives" aka "Season of the Witch" (1972).This film does have a strong feminist message of "men only want obedient wives". I was true for it's time era... there were women still feeling oppressed by their husbands but not all men of that time era was feeling that way. It was 1975 when the film came out - almost to late for a film like this to show up but, again, there were a few men of the time era still wanting obedient wives over equal partners. There are still men out there wanting a woman to obey there every word - in the older crowds and I know because I'm in that crowd. Dating at my age is a pain because of it. The younger crowds may not have that problem today because they grew up in a different time era.Anyway, the way this film plays out is long and boring. I'm still not a fan of the film.2/10
Red-Barracuda The Stepford Wives is an adaption of an Ira Levin novel. Another of his books had previously been transformed to the screen in a highly successful manner, namely Rosemary's Baby (1968). Both films share pretty clear similarities, they both focus on a woman who has moved to a new place where she finds strange new neighbours who convince her husband to conspire against her in order to work with them to facilitate a scenario where he will also be rewarded. It's a pretty specifically similar set-up but this is ultimately a film which explores quite different areas with this premise. A woman and her family move from New York to a small 'idyllic' town called Stepford because her husband insists. When there, she soon realises something is wrong once she encounters the women of the town who are unnaturally placid, vapid creatures who are unconditionally devoted to their husbands, obsessed with domestic chores and unable to talk about anything other than trivialities. When her best friend from the area suddenly also succumbs to this condition she accelerates her investigations, fearing she must be next.The ideas interwoven into the fabric of this cult movie have seeped into western culture to such an extent that the term 'Stepford Wives' has known meaning to those who haven't even seen the film. I guess this goes some way in showing that this is a movie with a very memorable premise that clearly struck a chord. While it is a sci-fi film and it does have horror elements – albeit with a tone more of uncertainty and dread that full on horror – these genres are more working (very effectively) in the background, with the main focus a satire of suburban life and the sexist expectations put on women. When it was released these ideas were set against the backdrop of the Women's Lib movement which was gathering steam, a situation that seems to have made many men rather uncomfortable. The men of Stepford represent these kinds of males and they are a hugely unappealing collection of individuals who have gone to extremes to curb feminism and maintain the patriarchal system. It's these underlying ideas that have made The Stepford Wives more than simply a creepy sci-fi horror movie. Although it still operates very well as that too, with its story of slowly unfolding dread, sinister individual moments such as the kitchen scene where one of the 'Wives' goes haywire and the decidedly nihilistic conclusion. Katharine Ross is excellent in the main role and very successfully gets us on board, which makes this ending all the more downbeat. If I had to put forward a criticism of the film it would be that it does have some pacing problems, meaning that it feels like it might be a little overlong. This issue aside though, this is a pretty effective example of a genre film with quite a lot of interesting things to say. It's definitely worthy of its iconic reputation.
Moviegeek-TFB Based on Ira Levin's satirical novel The Stepford Wives is a story that at first seems like a simple thriller but on a closer look offers so much more. It doesn't just offer effective psychological suspense, work as a commentary on society's pursuit of youth and perfection, it is also a sci-fi horror with touches of dark humour and the best part is that it only gets better when you re-watch it. For the most part the film moves along slowly and quietly, painting a peaceful picture of a suburban dream life and even when Joanna begins to suspect something is amiss nothing in the movie gives away just how life shattering the town's secret is. It is not until the climatic end that the horror truly pokes it face out and sends chills down your spine and knowing the secret from the beginning means the chills are there from the very start when re-watching the movie. As the movie is shown from Joanna's perspective a lot of the horror happens unseen to us and as you think back on the movie those horrors will play for your inner eye and set thoughts in motion which makes this an incredibly strong movie with more impact than a simple jump-scare horror. While the movie has been criticized for being anti-feminist Stepford is clearly more chauvinistic dystopia than heaven and the men are cold and flat characters compared to the fleshed-out warm and strong females. All the women, the Stepford wives that is, give brilliant performances of perfect housewives so clearly inspired by the phony females in adds that they manage to give a comic edge to the story, perfectly hitting the note so it slowly increases the sense of something wrong rather than making the tone too light. Especially Ross (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, 1969) is great as the heroine, at once feisty but still insecure and self-doubting from the insanity of the situation, and Prentiss (The Parallax View, 1974) is a delight as the bubbly Bobbie just as the beautiful Louise (Day of the Outlaw, 1959) brilliantly shows the insecurity hidden underneath the beautiful face of the feisty Charmaine, while Newman (Captain Nemo and the Underwater City, 1969) delivers the perfect archetype Stepford wife persona as Carol Van Sant. One could argue that the statement against gender roles was more important in the time of the book's publishment and movie's release but considering the high standard everyone is met with in today's global life, it is as familiar a theme as ever and Bryan Forbes's (The Raging Moon, 1971) bright sunny-set movie with its gloomy secret luring underneath will still be able to hit you and hit you hard.Moviegeek.eu
Mr-Fusion I do miss the satirical cheek of Ira Levin's novel, but William Goldman's script for "The Stepford Wives" works pretty well as a straight psychological horror movie. The idyllic setting of Stepford, CT gives way to paranoia and despair as the town's wives -one by one- become automatons of domesticity, spouting TV commercial bromides about household products. Beautiful and subservient. And what this movie does well is ratchet up the creepy, especially at film's end.But the movie takes it sweet time getting to that unnerving end (damn, those black shark eyes!), and the path there to is subdued to say the least. "The Stepford Wives" leaves its mark, but I don't feel the need to see it again in the near future.6/10