The Stepford Wives (1975 film)
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| The Stepford Wives | |
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 The Stepford Wives film poster |
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| Directed by | Bryan Forbes |
| Produced by | Edgar J. Scherick |
| Written by | Ira Levin (novel) William Goldman |
| Starring | Katharine Ross Paula Prentiss Tina Louise |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures Paramount Pictures (2004 DVD) |
| Release date(s) | 12 February 1975 (USA) |
| Running time | 115 min. |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
The Stepford Wives is a 1975 sci-fi/horror film based on the Ira Levin novel The Stepford Wives. It was directed by Bryan Forbes with a screenplay by William Goldman. Katharine Ross, Paula Prentiss, Peter Masterson and Tina Louise all starred in the film, which also marked the screen debut of brat pack actress Mary Stuart Masterson. It was remade in 2004.
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[edit] Plot
Joanna Eberhart (Ross) is a young wife who moves with her husband (Masterson) and two children from New York City to the small Connecticut suburb of Stepford. She makes friends with another newcomer to town, Bobbie Markowe (Prentiss), and they start investigating, with ever-increasing concern, the oddly submissive and bland behavior of the other wives in town. The freewheeling Bobbie abruptly changes into another housewife, and then "breaks down" instead of dying when a desperate Joanna stabs her with a kitchen knife. Joanna sneaks into the mansion which is the headquarters of the town's "Men's Association" where she finds graphic confirmation that the women have all been replaced with robot duplicates. She is killed by her own duplicate, who is then seen placidly purchasing groceries at the local supermarket, along with the rest of the Wives.
[edit] Production
[edit] Casting
In his 1983 book Adventures in the Screen Trade, screenwriter William Goldman laments that he may have significantly dimmed the movie's box office prospects with nine words: "She's a good actress; I think she'd be fine."[citation needed]
He said them when the film's director, Bryan Forbes, asked him about casting Nanette Newman as Carol Van Sant. Newman just happened to be Forbes' wife, and the film had gone through enough difficulty finding a director at that point that Goldman was afraid Forbes might change his mind about the project and delay it even further, possibly killing it, if he raised what he thought were valid objections.[citation needed]
In Goldman's view, the husbands would have their robot wives be ideals of beauty, more like models. Newman did not have those looks, and since none of the other wives had been cast at that point, all the other actresses cast looked more like stereotypical New England (or, in Newman's case English) housewives, thus, in his opinion, hurting the film's credibility.[citation needed]
Joanna Cassidy was originally cast as Bobbie Markowe and actually shot a few scenes, only to be replaced by Prentiss.[citation needed]
Mary Stuart Masterson makes her film debut here as one of Joanna's children.
[edit] Sequels
Many sequels have been produced over the years including:
- Revenge of the Stepford Wives (1980) Starring Don Johnson and Sharon Gless.
- The Stepford Children (1987) Starring Barbara Eden.
- The Stepford Husbands (1996) Starring Donna Mills and Michael Ontkean
- The remake The Stepford Wives (2004) Starring Nicole Kidman and Matthew Broderick
[edit] Parodies and References
- Married with Children Season 11, Episode 10 was titled, "The Stepford Peg."
- The Chronicle Season 1, Episode 18 was titled, "The Stepford Cheerleaders."
- Homeboys in Outer Space Season 1, Episode 10 was titled, "A Man's Place is in the Homey, or The Stepford Guys"
- Newhart Season 2, Episode 4 was titled, "The Stratford Wives."
Note: The BBC movie soundalike The Stretford Wives (2002) is not related at all, but it may have been a wink to the film and book.
