The Stepford Wives (1975). The Disturbingly Prophetic Message

Fifty years ago, the dystopic film that imagined suburban white men swapping their spouses for robot trad wives terrified viewers. Now, it watches like a GOP playbook.

The scenes that used to play as just plain satiric, laugh-out-loud funny are now as creepy as the legit suspense scenes. Katharine Ross is much better than I remember, and Paula Prentiss is a fucking goddess!

The novel is fantastic. It's so short it may qualify as a novella (not sure) but it is a riveting, atmospheric, and oppressive quick read. Very scary. The 1975 movie is also very good. Unfortunately, the film was bought by pharmaceutical conglomerate Bristol Myers Squibb (I'm not joking) after the company—for some bizarre reason—acquired the rights to all of Palomar Pictures' films. It hasn't seen a home media release since 2004 on DVD. It really is deserving of an HD release on Blu-ray or 4K, but I don't envision that ever happening. "The Heartbreak Kid" is another one of these ill-fated titles. It pisses me the fuck off.

Fun fact....Katherine Ross was a last minute replacement for..........Diane Keaton!

Keaton backed out because her analyst advised her to. She said the script gave her bad vibes!

Paula Prentiss replaced Joanna Cassidy…. who was fired after filming a week of scenes.

I just looked up Joanna Cassidy. Did y'all know she's been married for almost 30 years to the ex-Mr. Susan Sarandon, Dog Day Afternoon actor Chris Sarandon?

I can't believe I never knew that.

Chris Sarandon was nominated for the Oscar, Best Supporting Actor for DDA ... in 1975! Same year as Stepford Wives.

That 's kind of full-circle, doncha think?

Chris Sarandon is married to Joanna Gleason not Joanna Cassidy.

The only thing they got wrong is men did want robots in sun dresses and hats, they wanted Fox News Bimbos with blond hair, big tits and big lips.

The wives had to dress that way because the director’s wife was a frump… and she was playing one of them.

The original concept was to have the wives all look like Playboy playmates.

R9 It led to lots of blowups on the set. Watching it now though, I think it works beautifully. It gives it a far more chilling effect.

Especially the final scene in the supermarket!

If they remade it today, it would be called something like "The Summer I Became Pretty".

Prentiss adds so much life to the film, even when she’s wearing that too short outfit.

I watched it for the first time about 20 years ago and thought it wasn’t bad at all. That 2004 version however is awful.

Joanna Cassidy was fired because she and Katharine Ross (a total stiff) looked too much alike.

I would have fired Ross and put Cassidy in her role.

It fucks up the message that the lead is a robotic actress.

The 2004 version was so badly done and edited that nobody bothered to try and explain how the women are obviously robots in the first part and then are explained away as having a chip in their brains in the climax.

So the woman sparking after she got hit by a car and the ATM machine thing essentially meant nothing. It was terrible.

The most striking moment in the original film to me is when Ross’s kids get on the schoolbus for the first time and all the Stepford kids are dead silent and depressed acting.

R1 A GOP Playbook by women. Republican women aren’t repressed or oppressed or brainwashed, they’re as evil as the men.

And after getting older and learning history, that’s always been the case in that there’s a class of women that have always contradicted ideas of feminism. Learning that the biggest opponents to women’s voting laws were other women is an example lol.

I'll just die without that recipe....

R13 I think a lot of people had that criticism of Ross. I don't know. I loved her the first time I saw it, and more so with each repeated viewing. For Ross's character, it had the slow-burn effect for me. Especially her scene with the psychiatrist. As another poster mentioned, it also helped show the contrast with Paula Prentiss.

Watching today, that scene with the robotic Prentiss going crazy in the kitchen after Ross stabs her, and Ross's pure horrific reaction, I found it even more frightening.

Tuesday Weld was fired too from Ross's role.

R18 beat me. The scene with the psychiatrist is one of my favorite scenes in films- ever.

The film has two. The scene where Joanna tries to sell her photos and the gallery owner asks her what she wants from it all. And she says ultimately, I want to be remembered... (Its incredibly sad and gets me every time)

That psychiatrist scene is extremely frightening and extremely compelling. Both actresses are brilliant in that scene and Kathrine Ross is next level. That scene and the way it evolves is THE scene of the film for me.

Paula Prentiss makes this film.

The way Ross angrily says, “And he’s NOTHING!” recalling walking in on the couple making love and how ordinary the husband is.

I love the psychiatrist scene too. It's one of the best depictions of therapy on screen ever.

Tina Louise is great in it too. It shows she could really act and explains a lot about why she always resented the reputation she got from Gilligan's Island.

I read the book, but never saw the movie.

Ira Levin was a genius. If you really want to read something just as chilling, read his novel "This Perfect Day."

I saw the The Stepford Wives when it first came out in 1975 and have loved it ever since - I have it on DVD, and the original novel (hardcover) as well

An underrated, prophetic thriller

I'll just DIE if I don't get that recipe!

"If EZ Off asked me to be in a commercial, I would do it for FREE!"

R3 Disney owns it. They own that entire library.

R8 How the women look, and dress works in the film. It makes it more subtle and creepy than bikini clad babes and also closer to the real world of suburbia.

Okay, bear with me for a minute. Regarding Katharine Ross's scene with the female psychiatrist:

We know about the horrible remake in 2004 starring Nicole Kidman in the Katharine Ross part. You finger, Nicole must have watched the original, even just out of curiosity. Her portrayal in the remake was nothing like Ross's.....

But what about this? It was the first thing I thought of when I watched it last night.....

[quote] You finger, Nicole must have watched the original, even just out of curiosity.

How dare you suggest I finger!

It should read "You figure, Nicole must have watched the original....

The remake removed the feminist theme from the story. The Stepford Wives IS a feminist story!

That's what AI and robots are all about: so the Incels can build their own hottie.

[quote]The most striking moment in the original film to me is when Ross’s kids get on the schoolbus for the first time and all the Stepford kids are dead silent and depressed acting

I don’t remember that scene, r15. It’s been awhile since I’ve watched it though. I love the book and reread it every few years

When I watched it on YouTube, of course there were tons of commercials interrupting throughout. Every six minutes or so. With no warning, a commercial will just come on. You get used to pressing the "skip" button.

But during a tense moment, suddenly that Kristi Noem announcement threatening illegal immigrants comes on. A real-life Stepford Wife. She was far more frightening than anything in the movie. It was surreal!

R36, speaking of YouTube there are about a dozen channels with a copy and they never get taken down. Did someone let the rights lapse?

I’m sorry. You might’ve had more luck watching it on Tubi since it’s an older movie and wouldn’t be so heavily seeded with ads. Those ads every seven minutes are enough to make me unsubscribe from someone.

R37 Just to let you know, I had no intention of watching it. I didn't seek it out. It just showed up on my YouTube feed when I was about to shut down and go to bed. I decided to hit Play and just watch a couple scenes until my favorite, Paula Prentiss, showed up.

At some point, I realized I had committed to watching it in its entirety. I was spellbound!

In real life, Katharine Ross’ crazy daughter attacked and stabbed her with a pair of scissors, resulting in a restraining order!

Foul, ungrateful little wretch.

Was she trying to determine whether her mother was a robot or not R39

Hahahahaha!! OMG -

I wonder if Katherine Ross and Paula Prentiss ever commisserated with each other over coffee over their crazy daughter and sister, respectively.

[quote]When first released, it was a critical and financial bomb.

It wasn't a blockbuster, OP, but it *was* a commercial success.

I saw the movie when I was 10 when it played at my local theater. My friends and I went to see it, and we thought it was a racy movie. It was rated PG. And the film was a success when it was first released.

Katherine Ross has been riding Sam Elliott's cock since the 70s. Lucky bitch.

Paula Prentiss was the most underused actress of the 60s and 70s. She was a brilliant comedian, but she could do drama as well.

The second most underused: Joan Hackett.

Peter Masterton is such a bad-tempered bastard from the get-go that it's no surprise when he betrays his wife.

and so is Peter Masterson.

Not having seen The Graduate or knowing anything about the movie as a young person I thought the person on the post bore a striking to Britney Spears.

The Stepford Wives is seriously the only movie that ever gave me nightmares when I first saw it.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre, meh. Alien, eh. Stepford Wives, night terrors for days.

The remake could’ve been black comedy gold if they hadn’t butchered it in the editing room. Frank Oz later regretted capitulating to the studio so much.

Peter got fat.

The 2004 version was embarrassing.

lets uh, like remake the stepford wives, but like without the yucky, like feminist stuff

The scene with the psychiatrist is only made more creepy and powerful by the bosky, idyllic, 70s-Connecticut surroundings.

R55 I almost added that to my musings above, but you nailed it.

That room IS 1975 and the rainy summer day exterior really adds to it.

I am guessing that it really does look like CT in 1974/1975 I suspect.

Everything about that scene nails it- It seems real- And I am from New England and its just very authentic.

And like every other fucked up moment in my own life, when I needed someone, they are "away that weekend"..

Its perfect-

[quote]I am guessing that it really does look like CT in 1974/1975 I suspect.

I grew up there in those years—yes.

[Quote] Paula Prentiss was the most underused actress of the 60s and 70s. She was a brilliant comedian, but she could do drama as well.

[Quote] The second most underused: Joan Hackett.

Paula had a breakdown in the mid 60s while filming What's New Pussycat and Joan was a drunk

Where would no-one notice a town full of robots?

Connecticut!

What freaked me out the most was the fact that Joanna’s clone didn’t have eyeballs.

I should add that my childhood atmosphere was very much Katharine and Paula BEFORE their Stepford operation. No stifled roboticism in the Westport of the 70s, whatever R50 might think.

Fittingly, KR played her role in The Colbys like she still was Robot Joanna.

Stephanie Beacham ate her for lunch in every scene they were in:

"I don't give a DAHMN about you or your little BAHSTAHD — you SLUT!"

R60- THAT is my 3rd favorite scene followed by the ending in the supermarket-

The film has some insanely amazing scenes-

Once you have seen the fim a few times and know Joanna's fate that photographer/museum scene really captures the sadness-

Its a far better film than it gets credit for-

The world seems so much smaller in it-The city scenes, the country scenes--

The book's ending is very different. Joanna never goes to the Men's Association, but meets her end in Bobbie's kitchen when she asks Bobbie to cut herself to prove she bleeds. Bobbie asks her to come closer and — fadeout.

The final chapter takes place in the supermarket, but it's seen through the eyes of Ruthann, Stepford's first black resident and Joanna's new friend. Ruthann is shopping and thinking that these anal-retentive white women even pack their carts neatly when she runs into Joanna, who is now a Stepford Wife. She asks if they can get together soon and Joanna smiles and says something noncommital before gliding away with her cart.

Rattled, Ruthann goes home to her husband. She tells him she wants to double down on writing her new book before they "go away for the weekend" (as Bobbie and Joanna did when they changed). He fiddles with his pipe, smiles, and says he doesn't mind.

The end.

Richard Benjamin and Paula Prentiss celebrated 64 years of marriage this month.

Or maybe it's 64 in October.

Shocked at how badly Paula Prentiss aged.

You're shocked! Think about me!

[quote]Shocked at how badly Paula Prentiss aged.

She's 87, r67. Here she is in 2016 and the camera still loves that bone structure.

But even in her thirties Paula aged badly. I was shocked when i saw her in Buddy, Buddy (1981).

[Quote] The 2004 version was embarrassing.

and boring

The men in the remake were so badly cast. They should all have been in their late 30s/early 40s and looked like Bill Gates. Pleasant looking, Silicon Valley types. Not threatening looking at all. Computer geeks. And it should have been made emphatically clear that the wives had microchips implanted in their brains and all of them had extensive plastic surgery done on them in Venezuela.

Paula Prentiss was incredible as Bobbie in the original film. I wish she’d done more in her career. Love her energy and have always wished to have a friend like Bobbie. She’d balance out my more introverted Katharine Ross personality.

I love Katharine, too, but to me, Paula is the star.

While at an LA mall back in 2004, I was given free tickets to a screening of a "mystery" movie. You had to go to find out what it was. It turned out to be The Stepford Wives remake. It was really good. Very funny. Especially the first half hour. It kind of bogged down after that, (I can't remember how it ended), but it was definitely decent enough and I thought it would do really well.

It was officially released, maybe six months later? I wanted to see it again, curious if they had tightened the second half.

Totally different movie! It was awful!

I wish the version I originally saw existed somewhere. Now I'm curious if I didn't remember it properly and it was always awful, or if it was good and the producers just ruined it.

R74, back when they were filming it there was a poster here who was an extra or on the crew and was giving daily updates about what a disaster the movie was. I think they were working on reshoots of the big party finale when they were posting but maybe someone else remembers better than I do. Wish those threads were archived but that was over 20 years ago.

I haven’t watched it since its original release. Hated it then and can’t imagine it’s improved over time but I’d be curious to see the version you saw. Maybe Frank Oz has a copy

I'm happy Keaton did "Love and Death" that year instead: it's all hilarity and good vibes, even the death part.

Keaton would have made it a completely different movie, and I'm thinking they would have had to get someone other than Paula Prentiss to play the sidekick. Her presence would have been to strong opposite Keaton.

Diane is unthinkable in this film though she might have been effective in remake

Had Keaton done it, I believe it would have been her first female lead performance. As opposed to opposite a male lead like in the Woody Allen movies.

It interesting how in both Stepford Wives and Rosemary's Baby (both by Ira Levin), it's doctors that ultimately fail the heroine. You think they are going to help, but no.

They should have given the role of Joanna to Shirley Hemphill.

I was kind of attracted to the bland balding hairy-chested actor who played Joanna's husband.

Paula Prentice stole the movie! She was hilarious.

Tina Louise had some great lines about her maid. “Isn’t Nettie marvelous? A German Virgo, their thing is to serve.”

R79 She had the leading female role in both of the Godfather films

R82 That's Peter Masterson, father to the actress Mary Stuart Masterson.

Who also plays his on-screen daughter Kim, in The Stepford Wives, her first movie.

This thread has got me thinking about what bugs me the most about the whole trad-wife/social media thing that The Stepford Wives seems to predict. It’s not the return to traditional gender roles per se,. I mean if your thing is staying home, canning all your foods and raising kids, hey, have at ‘er! Whatever floats your boat.

It’s the mean-girl smugness that’s just barely under the surface. I get the feeling that these bitches would just as soon slit your throat from ear-to-ear rather than listen to a dissenting opinion.. They wield their “submissiveness “ with an iron fist, Who are they kidding?

And it’s an incredibly elitist movement as well. Who can afford to feed ,clothe and house a family on one salary in today’s economy?

R86 Greed and narcissism can run just as rampant in women as in men. They want power and attention as much as their male counterparts, and if it means demeaning themselves in the process, they just don't see it that way. It's a paltry sum for what they believe they're getting in return. Kristi Noem is a perfect example.

We see her as a loser for all sorts of valid reasons, but she thinks her life is just great right now! Why tf should she care what we think?