The Stepford Wives
Dropped right into the middle of the Women’s Liberation Movement in 1974, “The Stepford Wives” became a cult classic. The tale of a small village of men who transform their wives into the perfect women had a lot to say about the early 1970s, and under the direction of Bryan Forbes, did so with dark wit and an alarming sense of reality.
Based on Ira Levin’s best-selling novel, “The Stepford Wives” struck a lot of chords when it was first released. Just as women were making strides in both their personal and professional lives, here was a film that painted them as robotic servants whose only goal was to make her husband and family happy.
Men saw it as a fantasy, women saw it as an attack, while those who understood the film saw a dark comedy about men so afraid of losing control of their masculinity they willingly trade in their real wives for a model they can handle. How wonderful to have a wife so perfect and pretty, always on call to do whatever her master wanted.
Katharine Ross, still hotter than hot after riding with “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” is excellent as Joanna, a New York City photographer who agrees to follow her husband and family to the small suburb of Stepford, Connecticut. Used to the hustle and bustle of the big city, Joanna finds the quaint and quiet life of Stepford to be a little creepy.
She has good reason to worry. While the wives of Stepford go about their daily chores, their husbands meet at a private club where they discuss how to make things better in Stepford. The longer Joanna stays in Stepford, the more she suspects that something is amiss. The wives are too perfect, willing to bow and cater to their husband’s every wish.
Her husband tells her it’s just their nature, but with the help of her new best friend Bobby (Paul Prentiss in a great buddy role), Joanne uncovers a dark and twisted plot. The men are replacing their wives with synthetic models that do everything a real wife would do except argue back or disobey. Afraid that their time is near, Joanne and Bobby make a pact to save themselves.
Director Bryan Forbes does an exceptional job of creating daylight suspense, a constant sense of dread and foreboding that pays off with a great finale. The script (by William Goldman with unwanted assistance from Forbes) touches on all kinds of current day hot topics, and dishes up some delicious bits of dialogue that totally foreshadow the horrible things to come.
The cast is terrific, especially Ross, who offers us a woman who seems to be smarter than her tormentors yet still plays into their hands. There’s real urgency in her pleas, and when she confronts Bobby after her change, real terror. Prentiss has always been a favorite, and does a great job of being Joanna’s best bud. Peter Masterson shadows his role as Joanna’s husband with enough shades to make his desires ambiguous, while Patrick Neal is absolutely sinister as the man behind the curtain in this dark and demented Oz.
Also look for Tina Louise as one of the wives, a tennis player who loves her court more than her husband but has no problem digging up the court after she goes through the change.
Twenty-five years after its release, “The Stepford Wives” still packs quite a punch. Michael Small’s music is still nerve racking, and the eerie premise still gives me goose bumps.
COMPLETE CHECK-UP
VISION: Good
1.85:1 Widescreen
16:9 Enhanced
While the digital transfer is fine and mostly free of any obvious artifacts, the original print has issues with grain and varying film stocks. The transfer looks pretty good, with decent flesh tones and strong colors, but there is very little attention to detail. The colors don’t bleed or fade, but they don’t jump off the screen either. Blacks are generally favorable, with some detail in the shadows. Whites are a little hazy, and there seems to be a little strobing early in the film. The overall effort isn’t difficult to watch, but it lacks the definition of more modern releases.
HEARING: Good
Dolby Digital Mono in English & French
Functional mono soundtrack gets the job done. Some of the exterior dialogue gets lost in the mix, but it’s not a transfer issue.
ORAL: Good
Closed Captions in English for the Hard of Hearing
COORDINATION: Okay
Interviews with director Bryan Forbes, producer Edgar J. Scherick, Katharine Ross, Paula Prentiss, Nanette Newman and Peter Masterson. Here’s 18-minutes of eye-opening interviews that really go the distance. Instead of the usual pats on the back (don’t worry, they’re here too), what emerges is a clear portrait of filmmakers at odds with each other. You’ll learn a lot about William Goldman’s script and what director Bryan Forbes did to it, and why Nanette Newman always appears in the director’s films. I was thrilled to see Paula Prentiss, who has been out of the limelight way too long. My only concern: where was Tina Louise?
The film’s original theatrical trailer, one of those corny pieces of P.R. that really doesn’t do the film justice.
Radio Spots. Two different 30-second spots that sound like they were narrated by James Coburn. These are a real gem, the sort of stuff you used to hear on the radio. Very nostalgic.
Director biography and filmography.
Nicely rendered main menu and standard issue scene access menu.
PROGNOSIS: Good
The cult classic comes to DVD with just enough fanfare and additional material to warrant a place in any fan’s library.
VITALS:
$19.98/Rated PG/115 Minutes/Color/28 Chapter Stops/Keepcase
ATTENDING RESIDENT: John Larsen
PATIENT: THE STEPFORD WIVES-SILVER ANNIVERSARY EDITION
BIRTH DATE: 1974
HMO: Anchor Bay Entertainment
