The Stepford Wives Reviews

The original and final version....

If you are planning on seeing the Kidman / Broderick 'remake' of this film, get this in as soon as possible to see how good movie-making should be done.

The story is simple enough - family move to a quiet town away from The City to start a new life. The hubbie joins a Men's Association and wifie is bored, until she hooks up with another newcomer with some zest in her dungarees.

They soon notice that all the wives in the town are dull, dull, dull. They dress dull, they talk dull, but they shag their fellas as if Casanova was visiting with a bag full of viagra.

The main wife (Ross) starts getting ideas that all is not well, and her friends become dull over the course of a long weekend. She starts to investigate, and happens upon a nasty conspiracy. No plot giveaways, as the film will tell you much better than I about goes on, but suffice to say this is an excellent slow-thriller, and should never have been botched into another Hollywood 'reimagining'.

It's weird, it's clever, it's funny, and it should be in your dvd player as soon as.

Fantastic !!

This was my kind of horror film. Rather than just constant killing and screaming, it makes you wonder what is coming next. I didn't really have any idea about the film beforehand, and i think this made it much more enjoyable. Basically a normal family move to what looks like a normal neighbourhood, but then things start to get strange. You follow the wife throughout the story and the happenings unfold before you and the wife in the story at the same time. I would highly recommend this to anyone who likes a film that makes you think.

Clever film of its day that still resonates

The Stepford Wives has come back into everyday parlance with the recent remake starring Nicole Kidman - but for a much more real view of how 70s women were affected by society, the 1970s original of The Stepford Wives is much better value.

Starring Katharine Ross and Nanette Newman and directed by Newman's husband Bryan Forbes, TSW shows a brilliantly eerie and sinister view of what could happen if women became too homely.

Katharine Ross, an aspiring photographer (a very 70s theme) moves from the city with her husband (a lawyer) to Stepford, only to discover that the majority of women are a little too perfect.

Although the fashion and day-to-day living may seem out-of-date, the themes of feminism (very of its time, given the recent publication of The Female Eunuch) and women staying at home are very pertinent still to this day.

Definitely worth a watch and far superior to its remake (now, there's a surprise!), with a proper ending!

Original Stepford Wives

For some reason I never got to see this film when it was first released - nor did I know the story - I always just associated it with the perfect housewife and mother - and so wanted to see the original before the remake with Nicole Kidman.

Katherine Ross was excellent in her portrayal of the new girl in town, but I did find the whole scenario quite hard to believe with a lot of unanswered questions.... wonder if the new version is any more plausible???

Original and Best

This film far outdoes the remake and Katherine Ross was extremely convincing as the concerned wife.

Sometimes old films are best left without being remade and this is definitely one of them.

utopia?

this is a really slick, eerie and clever 70's thriller. acting is magnificent and the script is tight. it even allows for some fairly subversive humour, whilst at the same time providing some useful housekeeping tips. a must for all wives to be.

very chilling but a little dated

if you have already seen the modern version don't be put off... it was no where near the standard or even in the same style as this 1975 origina. The modern update featuring Nicole Kidman was more of a comedy with a very hollywood ending in comparison to this which features some really class performances and maintains a really earie feel.

[Highly rated reviewer]

'I'll Just Die If I Don't Get This Recipe'

The Eberharts flee New York for the tranquility of suburban Stepford. Walter Eberhart (Peter Masterson) takes to their new life with ease, but Joanna (Katharine Ross) is puzzled and frustrated by the passivity of the other women in the community. Her curiousity leads to a horrific discovery.

Not a great success at its first release, time has enabled a re-evaluation of this minor classic, and although it's very much a product of the 70's, it never-the-less packs a punch as a satire of man's fear of woman's emancipation.

Forbes allows the pacing to slip and get a little bogged down at times, but he is hugely supported by a classy script and relaxed and natural performances from his leads. Ross has a captivating stillness on camera, allowing her eyes to tell us much of what we need to know, and as her friend Bobbie, Paula Prentiss is all gauche charm and ungainly humour amongst the sleek and sleepy housewives. It's because we grow to like these two so much that the film's conclusion is so shocking and desperately sad.

Credit to all concerned for not giving us the happy ending we'd be guaranteed if it were made in 2005 (and the Kidman/Midler version is NOT a remake!).

Better than the remake

My girlfriend has recently started cooking casseroles and spending an unhealthy amount of time in the kitchen, getting an enormous sense of satisfaction out of being a domestic goddess. I soon started teasing her about being a Stepford Wife, and as she'd never seen the film I decided to rent it out.

Let's be clear about one thing - it's slow, dull and utterly devoid of any special effects or stunts. The women are supposed to be robots for crying out loud! But, on the other hand, there is a serious undertone to the whole movie. At what point does the strive for perfection become too much? Of course, now we've all seen flicks like Jurassic Park and AI, so there's very little else it can offer on the whole dystopian-technology obsessed male-dominated society thing.

My advice - if your girlfriend starts russling up casseroles and popping down the shops to stock up on Mr Sheen, then stab her with a knife to see if she bleeds or not.

[Highly rated reviewer]

stepford wives

miles better than the re make.