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The Stepford Wives is the story of the Eberharts, a city-tired couple who
move into a rich suburb of New York called Stepford. Joanna Eberhart is a bit
manic and creative, so she finds it especially odd that all the women derive
great pleasure from doing housework and are always dressed to the nines:
makeup, everything! On top of this, Mr. Eberhart is invited to the Men's
Association every night of the week. Through insistent suspicion and plotting
with her rascal friend Bobby Joanna Eberhart uncovers a massive conspiracy of
misogynistic mind control.
Since Ira Levine wrote her politically biting and thoroughly creepy novel
"The Stepford Wives", there have been two different screen play
adaptaions: one in 1975 and one in 2004. The first adaptation was incredibly
frightening. It is a rationalization of the Women's Lib. movement and
comments on the emptiness of a woman's life solely devoted to domestic
chores. Suspenseful and dire, the plot spirals you into a perpetual state
of confusion and excitement.
The old adaptation was directed by Bryan Forbes, the same man who
directed Rosemary's Baby, another Ira Levine book that still sits in the back
of my brain when I'm alone and have the creeps. Joanna Eberhart is played by
Katherine Ross (The Graduate); Mr. Eberhart is played by Peter Masterdam, and
Bobby (Joanna's friend and confidant) is played by Paula Prentess. The
casting, I must say, is hideous. Ms. Ross looks about 30 years younger than
Mr. Masterdam and ten years too young to have two bouncing five or six
year-old children. On top of the age gap, Mr. Masterdam is one of the
hairiest men that I have ever laid eyes on and is simply unattractive. I
think that aided the plot, but it still made any affectionate repor between
them revolting to watch. The acting was horrible, particularly Katherine
Ross's who was obviously picked for her outlandishly large nipples and not
her line delivery. The script was of no help to her pore acting skills and
the directing, to top it all off left the audience confused much of the time,
and staged melodramatic moments for such drawn out periods of time that the
audience laughed akwardly due to the suspension of any logic on
screen.
The odd thing about this movie was that despite the terrible script,
acting, casting, and directing, the movie very effectively frightening and
essentially quite good. Small details of suspense were carried out very well,
for instance when the Eberharts first moved into Stepford, the only cop is
seen nodding and glaring at the moving truck with other men. Hints are
dropped subtly throughout the movie to keep you curious. You as a viewer
are led through a maze of odd misogynistic tendencies to see the ultimate
Women's Liberation Movement conclusion: men are evil and want to replace
their wives with Martha Stewart dolls (but hotter). Although far fetched, the
movie is quite good and very haunting. I highly recommend it if you are
prepared to laugh at the craft while appreciating the heinous 70's
outfits.
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