Stepford Wives

Stepford Wives ( 1975 ) Starring Katharine Ross, Paula Prentiss, Peter Masterson, Nanette Newman, Tina Louise
Several versions including a book
(IMDB# 0073747) <ISBN:B00026L8US> Buy it from Amazon.com

Stepford Wives ( 2004 ) Starring Nicole Kidman, Matthew Broderick, Bette Midler, Christopher Walken, Glenn Close
<ISBN:B074ZMZGMD> Buy it from Amazon.com

The Stepford Wives

"The Stepford Wives" by Ira Levin isbn: 0394481992 (first edition, hardback)

The Stepford Wives is the name of a 1972 novel by Ira Levin, as well as two movies of the same name based upon the novel, the first released in 1975, with a remake of the film released in 2004. Edgar J. Scherick produced the 1975 version (as well as all the sequels) and was posthumously credited as a producer in the 2004 remake.

Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow. The premise involves the male inhabitants of the fictional town of Stepford, Connecticut, who all have eager-to-please, overly-submissive, and impossibly beautiful wives. The protagonist is Joanna Eberhart, a new arrival to Stepford from New York City with her husband and children, eager to start a new life. As time goes on, she becomes increasingly puzzled by the zombie-like Stepford wives, especially when she begins to see her once independent-minded friends turn into mindless, docile housewives overnight. By the end of the story, Joanna becomes convinced the wives of Stepford are actually look-alike gynoids. She confronts her former best friend, Bobbie Markowitz, trying to learn the truth. This effort evidently fails, and in the story's epilogue, Joanna has become another Stepford wife shopping in the local supermarket, while the female half of the first black family to move to the town appears to be on track to become the conspiracy's next victim.

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

Main articles: The Stepford Wives (1975 film) and The Stepford Wives (2004 film)

In 1975 the book was adapted into a feminist science fiction thriller directed by Bryan Forbes with a screenplay by William Goldman and starring Katharine Ross, Paula Prentiss, Peter Masterson, and Tina Louise. The film also marked the screen debut of brat pack actress Mary Stuart Masterson, playing one of Joanna's children. While the script's emphasis is on gender conflict and the sterility of suburban living, and the science fiction elements are thus only lightly explored, the movie still makes it much clearer than the book that the women are being replaced by some form of a robot. Goldman's treatment of the book differed from that of Forbes with the robots closer to an idealized 'Playboy bunny'; it has been claimed that the look was scrapped when Forbes' actress wife Nanette Newman was cast as one of the town residents.

A made-for-TV sequel was produced in 1980, entitled Revenge of the Stepford Wives. It was critically panned for poor acting and shallow writing (although Julie Kavner of later Simpsons fame stands out as a motormouthed victim.) In this film, instead of being androids, the wives undergo a brainwashing procedure and then take pills that keep them hypnotized. As suggested by the title, in the end the wives are broken free of their conditioning and a mob of them kill the mastermind behind the conspiracy.

Yet another made-for-TV sequel/remake was released in 1987 called The Stepford Children, wherein both the wives and the children of the male residents were replaced by drones. It again ends with the members of the conspiracy being killed.

A 1996 version called The Stepford Husbands was made as a third TV movie with the gender roles reversed, and the men in the town being brainwashed by a crazed female clinic director into being perfect husbands.

An updated version of the original The Stepford Wives was released in North America on June 11, 2004. It was directed by Frank Oz with a screenplay by Paul Rudnick and featured Nicole Kidman, Bette Midler, Matthew Broderick, Christopher Walken, Roger Bart, Faith Hill, Glenn Close, and Jon Lovitz. It was intended to be more comedic than previous versions and featured, among other changes, a Stepford-drone replacement for the male partner of a gay town resident. The film's production suffered much behind-the-scenes turmoil. The entire ending of the film was eventually reshot, creating numerous contradictions and plot holes.

Both the 1975 and 2004 versions of the movie were filmed in Darien, Connecticut; New Canaan, Connecticut; Norwalk, Connecticut. The 1975 version had several locations in the Greenfield Hill section of Fairfield including the Eberhart's House and the Greenfield Hill Congregational Church. In an early scene with a school bus, many of the children were from the local elementary school.

In popular culture

The term Stepford Wife refers to any woman who is more submissive and pliant to their husband compared to other, presumably more independent and vivacious women. The term has been used by the Left to describe Laura Bush and by critics of Scientology to Katie Holmes after her marriage to Tom Cruise.

British band Radiohead has a song called "Bodysnatchers", that draws major inspiration from the book (or to be more precise: from the 1975 movie). Singer Thom Yorke mentioned the connection when the band premiered the song in Copenhagen on May 6th 2006. It is not the first Radiohead song related to The Stepford Wives. "A Wolf At The Door", the final track on the band's sixth album "Hail to the Thief", also contains a reference.

The Stepford Cuckoos, characters in the X-Men comics, were based partly on the Stepford Wives.