Still love original "Stepford Wives" film...

[Auggie27]

Posted: 7/31/08 at 1:03pm

My old vhs is fading, so I was delighted to find the dvd of the original in the 9.99 bin at Barnes and Noble. And what a treasure. Bonus interviews (circa 2004) with Katherine Ross, Paula Prentiss (looking like Madame Hortense in THE BOYFRIEND, but still our Paula) and an unrecognizable Peter Masterson. Did anyone else know the lead had been offered to Diane Keaton? And someone else, unnamed, whose personal politics they feared wouldn't work (Jane Fonda?) And that after two weeks of filming, Joanna Cassidy was replaced by Prentiss? Peter Masterson trashes the costumes, but I still find them witty -- the sort of Amish by way of 1970s granny gown look.

I still have great affection for this 1975 film, and despite its sometimes deadly pacing, especially in the first 45 minutes, find it potent and a very persuasive case for the Levin book (did ever a writer use the Faust legend in so many ways? All the way to the bank). Ross and Prentiss, and Tina Louise, are all pretty wonderful. And the late sequence when Ross goes to the shrink in a nearby village, is extraordinary, the filmmaker's debatably successful serious sci fi approach pays off. The oversold remake was a camp mess, that didn't even hold together as story-telling, despite the far more stellar cast.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 7/31/08 at 1:13pm

Ira Levin wrote some absolutely wonderful books: Stepford Wives, Rosemary's Baby, Boys from Brazil. He also wrote some wonderful plays: Deathtrap and No Time for Sargents. He also wrote the book for "Drat the Cat."

An incredible career.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 7/31/08 at 1:18pm

Levin employed a motif in at least 3 works -- men selling their wives to the devil, literally in ROSEMARY's case, but figuratively in both STEPFORD and DEATHTRAP. Rather than make him mysognistic, I think it suggests that Levin tapped into a kind of male rage. In STEPFORD, he took on the backlash against feminism persuasively, though it's curious to hear the people on the dvd talk about how the book/film were percevied as the backlash, rather than a send-up. If you look at the suburban life in 2000 onward, you see these issues as front burner as ever.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 7/31/08 at 1:35pm

"I'll just DIE if I don't get this receipe!"

Levin's "Veronica's Room" is one of my favorite plays.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 7/31/08 at 1:37pm

He was a hell of a storyteller.

[best12bars]

Posted: 7/31/08 at 1:38pm

I LOVE the original Stepford Wives!

I didn't realize until a recent viewing that "little" Mary Stuart Masterson (Peter's daughter) was in it. A career-launcher to be proud of!

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 7/31/08 at 1:40pm

What I don't understand about the remake is how it managed to not make a lick of sense. Even with the deleted scenes, nothing adds up in it. Even as satire it's completely incomprehensible.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 7/31/08 at 1:43pm

Unforgettable.

"Oh Joanna! My new dress! How could you do a thing like that? Just when I was going to give you coffee! How could you do a thing like that? I thought we were friends! Just when I was going to... how could you do a thing like that... just when I was going to give you coffee! Oh Joanna... I thought we were friends... I thought we were friends... friends... coffee... how could you do a thing like that? Like that? Like that? Like that? Friends... friends..."

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 7/31/08 at 1:49pm

Love it...and had a crush on Mary Stuart Masterson's dad as Ross' hubby...who was also one of Regan's doctors in the Exorcist, and wrote the book for "Whorehouse" and directed Geraldine Page to an oscar.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 7/31/08 at 1:56pm

It actually made me angry Phyllis- such a wasted opportunity, such a great cast. And yet they can't even develop a linear plot line.

[sondheimboy2]

Posted: 7/31/08 at 3:00pm

I used to not like it because of how literal they made the ending. (The book cuts from the stabbing to the scene in the supermarket.) But after seeing the remake (which was fun because of all of the Paul Ruddnick one liners), I felt like yelling "Original 'Stepford Wives' come back! All is forgiven!"

I think that he wrote it after a rather messy divorce.

[RetroBoy]

Posted: 7/31/08 at 5:04pm

oh i love this movie and i was surprised at just how good tina louise is in it. she was given the opportunity to shine on two occasions: stepford wives and god's little acre. pity she'll only go down in history as that stranded movie star.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 7/31/08 at 5:35pm

I've tried to forget, but in the remake, don't the robots even turn back into 'real' women at the end? I recall some dreadful beat with Midler restored. Ugh.

What's consistently effective in the original is the tone. There's humor, but it never derides the mounting dread, and Ross's character's underlying sadness permeates. Again, that sensational scene with the shrink in the cozy den. The actress later BECAME a shrink, if I heard correctly...

[Chevstriss]

Posted: 7/31/08 at 5:50pm

I saw this at a matinee in 75. Scared the pee pee outta me.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 7/31/08 at 9:08pm

By the way, on the dvd, Katherine Ross looked swell in 2008. Like -- well, Katherine Ross in her 50's. Everything isn't smoothed out and jacked up.

[sondheimboy2]

Posted: 7/31/08 at 11:10pm

Auggie27, are you thinking about how she played Jake Gyllenthal's psychiatrist in "Donnie Darko"? I didn't know that it was her, at first. It was the first time that I had seen her without that beautiful long hair.

Yes, the women to get "restored" at the end of the remake. I know that it was a comedy, but that annoyed me. If they are robot enough to function as an ATM and have extendable arms, then they can't be restored.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 8/1/08 at 9:48am

I didn't mean Ross, but the actress playing her shrink in Stepford. I meant Carol Rossen, who plays "Dr. Francher." To my thinking, that sequence lifts the final act of the film and gives Joanna's motivations and angst far more depth, and also keeps the action character-specific, not just in service of a plot -- admittedly, a doozie, this particular plot. The shrink's attempt to get at Joanna's "problem" speaks volumes about urban women thrust into suburban complacency, and even larger issues of feminism -- the trade-offs in doing what's best for kids even when the sacrifice strips you of identity.

I think I heard that Rossen became a therapist. Will look it up.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 8/1/08 at 10:10am

William Goldman's screenplay is one of his better adaptations. I seem to remember that a lot of the most memorable moments if the film were not in the novel, the couple of robot breakdowns for example.