The Stepford Wives
The lovely Katharine Ross in Ira Levin's "The Stepford Wives" 1975
The lovely Katharine Ross in Ira Levin's "The Stepford Wives" 1975
Ira Levin released this book in 1972. It caused such a sensation that the movie studios immediately wanted in on it. Director, Bryan Forbes read the book and immediately had the idea for how he wanted the movie. He called it "thriller in sunlight." It's one of the most unusual horror/sci-fi movies created. The look of the movie is beautiful. The colors and saturation is almost exaggerated, but in a good way. The evil undertones are there, however and the audience can sense it. The beautiful color scheme, like the wives themeselves, are a mere illusion to distract us from the truth, a truth that the heroines of the film learn too late.
The film revolves around a housewife names Joanna (Katharine Ross) who moves to the town of Stepford with her husband and two children. She almost immediately notices something is off about the wives of Stepford, they are obsessed with treating their husbands like gods. After her husband joins the Men's Association, she notices a dramatic change in he's personality. After Joanna's bestfriend(Paula Prentiss) becomes a Stepford wife Joanna must find out the truth, before she too is consumed by the perfection surrounding her.
Paula Prentiss and Katharine Ross talking to one of the creepy wives.
Like I said before, the movie is stunning to look at. Beautiful colors and lovely lighting. You wonder how this could be a horror film. Like Levin's work, Rosemary's Baby, this movie deals with paranoia and rashionalization. Joanna and her friend Bobbie have moments where they think they're going crazy, and the way the actresses play their roles is flawless. Katharine Ross is unbelivably perfect. Diane Keaton was originally cast, but dropped out, and I must say I'm glad she did. Ross' career has been somewhat anti-climatic. Her career took off in the late 60's with movies like The Graduate and Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid. It was her later career that was rather low key. Paula Prentiss is an actress I fell in love with in this movie.
Paula Prentiss as 'Stepford' Bobbie
The movie goes at a leisurly pace with little things that clue you in on the truth. The ending is horrifying and chilling. All the beautiful settings and saturated colors fade as Joanna learns whats really going on. If you haven't seen this, you must! Rent it! Buy it! I don't care just watch it. Unfortunatley this movie might seem boring to some because of the high packed action crap we are subjected to today. I was hoping when they remade this movie it would draw attention to the original and it would finally get recognition, but the remake flopped and if anything made people want to run from the original.
The 'Oh Shit' moment in The Stepford Wives.
Atleast I'll always have it. I love this movie, and I'll continue loving it. In my opinion it's better than Rosemary's Baby, but film critics disagree with me. Oh well, I never said I was a professional.
Paula Prentiss and Katharine Ross talking to one of the creepy wives.
Like I said before, the movie is stunning to look at. Beautiful colors and lovely lighting. You wonder how this could be a horror film. Like Levin's work, Rosemary's Baby, this movie deals with paranoia and rashionalization. Joanna and her friend Bobbie have moments where they think they're going crazy, and the way the actresses play their roles is flawless. Katharine Ross is unbelivably perfect. Diane Keaton was originally cast, but dropped out, and I must say I'm glad she did. Ross' career has been somewhat anti-climatic. Her career took off in the late 60's with movies like The Graduate and Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid. It was her later career that was rather low key. Paula Prentiss is an actress I fell in love with in this movie.
Paula Prentiss as 'Stepford' Bobbie
The movie goes at a leisurly pace with little things that clue you in on the truth. The ending is horrifying and chilling. All the beautiful settings and saturated colors fade as Joanna learns whats really going on. If you haven't seen this, you must! Rent it! Buy it! I don't care just watch it. Unfortunatley this movie might seem boring to some because of the high packed action crap we are subjected to today. I was hoping when they remade this movie it would draw attention to the original and it would finally get recognition, but the remake flopped and if anything made people want to run from the original.
The 'Oh Shit' moment in The Stepford Wives.
Atleast I'll always have it. I love this movie, and I'll continue loving it. In my opinion it's better than Rosemary's Baby, but film critics disagree with me. Oh well, I never said I was a professional.
No comments:
Post a Comment