It was never just about the wives The Stepford Wives turns 50 Sure, the film has its flaws and feels a bit dated, but its lasting cultural influence is undeniable. Jennifer Ouellette Feb 23, 2025 1:23 pm | 0 Credit: Columbia Pictures Credit: Columbia Pictures Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreIt's hard to believe it's been 50 years since the release of The Stepford Wives, a film based on the 1972 novel of the same name by Ira Levin. It might not be to everyone's taste, but its lasting cultural influence is undeniable. A psychological horror/thriller with a hint of sci-fi, the film spawned multiple made-for-TV sequels and a campy 2004 remake, as well as inspiring one of the main characters in the hit series Desperate Housewives. The term "Stepford wife" became part of our shared cultural lexicon, and Jordan Peele even cited the film as one of the key influences for his 2017 masterpiece Get Out.(Spoilers below for the novel and both film adaptations.)Levin's novels were a hot commodity in Hollywood at the time, especially after the success of his most famous novel, Rosemary's Baby (1967), adapted into a 1968 horror film starring Mia Farrow. (The novels A Kiss Before Dying, The Boys from Brazil, Sliver, and Levin's play Deathtrap were also adapted to film.) The plot of the The Stepford Wives film follows the novel's plot fairly closely.Katharine Ross stars as Joanna Eberhart, a young wife and mother and aspiring photographer who moves with her family to the seemingly idyllic fictional Connecticut suburb of Stepford at her husband Walter's (Peter Masterson) insistence. She bonds with sassy fellow newcomer Bobbie (Paula Prentiss) over scotch and Ring Dings (and their respective messy kitchens), mutually marveling at the vacuous behavior of the other neighborhood' wives.There are soon hints that all is not right in Stepford. Carol (Nanette Newman) has a bit too much to drink at a garden party and begins to glitch. Together with dissatisfied trophy wife Charmaine (Tina Louise), Joanna and Bobbie hold a women's "consciousness raising" meeting (aka a bitching session), only to have it devolve into the other wives raving about the time-saving merits of Easy On spray starch. Meanwhile, Walter has joined the exclusive Stepford Men's Association and becomes increasingly secretive and distant.When Charmaine suddenly transforms into yet another vapid housewife after a weekend getaway with her husband, Joanna and Bobbie become suspicious and decide to investigate. They discover that there used to be a women's group in Stepfordheaded by Carol, no lessbut all the transformed wives suddenly lost interest. Is it something in the water causing the transformation? That turns out to be a dead end, but one clue is that the creepy head of the Men's Association, Dale "Diz" Coba (Patrick O'Neal), used to work for Disney building animatronics. (When Diz first tells Joanna about his background, she says she doesn't believe it: "You don't look like someone who enjoys making people happy." Her instincts are correct.)Sinister suburbia Joanna (Katharine Ross) is a housewife and aspiring photographer who moves from Manhattan to the Stepford suburb. Columbia Pictures Joanna (Katharine Ross) is a housewife and aspiring photographer who moves from Manhattan to the Stepford suburb. Columbia Pictures Joanna finds a friend in Bobbie (Paula Prentiss) Columbia Pictures Joanna finds a friend in Bobbie (Paula Prentiss) Columbia Pictures "I'll just die if I don't get this recipe." Carol (Nanette Newman) glitches at a garden party. Columbia Pictures "I'll just die if I don't get this recipe." Carol (Nanette Newman) glitches at a garden party. Columbia Pictures Joanna finds a friend in Bobbie (Paula Prentiss) Columbia Pictures "I'll just die if I don't get this recipe." Carol (Nanette Newman) glitches at a garden party. Columbia Pictures A women's club meeting devolves into a discussion about housecleaning products. Columbia Pictures Joanna's husband, Walter (Peter Masterson), has a secret. Columbia Pictures When Bobbie also suddenly transforms, Joanna discovers that her best friend has been replaced by a robotalong with all the other wivesand realizes the sinister forces at work in Stepford are coming for her next. And her loving husband, Walter, is a willing part of the conspiracy.The men prevent Joanna from fleeing by taking her children to lure her to the Men's Association headquarters, where she encounters her own dead-eyed robotic doppelgnger. Robo-Joanna advances holding a pair of nylons to strangle the horrified real Joanna. Cut to black. The final scene shows Robo-Joanna shopping at the supermarket with all the other Stepford Wives. We even see a black couple, new to Stepford, arguing in one of the aisles, hinting that there will soon be another addition to their ranks.Reviews were mixed upon the film's release. It's certainly not without its flaws, particularly when viewed through a 21st century lens; this is very much a period piece, complete with those ubiquitous 1970s station wagons with wood paneling. At one point, Joanna insists she's only dabbled in scary feminism and wouldn't partake in a "Maidenform bonfire" or anything, but gosh darn it, these Stepford wives are just so weirda cringe-inducing reminder of just how far we've come as a culture.Some of those flaws no doubt stemmed from the fact that director Bryan Forbes and screenwriter William Goldman famously clashed over Forbes' unwelcome rewrites and decision to cast his own wife as Carol. Forbes also chose the prairie-style dresses and frilly aprons the Robo-Wives wore, a stark contrast to the more provocative Playboy Bunny aesthetic Goldman called for in his original script. Goldman particularly disliked the film's revised ending, featuring Diz chasing Joanna through dimly lit hallways on a stormy night. Even Katharine Ross disliked the ending because she thought Joanna should have fought much harder against her eventual fate. Joanna and Bobbie are dismayed at the sudden transformation of their friend Charmaine (Tina Louise) Columbia Pictures Joanna and Bobbie are dismayed at the sudden transformation of their friend Charmaine (Tina Louise) Columbia Pictures "I like to watch women doing little domestic chores." Diz (Patrick O'Neal) heads the Men's Association, Columbia Pictures "I like to watch women doing little domestic chores." Diz (Patrick O'Neal) heads the Men's Association, Columbia Pictures Joanna encounters the Bobbie-Bot. Columbia Pictures Joanna encounters the Bobbie-Bot. Columbia Pictures "I like to watch women doing little domestic chores." Diz (Patrick O'Neal) heads the Men's Association, Columbia Pictures Joanna encounters the Bobbie-Bot. Columbia Pictures Joanna's dead-eyed robotic replacement Columbia Pictures Robo-Joanna at the supermarket. Columbia Pictures Behold: The Stepford Wives Columbia Pictures Yet somehow the film still mostly works. There are some fine satirical moments, and Joanna and Bobbie are both likable and sympathetic characters, particularly Bobbie's sardonic humor ("I don't wanna squeeze the goddamned Charmin!"). The pacing is admittedly slow but it's atmospheric and effectively builds suspense. And while the film is hardly a deep character study, there are scattered nuances. For instance, while Walter is ultimately a villain, we do get to see fleeting moments of genuine love for Joanna and a moral struggle with what will be required of him to truly belong in Stepford (i.e., murdering his wife). There's even a bittersweet moment where Joanna briefly encounters her first love from college, both clearly regretting their subsequent life choices.The 1975 original is vastly superior to the disastrous 2004 remake directed by Frank Oz, which went for straight-out comedy and ended up failing on almost every level: tonally, narratively, comedically, although the production design and cinematography are quite striking. (Oz himself thought his film was a failure) Nicole Kidman's Joanna is so unlikeable that she's almost monstrous; she and co-star Matthew Broderick have zero onscreen chemistry; and it's not even clear whether the transformed wives are robots/cyborgs, or merely being controlled by nanochips in the brain. The only bright spots are the energetic performances of Glenn Close as Stepford's lead wife Claire, Roger Bart as a flamboyantly gay "wife" married to a straitlaced lawyer, and Bette Midler as a sarcastically irreverent Bobbiereimagined here as a Jewish writer whose creative process calls for chaotic squalor.The Stepford Wives has been both lauded for its feminist themes and sharply criticized by feminist leaders in the 1970s. But the core concept has continued to resonate across the decades. That's because it was never really just about the wives, as evidenced by the spinoffs The Stepford Children (1987) and The Stepford Husbands (1996). Film scholar John Kenneth Muir cited The Stepford Wives as one of the best 1970s horror films, calling it "a film essay about what it means to be part of an unspoken 'underclass.'" It's what appealed to Jordan Peele. We can all find the horror in forced, fake perfection, particularly when it involves quashing our truest selves in favor of robotic conformity.Jennifer OuelletteSenior WriterJennifer OuelletteSenior Writer Jennifer is a senior writer at Ars Technica with a particular focus on where science meets culture, covering everything from physics and related interdisciplinary topics to her favorite films and TV series. Jennifer lives in Baltimore with her spouse, physicist Sean M. Carroll, and their two cats, Ariel and Caliban. 0 Comments