Joanna’s main ally is fellow former city dweller Bobbie Markowe (Paula Prentiss), a tall, lanky force of nature with a twangy voice and a penchant for mischief. Joanna doesn’t get the full picture of what the mysterious Stepford Men’s Association is up to until the end of the movie, but every seemingly benign interaction in town contributes to the sense that something is deeply wrong here. But even if you know exactly what’s coming, screenwriter William Goldman and director Bryan Forbes still draw you into the world of Stepford and the escalating terror that is Joanna’s life. The concept of the Stepford wife is so ingrained in pop culture that it’s unlikely anyone coming to this movie for the first time will be unaware of what’s really going on in town. “She cooks as good as she looks, Ted,” Walter says appreciatively to Carol’s husband the next day.

The women are lovely and well-manicured, too, as demonstrated by the Eberhardts’ neighbor Carol van Sant (Nanette Newman), dressed demurely in an outfit that would have fit perfectly into a 1950s sitcom.Ĭarol brings over a casserole to welcome her new neighbors, speaking in soft, deferential tones to Walter when she drops it off. Placid music plays as the Eberhardt family drives into the countryside, and Stepford itself is verdant and peaceful, full of lovely homes with well-manicured lawns. In Stepford, most of the women are only slightly more human than that blow-up doll. When she gets into the family station wagon to head out of town, Joanna spots a teenage boy across the street carrying a crude blow-up doll, unknowingly glimpsing a distorted vision of her potential future. The soundtrack is filled with the noises of the city that Joanna is about to leave behind. As The Stepford Wives opens, Joanna stares wistfully at her reflection in the mirror, pondering her place in the world, while the last of her belongings are carried out of the apartment she shared with her lawyer husband Walter (Peter Masterson) and their two daughters.

The stepford wives by ira levin