The Stepford Wives : The most unbelievable part

The most unbelievable part

I know this film is satire, but the one part i find unbelievable is how Walter could be convinced to kill his wife within a month or so. Even given that he's a chauvinist, to actually kill another person is not something most people can do - even if they hate the person. And this wasn't even someone he hated. He apparently really did love his wife.

What would the men's association do if Walter had refused? I imagine they would have to do something with Walter to keep him from going to the cops. How would they explain it when the cops (not Stepford ones) started investigating the missing people?

Re: The most unbelievable part

They probably would have snuffed him out and replaced him with a replica as well. That's why they weren't afraid of getting caught.

Re: The most unbelievable part

i agree i think it is too this is one part i do not understand, i mean they must have been married for sometime as they lived in new york for how long???, and in the space of how long, did he decide he was going to kill his wife which couldn't have been that long. I think when the first time they show you walter is seriously considering killing joanna is when she finds him sitting in the chair drinking after she asks him "how did the initiation go" and he answers "this is not a collage fraternity" its then I anyway realized this is what he intended to do.

Re: The most unbelievable part

Perhaps in his mind, it wasn't so much 'killing' his wife but instead 'improving her'.

He gets the pleasure of having the woman he loves every single day, without the arguments, the nagging, the womens lib opinions (which he felt threatened by).

All wrapped up in a package no-one would ever know was 'different' (especially those in Stepford).

So to him, it's not about what he's losing, it's about ALL the things he's gaining.

Re: The most unbelievable part

It's hard to believe other people aren't friends with their spouses, and they'd think a robot is just as good if not better.

If all you want is a maid, nanny and a hooker, you can get that for around the same price as keeping a high maintenance woman happy. Maybe less if she is a real gold digger, and you take advantage of illegal immigrants.

I think this only works for men who would be going through a divorce, and think the aftermath would be too difficult to handle. The kind of guys that would literally think to kill their wives over money or the stigma.


I much preferred the idea that any man that would do this is a real loser, like the ones in the remake. And their wives were just upgraded with a mind control chip and ... an ATM somehow... yeah, that movie isn't perfect.

Re: The most unbelievable part

I think Walter was hanging around Diz and his crowd for quite awhile before he decided to join their cult/move to Stepford. The catalyst most likely being that he thought or suspected that Joanna wanted to leave him. He was also jealous of her growing success in photography.

So he whisked her away to Stepford. I don't believe he learned murder was involved until he was a full member of the club. The fates only know how they managed to talk him into murder because the film clearly showed that he did have second thoughts. I guess greed and selfishness won the day over love for Walter.

Re: The most unbelievable part

that is the bit that is so strikingly like rosemary's baby. The fact that guy would have used rosemary to get a baby for the devil/worshipers. Maybe greed was a strong emotion as love for these men?? In the book of stepford wives the chareceter of walter was seen crying and very upset as well as aroused by it all and far better explained...

Re: The most unbelievable part

In the book, Walter wanted the robotic, playboy bunny fantasy version of his wife and yet he knew that he would be killing his real wife. He was conflicted. I think it was weaker in the book because the Eberharts have a harmonious marriage and Joanna is definitely not thinking about divorce.

In the film the marriage is clearly in trouble. Joanna wants out. When Walter finds out about the murder part there is no conflict. He loves his wife with all her faults.

But what tips him finally? Well the film prominently features Joanna winning a gallery opening and presentation for her photography. He was jealous of that. And of course Diz and the rest were there to take advantage of that jealousy.

Re: The most unbelievable part

Agree completely. When Walter walked out by the mail box right after the move to Stepford, and talked to Ted briefly, it seemed that they knew each other already. First names. "She looks as good as she cooks Ted." I think Walter had been briefed to some extent on the Stepford plan. They approached men who were having a hard time dealing with their feminist wives (this was the era of women's lib taking hold and some men were not liking it) and wanted a better deal for themselves. Also I think they limited men's assoc membership to men who had money and could contribute in some way. I don't think the grocery store/gas station guys had robot wives. And I agree that perhaps the men did not know it was going to be murder until it was too late. Thus the scene with Walter drinking after the meeting and also the bit with Ed looking so freaked out in the car after handing over Charmaine.

Re: The most unbelievable part

Walter already knew what was going on in Stepford when he moved there, that's why went there to live. In an early seen he tells neighbor Van Sant that his robotic wife Carol "cooks as good as she looks". Walter isin the know all along.

Siri

Don't Make Me Have to Release the Flying Monkeys!


Re: The most unbelievable part

I don't find that in the least realistic. Why then would he earnestly, almost desperately at one point tell Joanna he loves her? Or even bother getting angry with her? It's clear his fussy temperament draws him ever closer to the idea of joining the other gutless wonders.

Re: The most unbelievable part

1. He was dealing with the scientists who can create life-size human look-alike and full functioning androids or cyborgs. They can easily give him some chemical (among many other things) to affect his brain, so he starts favoring android women over his wife.

2. Police officer was also mixed in this. Going to cops is useless.

3. Missing people? They replaced all women with exact replicas. Who would even begin to investigate for missing persons, when they are in front of their eyes?

I only ask to be free. The butterflies are free. - Charles Dickens

Re: The most unbelievable part

True. At least with Cassavetes in ROSEMARY'S BABY he was put in a demonic spell of sorts. By the way, I felt the husband was miscast. He looked more like he'd be Lloyd's accountant.

Re: The most unbelievable part

How about this... Walter apparently cared for his daughters, yet by partaking in the sinister secret of the Mens Club, didn't he (or any of the other men who had daughters) ever stop to think that eventually the same fate would befall his daughters once they were settled in their future married life?

Re: The most unbelievable part

They were frightened that Austin Powers was going to come and mojolate their wives. They turned them into fembots just in case.

Marlon, Claudia and Dimby the cats 1989-2005, 2007 and 2010.

Re: The most unbelievable part

Walter was weak-willed and greedy. A very bad combination.
When he tells JoAnna he loves her he is having an attack of conscience BUT that is not something he could not get over.
In the end, he knows what he wants.

Re: The most unbelievable part

'Even given that he's a chauvinist'
--------------------
why is it a given he's a chauvinist, aside from his decision to conspire (in order to have a plot)? Was he a chauvinist before than happened? Did Rosses' character say that? Was Nurse Ratched a female-chauvinist, then?

Re: The most unbelievable part

The fact that he even considered killing (or "modifying") his wife against her will to make her more submissive is about as chauvinistic as you can get.

I know i'm probably going to get some backlash for this but i am a born-again Christian and i believe that God has given husbands and wives different roles. The husband has been given the responsibility of headship and the wife the role of helpmate. That does NOT mean that the wife is less valuable or less honorable than the husband. They are different roles. Part of the husband's job in his authority is to love the wife, honor her and cherish her. Unfortunately, the world has perverted this into a Ralph Kramden-esque type of thing where the husband barks orders at his wife who slaves away in the kitchen all day. This is NOT what God intends for husbands and wives.

I said all that to say that while i DO have a problem with women's lib as i believe it denigrates women by trying to force them into a role they were not made for and diminishes their glory, it would CERTAINLY be chauvinistic for a man to, in essence, chain his wife up and FORCE her to behave that way.

So even if the robotic women in Stepford were examples of Godly wives (which they weren't. God didn't intend for the wife to be a puppet with no individuality of her own), it would still be chauvinistic for the men to do what they did.

Re: The most unbelievable part

'The fact that he even considered killing (or "modifying") his wife against her will to make her more submissive is about as chauvinistic as you can get.'
--------------------
That was afterwards. I am referring to their whole existence prior to that. Of course he killed his wife, to make her a subservient robot, or there would be no plot. That's not being a chauvinist, but a killer.

Shall I bring up all those films where a man is held captive or stalked by women against his will, or where the husband is killed by his conniving wife? It doesn't mean anything, it's just a movie.

Re: The most unbelievable part

After Joanna has seen the psychiatrist, she should never have gone back to Stepford without help. Her children were not in danger. Joanna should have returned to get her children in the daytime with an army of friends.

Re: The most unbelievable part

I just revisited this film and really got "into it" this time! It took my thoughts to a different level and actually made me cry! I know, sounds silly, but I have a tie for two of my favorite scenes.

The first is where Carol is explaining and apologizing for her "I'll just die if I don't get this recipe/tipsy behavior" and the tears and shocked expressions from Joanna and Bobbie were on point and so real with genuine emotion, a total contrast from Carol, who was already a Stepford Wife, but Joanns and Bobby had such compassion for Carol, especially when Bobbie says you don't have to apologize to us. Awesome scene!

The other was Joanna's moment of truth of what is happening when Bobbie greets her, ironically, from inside the refrigerator, and as soon as she greets Joanna, she knows instantly Bobbie is no longer Bobbie. Even the score was perfect and got me to actually cry! Her real loss of her best friend was so simply and perfectly acted to perfection. She even stops trying to talk with the "new and improved" Bobbie, knowing that she is not her actual friend any longer but a replaced robot without the humor and wit that made them instant best friends.

It's Not a Total Failure…

Like "Rosemary's Baby" (Ira Levins other famous work), the plot in "The Stepford Wives" is fundamentally unbelievable in so many ways. But "Rosemary's Baby" was directed by one of the best directors of all time, Roman Polanski, and his skill helped to smooth over virtually all the most unbelievable aspects of the film. "The Stepford Wives" doesn't really work because the concept is even more of a stretch than in "Rosemary's Baby" and it doesn't help that the direction Bryan Forbes is lackluster (and he was a capable director). Something could be done with this material by a better director and screenplay.

BUT admittedly this version of "The Stepford Wives" does have it's moments and is not a total failure. The relationship between Joanna and Bobbie feels genuinely real. And Forbes pulls off one truly masterful sequence: the focus group for woman that Joanna, Bobbie and Charmaine put together. It's so good that you want it to go on longer. So the film isn't a total failure.
Top