''Revenge of the Stepford Wives'' is a 1980 American
made-for-television
A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...
science-fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel univers ...
thriller film
Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...
inspired by the
Ira Levin
Ira Marvin Levin (August 27, 1929 – November 12, 2007) was an American novelist, playwright, and songwriter. His works include the novels ''A Kiss Before Dying (novel), A Kiss Before Dying'' (1953), ''Rosemary's Baby (novel), Rosemary's Baby'' ...
novel ''
The Stepford Wives
''The Stepford Wives'' is a 1972 satirical "feminist horror" novel by Ira Levin. The story concerns Joanna Eberhart, a talented photographer, wife and young mother who suspects that something in Stepford's environment is changing the wives fr ...
''. It was directed by Robert Fuest with a
screenplay
''ScreenPlay'' is a television drama anthology series broadcast on BBC2 between 9 July 1986 and 27 October 1993.
Background
After single-play anthology series went off the air, the BBC introduced several showcases for made-for-television, fe ...
by
David Wiltse
David Wiltse is an American novelist and playwright known for his versatility of form. He is the author of 12 novels, 14 plays and numerous screenplays and teleplays, including the CBS series "Ladies Man".
Mr. Wiltse was Playwright in Residence ...
and starring
Sharon Gless
Sharon Marguerite Gless (born May 31, 1943) is an American actress and author, who is known for her television roles as Maggie Philbin on ''Switch'' (1975–78), Sgt. Christine Cagney in the police procedural drama series ''Cagney & Lacey'' (198 ...
,
Julie Kavner
Julie Deborah Kavner (born September 7, 1950) is an American actress. Best known for her voice role as Marge Simpson on the animated television series ''The Simpsons'', Kavner first attracted notice for her role as Brenda Morgenstern, the younger ...
,
Don Johnson
Donnie Wayne Johnson (born December 15, 1949) is an American actor, producer and singer. He played the role of James "Sonny" Crockett in the 1980s television series ''Miami Vice'', for which he won a Golden Globe, and received a Primetime Em ...
,
Arthur Hill, and
Audra Lindley
Audra Marie Lindley (September 24, 1918 – October 16, 1997) was an American actress, most famous for her role as landlady Helen Roper on the sitcom ''Three's Company'' and its spin-off ''The Ropers''.
Life and career
Audra Lindley was born ...
. It is the first in a series of sequels inspired by the 1972 novel and the original 1975 film ''
The Stepford Wives
''The Stepford Wives'' is a 1972 satirical "feminist horror" novel by Ira Levin. The story concerns Joanna Eberhart, a talented photographer, wife and young mother who suspects that something in Stepford's environment is changing the wives fr ...
''.
Plot
Set 10 years after the original film, a prologue sets the scene as a couple unhappy in idyllic Stepford, Connecticut, attempts to leave town; they are killed by the police chief.
Spirited investigative TV reporter Kaye Foster (Gless) arrives in Stepford to do a story on the American town with the lowest crime and divorce rates and the tightest real-estate market in the country. She immediately notices the beautiful, but compliant and domestic women of the town, who take a pill four times a day when an eerie
siren
Siren or sirens may refer to:
Common meanings
* Siren (alarm), a loud acoustic alarm used to alert people to emergencies
* Siren (mythology), an enchanting but dangerous monster in Greek mythology
Places
* Siren (town), Wisconsin
* Siren, Wisc ...
sounds (they each claim it is for a thyroid condition). Kaye meets Megan and Andy Brady (Kavner and Johnson), newcomers to town. Megan is refreshingly down to earth, and Andy is interviewing to join the police force and become a member of the Stepford Men's Association, headed by refined but vaguely hostile Dale "Diz" Coba (Hill). Kaye needs a research assistant, and after being turned off by the seemingly plastic and subservient women of Stepford, she jumps at the chance to hire Megan.
Kaye is shaken when Barbara Parkinson (Lindley) "accidentally" nearly runs her down with her car, then exhibits strange, repetitive behaviors at the accident site, yet has no recollection of the incident the next day. Disillusioned hotel manager Wally (Adams) seems guiltily on the verge of divulging something important to Kaye about his wife's inability to change, when another attempt is made on Kaye's life.
Andy assumes the job with the Stepford Police and Megan has chosen a house when she is sent to the Men's Association and disappears for a few days. Suspicious, Kaye sneaks into a
garden party
A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature fo ...
at the association attended by the townswomen; there, three new "sisters" are welcomed, including Megan. All three wear the frilly and outdated fashions that are so popular in town and exhibit the brainless behaviors of the other wives. Kaye overhears Diz explaining to the husbands that the wives have been
brainwashed
Brainwashed may refer to:
*Brainwashing, to affect a person's mind by using extreme mental pressure or any other mind-affecting process
Music Albums
* Brainwashed (George Harrison album), ''Brainwashed'' (George Harrison album), 2002, or the ...
and kept compliant by the "thyroid pills". To keep them subservient, they must not drink
alcohol
Alcohol most commonly refers to:
* Alcohol (chemistry), an organic compound in which a hydroxyl group is bound to a carbon atom
* Alcohol (drug), an intoxicant found in alcoholic drinks
Alcohol may also refer to:
Chemicals
* Ethanol, one of sev ...
, miss the medication, or be overstimulated, or the women will become hostile and potentially violent. Kaye is discovered and narrowly escapes, and the men set out to track her down.
Kaye shows up at Megan's house, throws out her pills, and compels her to down some
vodka
Vodka ( pl, wódka , russian: водка , sv, vodka ) is a clear distilled alcoholic beverage. Different varieties originated in Poland, Russia, and Sweden. Vodka is composed mainly of water and ethanol but sometimes with traces of impuritie ...
. At first, Megan attempts to stab Kaye and
manically clean the house. Overcome, she later recovers and the two women knock out Andy. Kaye, now disguised as a Stepford wife, enlists the aide of Wally to help them escape; he betrays them, but having anticipated this, Kaye manages to elude him. However, their plan to escape by
train
In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and Passenger train, transport people or Rail freight transport, freight. Trains are typically pul ...
fails, and Megan is taken to the Men's Association for reconditioning. Eventually, Kaye arrives and holds Diz at gunpoint while Megan repeatedly sounds the pill siren. All the women of the town overdose on their pills, becoming disoriented and then violent. Having second thoughts about the scheme, Andy shows up in time to reconcile and escape with Megan. Kaye is finally caught by Diz, though, and just as he is about to kill her, he is confronted by the vengeful women of the town. Screaming and clawing, they push him over a balcony, trample him, and literally tear him apart. Shocked and horrified, Kaye makes her escape.
Cast
*
Sharon Gless
Sharon Marguerite Gless (born May 31, 1943) is an American actress and author, who is known for her television roles as Maggie Philbin on ''Switch'' (1975–78), Sgt. Christine Cagney in the police procedural drama series ''Cagney & Lacey'' (198 ...
as Kaye Foster
*
Julie Kavner
Julie Deborah Kavner (born September 7, 1950) is an American actress. Best known for her voice role as Marge Simpson on the animated television series ''The Simpsons'', Kavner first attracted notice for her role as Brenda Morgenstern, the younger ...
as Megan Brady
*
Audra Lindley
Audra Marie Lindley (September 24, 1918 – October 16, 1997) was an American actress, most famous for her role as landlady Helen Roper on the sitcom ''Three's Company'' and its spin-off ''The Ropers''.
Life and career
Audra Lindley was born ...
as Barbara Parkinson
*
Don Johnson
Donnie Wayne Johnson (born December 15, 1949) is an American actor, producer and singer. He played the role of James "Sonny" Crockett in the 1980s television series ''Miami Vice'', for which he won a Golden Globe, and received a Primetime Em ...
as Officer Andy Brady
*
Mason Adams
Mason Adams (February 26, 1919 – April 26, 2005) was an American character actor and voiceover artist. From the late 1940s until the early 1970s, he was heard in numerous radio programs and voiceovers for countless television commercials, t ...
as Wally
*
Arthur Hill as Gale 'Diz' Corbett
* Gay Rowan as Angeline
*
Howard Witt
Howard Witt (March 13, 1932 – June 21, 2017) was an American character actor and Chicago native who began his acting career in the Goodman Theatre.
Early years
Witt attended Von Steuben High School and was a drama student at Goodman School ...
as Police Chief
*
Peter Maloney as Henry the druggist
*
Melissa Newman
Melissa Stewart Newman (born September 27, 1961), also known as Lissy Newman, is an American artist, singer and former actress who appeared in the 1990 film ''Mr. & Mrs. Bridge'', and at the 30th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards.
Career
On the ...
as Muffin Sheridan
Production
The film first aired on October 12, 1980. Despite the suburban Connecticut setting, it was filmed in
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
as is evident by the presence of
palm tree
The Arecaceae is a family of perennial flowering plants in the monocot order Arecales. Their growth form can be climbers, shrubs, tree-like and stemless plants, all commonly known as palms. Those having a tree-like form are called palm trees ...
s and
canyon
A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosion, erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tenden ...
s.
This is the first sequel in a string of stories suggested by, but not necessarily true to, the original concept of the novel. Although the feel, costumes, and even music suggest the original film, a new and different twist is written for the sequel. Later sequels include ''
The Stepford Children
''The Stepford Children'' is a 1987 American made-for-television horror science fiction thriller film inspired by the Ira Levin novel '' The Stepford Wives''. It was directed by Alan J. Levi with a screenplay by Bill Bleich and starring Barbar ...
'' (1987), which retained the concept of the original, but in which the men were also transforming the children of Stepford. The sequel ''
The Stepford Husbands
''The Stepford Husbands'' is a 1996 American made-for-television thriller-drama film inspired by the Ira Levin novel '' The Stepford Wives''. It was directed by Fred Walton with a screenplay by brothers Ken Wheat and Jim Wheat and starring Do ...
'' revisits the concept, but reverses the roles, with the women as the oppressors. Louise Fletcher's role, in particular, recalls the role of Diz, the Men's Association president. A
2004 remake began with the same concept, but changed significant elements and was made with an entirely different tone and ending. The executive producer for the film was
Edgar J. Scherick
Edgar J. Scherick (October 16, 1924 – December 2, 2002) was an Emmy-winning American television executive and producer of television miniseries, made-for-television films, and theatrical motion pictures.
Life and career
Scherick was born i ...
, who produced the first film.
Home video
After its initial airing on television, the film had a 1989 VHS release by Embassy Home Entertainment. The film, like the other two television sequels, has yet had no release on DVD or Blu-ray.
Reception
One review of the film describes ''Revenge'' as "an average telefilm sequel
hich
Ij ( fa, ايج, also Romanized as Īj; also known as Hich and Īch) is a village in Golabar Rural District, in the Central District of Ijrud County, Zanjan Province, Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also ...
isn't that bad, but isn't much memorable, either." Another generally rates it as mediocre, though praises the end of the film, but remarking, "Despite this more satisfying ending, however, the intelligence of the audience is further insulted by the fact that the credits roll directly thereafter, leaving us with nothing to explain Coba’s methods or the fallout that would naturally occur after these events. Wouldn’t it be interesting to see the women confront their husbands following their deprogramming? Wouldn’t we like to see Kate’s
ictriumph as she tells the story of Stepford to her TV audience?" While acknowledging the value of an ambiguous ending, "there's a difference between mystery and confusion."
The film was nominated for an
Edgar Allan Poe Award
The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America, based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards honor the bes ...
in 1981 for Best Television Feature or Miniseries to writer David Wiltse.
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Revenge Of The Stepford Wives
1980 television films
1980 films
American science fiction thriller films
Films based on science fiction novels
American sequel films
1980s feminist films
1980s science fiction thriller films
NBC network original films
Films set in Connecticut
Films directed by Robert Fuest
Films based on works by Ira Levin
Television sequel films
Films scored by Laurence Rosenthal
1980s American films
1980s English-language films