As unintentionally silly and heavy-handed as it often is, this feminist landmark ó based on Ira Levin’s novel ó still works because of the brilliance of its central, satirical metaphor: the housewife as automaton. Katharine Ross plays young mother and aspiring photographer Joanna Eberhart, who reluctantly moves to the suburban enclave of Stepford, where the wives are all just a bit too perfect. There’s a reason the movie’s title has become part of the national language: Just because the picture is dated doesn’t mean it can’t still ring true.
