The Stepford Wives

Remember The Stepford Wives movie (1975)?
They are coming out with a remake (as you know) with an impressive cast.

Credited cast:
Nicole Kidman .... Joanna Eberhart
Bette Midler .... Bobbie Markowe
Matthew Broderick .... Walter Eberhart
Christopher Walken .... Dale Coba
Faith Hill .... Sarah Sunderson
Glenn Close .... Dr. Emily Francher
Roger Bart .... Roger Bannister
Jon Lovitz .... Dave Markowe

All of these remakes of classic TV and movies is L-A-M-E. How 'bout say, oh I don't know...a NEW idea??! They would repaint a Picasso or Rembrandt if they could. Not that 'Stepford Wives' is like Picasso, but you know what I mean...
:drink:

And it's a comedy! It will be nice to see Walken and Broderick together again.

I, myself, will be waiting for the sequel to Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo .

[ Edited by: Turbogod on 2004-05-07 04:32 ]

the stepford wives as a comedy might actually be fun (but'll probably suck).

i agree about all these remakes being lame. i heard they're re-making alfie! why? it was near perfect anyway.

however, do these re-makes renew interest in the originals?

The Stepford Wives remake probably will be entertaining. Anyone remember these 70's horror movies? Some were so bad, that I'd love to see them remade again:

"Ben" (vigilante rats)
"Frogs" (Ray Milland being bullied by amphibians)
"Gargoyles""Food of the Gods" (giant rats)
"Ssssss" (snakes)

-and this is totally unrelated, but who remembers the lame '70's shows:

"Hot L Baltimore" (there were probably only about 2 or 3 episodes)
"James at 15" (simply awful)

http://www.samgambino.com

On 2004-05-07 07:20, Sam Gambino wrote:
"Ben" (vigilante rats)

Wasn't that already done as "Willard"?

Now Frogs, yeah that was pretty good. Just had that whole, "get what you deserve" thing going for it. How about "ALLIGATOR". Any movie with a killer gator in the sewers has got to be good.

On 2004-05-07 07:20, Sam Gambino wrote:
"Hot L Baltimore" (there were probably only about 2 or 3 episodes)

The Hot L Baltimore was 1 of my favorite shows as a kid. I don't know how I was able to watch it, it was on after 9 & was from Norman Lear whom my parents hated. The cast included Charlotte Rae, James Cromwell, Conchita Ferrell & Richard Masur. The show's characters included 2 homosexuals, several prostitutes, an off-screen psychotic, and a black man (Ooh! The Liberalism! This's why my parents hated Norman Lear), situations included allusions to gay sex, prostitution, bondage, welfare fraud & glueing yourself to the ceiling (the aforementioned off-screen psychotic)... What's not to love?

On 2004-05-07 08:45, Turbogod wrote:

On 2004-05-07 07:20, Sam Gambino wrote:
"Ben" (vigilante rats)

Wasn't that already done as "Willard"?

Now Frogs, yeah that was pretty good. Just had that whole, "get what you deserve" thing going for it. How about "ALLIGATOR". Any movie with a killer gator in the sewers has got to be good.

Ben was the sequel to Willard. If they redid Ben, who should they get to sing "The Love Theme from Ben?" Michael Jackson again, or is there a better choice to sing a love song to a large rat?

veering more, but

perhaps it's the post-911 thing, but two big movies opening now (today?) remind me totally of 70's disaster movies:

1. an earthquake one
2. messed up polar icecap = frozen new york

the difference is that the mayhem is all computer generated now. oh for the days of scale model buildings collapsing.

j$

p.s. the billboards for the freezing one shows the statue of liberty hand with horizontal icicles. those damn dirty apes!!!

I wonder what the next set of remakes will be...

I'd say West World (by John Wu), Warriors (by Michael Moore in his faux documentary style) , Beach Blanket Bingo (by the Farrelly Brothers), Blacula (by Spike Lee), and Taxi Driver (by Quentin Tarantino) are all in grave danger!

[ Edited by: Geeky Tiki on 2004-05-07 09:29 ]

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic-new.php?topic=8328&forum=6&vpost=83551

On the subject of disaster movies like the one mentioned about frozen New York, and past examples like the one not too long ago with Ben Affleck and a nuclear bomb in Baltimore, and the one a few years ago ( can't remember the name) where the White House gets blown up...in this post 9/11 world, do we really need this stuff. I mean... a frozen New York City and all that. Isn't the politics of fear umbrella that we all live under nowadays enough.? Are disaster movies really necessary?

On 2004-05-07 08:58, freddiefreelance wrote:

On 2004-05-07 07:20, Sam Gambino wrote:
"Hot L Baltimore" (there were probably only about 2 or 3 episodes)

The Hot L Baltimore was 1 of my favorite shows as a kid. I don't know how I was able to watch it, it was on after 9

ff, wasn't it on on Friday nights?

On 2004-05-07 09:57, Sam Gambino wrote:

On 2004-05-07 08:58, freddiefreelance wrote:

On 2004-05-07 07:20, Sam Gambino wrote:
"Hot L Baltimore" (there were probably only about 2 or 3 episodes)

The Hot L Baltimore was 1 of my favorite shows as a kid. I don't know how I was able to watch it, it was on after 9

ff, wasn't it on on Friday nights?

Yes sir, but I was only 11. Staying up 'til 9:30 on a weekend was still a treat.

On 2004-05-07 09:56, donhonyc wrote:
On the subject of disaster movies like the one mentioned about frozen New York, and past examples like the one not too long ago with Ben Affleck and a nuclear bomb in Baltimore, and the one a few years ago ( can't remember the name) where the White House gets blown up...in this post 9/11 world, do we really need this stuff. I mean... a frozen New York City and all that. Isn't the politics of fear umbrella that we all live under nowadays enough.? Are disaster movies really necessary?

I don't really think of them so much as glorifying disaster as (vapid) stories of humans overcoming daunting (contrived) obstacles.

Maybe these movies help people feel like what's facing them isn't as big for a few hours. Maybe redemption of a flawed character (they almost always have those) as a motif? I don't really know the appeal, but it sure must be there for the studios to keep cranking out those things.

Also, if we eliminated all the flicks that reflect modern angst, all we'd have left is Merchant Ivory films. Now, THAT would be a disaster!

Hmmmmm, if we were to get rid of diaster stories altogether, we'd pretty much have to lose the whole first half of that certain book that many people use as a factual history of humankind, eh?

What's so appealing about the original is that it was pretty bad and didn't have good actors. I doubt the remake will be as funny.

Heard they filmed it in Irvine & used local residents

[ Edited by: tikiholic on 2004-05-07 12:56 ]

Ya gotta admit that the casting of Faith Hill as a Stepford Wife is sheer genius. I saw an ad last night, and her flawless, beautiful, and utterly blank expression was astounding in its perfection. I can't wait!

I never could figure out with "Frogs" just how the malevalent amphibians achieved their murderous goal. Did they "frog" Milland to death (he'd fallen out of his wheelchair or something, right?)? "Ribbet" him? Hoppy-hop all over him until he lost his mind? I mean, just how in the h*ll does a frog - even hundreds - kill a man? They weren't poisonous! They were just evil swamp frogs! And it wasn't implied that they shoved their little froggy feet into his nostrils to suffocate him! And there weren't enough to crush him!

How?! HOW?!?!

Now, "Night of the Lepus" (giant mutant bunnies) - THAT I can accept! They can at least gnaw on ya real good!

On 2004-05-07 07:20, Sam Gambino wrote:-and this is totally unrelated, but who remembers the lame '70's shows:

"Hot L Baltimore" (there were probably only about 2 or 3 episodes)
"James at 15" (simply awful)
Hey, Sam, and I loved "James at 15"!! Lance Kerwin, right?

(Maybe it had something to to do with the fact that I was a 15 year old girl. Never mind.)

Hey Formikahini- yes, Lance Kerwin was the guy. I don't remember much about it, but I do remember that he was new to whatever area it was the show was set in, and he was constantly telling people that he had come from Oregon - and don't feel bad because you loved him so much - I had a die-hard crush on Betty Rubble when I was young (no joke!). I was a sucker for brunettes with cute, sweet voices.

Maybe those frogs all "tongued" Ray Milland simultaneously with their long whip-like sticky tongues, and that's what pulled him out of his wheelchair.

James at 15 must have had alot of viewers if I remember right wasn't there a James at 16 and 17?

I do remember "James at 16", but not "17."

Here's another real dud: "The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo" with Claude Akins and Mills Watson.

On the DVD for the WILLARD remake, there is a beautiful music video of Crispin Glover singing the "Ben" song by Michael Jackson.

I can remember being very impressed with the original 'Stepford Wives' when I first saw it on TV. I knew absolutely nothing about it beforehand, which always makes the various plot twists even that more surprising. (the other film I saw in the same way, with a similar impact, was 'Deliverance')

I'm looking forward to the new 'Stepford Wives' - the trailer I saw looked very good. One might argue that the Stepford Wives is even more relevant today - the 70's didn't have as many breast augmentations, cosmetic surgery, and total makeovers as there are today.

I also enjoyed the movie 'Westworld', which has a very similar premise to 'The Stepford Wives' - that people will pay money to live in a perfect, but falsely created artificial environment, rather than live with the warts and blemishes that the real natural world provides.

I just realized that the last paragraph could describe us tiki-folk's efforts to replicate a tropical paradise within our own homes. Could it be that 'I have met the enemy, and he is I,' and that I will soon have a robotic wahine hanging out in my tiki bar room?

Vern

*On 2004-05-09 00:38, Sam Gambino wrote:*Here's another real dud: "The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo" with Claude Akins and Mills Watson.

Speaking of Claude Akins, who remembers "Movin' On?". Another trucker TV show was "BJ and the Bear".

I love the seventies movies about technology run amok, like Westworld. I would also add Colossus: The Forbin Project and Demon Seed to that list. Mmmm...paranoia

Speaking of Claude Akins, who remembers "Movin' On?". Another trucker TV show was "BJ and the Bear".

I remember "Movin' On". My brother had the model kit of the truck.

http://www.samgambino.com

[ Edited by: Sam Gambino on 2004-05-11 11:00 ]