PodBill
Just what I expected
Reptileenbu
Did you people see the same film I saw?
Nessieldwi
Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.
Brian T. Whitlock (GOWBTW)
In the 70's, you would see a lot of skin in drama and thrillers. Then there's the sex factor that goes along with it. In "The Stepmother", there is plenty of that. Alejandro Rey("The Flying Nun") plays Frank, a successful building contractor who catches his client with his wife while he was on a business trip. He kills him, then buries his body at a beach. Unbeknownst to him, there's a fighting couple that comes up later. After getting rid of the evidence, the police comes up and tells that there are two bodies at the beach. Frank knows that he killed his client, but the other body is female. That makes him more uneasy. If that is bad, it gets worse when he accidentally kills his partner in the business. That makes him more unstable. For this one, business and pleasure, don't mix.
It has a great cast. But the ending was a letdown. It's worth the watch in certain ways. Only on a certain occasion.
2 out of 5 stars
Philip Cowan
This is not a professionally made film. The acting, the direction, the story, the script, the lighting — everything is just a mess.There is an underlying condemnation of the use of drugs (which seem to initiate much of the trouble in this odd story) but I suspect you would need to be on something to get much out of this incoherent jumble of sound and images.It is hard to think that The Stepmother was ever released and shown in mainstream cinemas and quite astounding that it got an Oscar nomination; it seems little more than random that the theme song is quite sweet.At least aspiring film-makers can watch it and feel they could do a much better job.
John Seal
At first I thought IMDb's reference to an Academy Award nomination for The Stepmother must be a mistake. But it's true, and the funny thing is that Strange Are the Ways of Love really IS the best thing about the film. Alejandro Rey is dreadful as Mexican architect Frank Delgado, a deeply pious Catholic who kills his friend Alan after he discovers him pawing wife Margo (Katherine Justice). Worse, Frank is paranoid about the intentions of his business partner Dick (Larry Linville) and ends up shoving him off the roof. Whenever the police interview Frank he almost screams guilt, figuratively speaking, but the dumb cops take an awful long time to solve what should really be a very simple case. There's a groovy score that must have already sounded five years out of date in 1972, John D. Garfield as a skin flick producer named Goof, and a couple of full frontal scenes that don't advance the narrative.
lazarillo
I like weird 70's movies a lot, but this is weird even by weird 70's standards. It takes about half the movie, for instance, to even figure out why it's CALLED "The Stepmother"--it, at first, seems to be a movie about a jealous middle-aged, Mexican-American architect who murders a business associate after he finds him in bed with his younger gringa wife (and unbeknownst to the wife). By a weird coincidence another more lower-class Mexican also murders his wife in the same area and is framed for both murders. But the cops begins to suspect the architect, and his continuing jealously causes him to accidentally kill his partner and best friend (played by "MASH's" Larry Linville). He then has to fend off the amorous advances of the friend's widow before the cops grow even more suspicious. Got all that so far? So why is it called "The Stepmother"? Well, about halfway through the man's son shows up from Mexico City, and he also starts messing around with the young wife (his stepmother)and the off-kilter plot REALLY goes into over-drive.There are a few reasons to see this. First, if you're a weird 70's film completist. This film is kind similar to early 70's bizarro flick "Swinger's Massacre", which was equally ridiculous but had a less random plot. Second, if you're a fan of Larry Linville, he's actually pretty good here and acts circles around the rest of the unknown cast. The best reason perhaps though is this was the first appearance of cult drive-in queen Claudia Jennings. Jennings has a cameo role as a stoned-out hippie chick who has one hilarious line where she tell the cops she was "way too ripped" to remember what happened the night of the murder. (And if that isn't worth the price of admission, she also has her typically gratuitous full-frontal nude scene). Weird, weird movie, but if any of this sounds interesting to you, check it out.
