The Stepmother

Upon returning home from a business trip "Frank Delgado" (Alejandro Rey) finds another car in his driveway and happens to see his wife, "Margo Delgado" (Catherine Justice) in their bedroom with another man. As the man comes out into the front yard Frank kills him in a fit of rage. Immediately afterward he comes to his senses and decides to quickly bury him in a field on the outskirts of town. Unfortunately, as luck would have it the body is soon discovered anyway and Frank is considered as a possible suspect. In the meantime though, Frank cannot manage to forgive his wife because of her supposed infidelity and so refrains from making love to her from then on. What he doesn't know is that the man he killed had forced himself on her and since Margo is unaware that Frank knows anything about this incident it has left her feeling confused and sexually frustrated. Now, rather than reveal any more of the film I will just say that this was an adequate movie for the most part. The acting was okay but the story seemed to lag here and there. Likewise, I also thought the ending was a bit too abrupt. All things considered then, I rate the movie as slightly below average.

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

Arriving home from a business trip, Frank Delgado (Alejandro Rey) finds that his wife Margo (Katherine Justice) has been entertaining his client Alan. In a jealous rage, Frank accosts Alan as he leaves his house, strangling him to death. After disposing of the body, Frank returns home, but the police are soon on his trail.

Believe it or not, drive-in flick The Stepmother was nominated for an Oscar in the best song category; it didn't win, but it's an interesting fact for avid fans of low budget '70s trash, the only people for whom this film will hold any kind of appeal.

A tawdry drama/thriller, The Stepmother is far from great cinema, suffering from a meandering storyline that takes an age to go anywhere, but it does deliver a few fun elements along the way, including those staples of the exploitation genre, violence and nudity (including the obligatory shower scene).

The film also features a spot of jazz flute (always a bonus in my book), bizarre use of random slo-mo and freeze frame, a crazy film director called Goof who uses beatnik speak (It's a gas! You dig?), a seduction scene between Margo and Frank's virginal son Steve (Rudy Herrera Jr.), and a couple of moments that I found unintentionally funny (the death of Frank's friend and the 'He's got a gun!' ending).

Worth seeing if only for the beautiful Ms. Justice. 4/10

Ban, a sacred prohibition by which certain people or objects are considered untouchable, certain actions unperformable, certain words unspeakable. The sinful relationship between the stepmother and her stepson is the film's breaking point, revealing the dark side of desire and sexual repression. The marriage founders because of this betrayal and the lies used to hide it. The violence stems from domestic evil, not from external enemies, but from within the home. The protagonist is violent and kills in the grip of jealousy, unleashing a spiral of guilt, cover-ups, and lies. He doesn't even seek redemption, driven only by insane jealousy. The female figure is not only a seductress, but also an element of fragility, using sensuality as a mask for her existential unease.

Real estate developer Frank Delgado (Alejandro Rey), returning home from a business trip, finds a friend at home who confesses to having sex with his wife, Margo (Katherine Justice). Enraged by jealousy, Frank kills him. From that night onward, his partner Dick Hill (Larry Linville) begins to suspect something is afoot, but in an accident, he falls from a building during an argument with Frank and dies. Dick's wife, Sonya Hill (Marlene Schmidt), becomes his new partner, raising Inspector Darnezi's (John Anderson) suspicions of an affair between her and Frank.

Director Howard Avedis (4.0) attempts to craft a Hitchcockian thriller, but his success is limited, partly due to the modest means available; the screenplay (5.0) by the director himself alternates between a slow pace and sudden accelerations, with some "disjointed" or redundant sequences and an excessive use of freeze-frame; from a technical standpoint (5.0), Robert Steadman's cinematography stands out, despite its technical limitations, it manages to create a sufficiently realistic atmosphere; Audrey Granville's soundtrack is melodramatic, contrasting too much with the delicate song "Strange Are the Ways of Love" by Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster (nominated); the cast (4.0) is very disappointing, out of character, stiff, and unbelievable, with the only exceptions being the two female leads, Justice and Schmidt.

Best moment: Probably the beginning, where the film presents itself for what it is: poor acting, a morbid plot, technically modest, but with a beautiful song that proves that even in a pigsty, a beautiful flower can grow. Worth watching when you have nothing better to do, or you want to fall asleep listening to a voice that keeps you company.

A hot-headed architect thinks his wife is cheating on him, which leads him to murder. Another, even worse guy gets the blame but the police still have suspicions. Meanwhile, the stress of all this palaver drives his wife to seduce his son.

This drive-in flick was made by exploitation specialists Crown International in the period when they were producing their most consistently interesting work. While this isn't amongst their best as such, it's still effective enough and gets by quite a bit off the back of its early 70's charms. It has to be said that it indeed does take a long while before the title of the movie attains any relevance whatsoever but that's just one of the factors that gives this one its goofy appeal I reckon. So long as you don't go into this one with unrealistic expectations, then I think a pretty good time can be had. Its simple-minded melodrama kept me entertained in any case. On a final note, and what has to be the one thing that will always make this one at least a footnote in cinema history is the quite unbelievable fact that the crooning song with Latin beat that plays over the credits entitled 'Strange Are the Ways of Love' was actually nominated for an Academy Award! There is no way on Earth I ever expected anything from Crown International got anywhere near Oscar territory. The early 70's truly were strange days indeed