The Stepmother

I profoundly enjoyed this film. There are some glaring errors in cinematography and blocking and editing, and there is often a feeling of ineptness. The plot itself is pure melodrama and violence.

The strength of the performances is what intrigues me. When you have a one shot of an actor delivering several lines, it's almost always done with gusto. These actors are throwing themselves into these pitiful roles. They are doing solid hard work here.

just know that all of the criticisms are correct. The film really seems as if it was made with no professional input. But the actors are phenomenal.

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.

Awesome. I did a double take when I first saw him in this quirky little independent ditty from the early 70s. Just out of curiosity I looked at when he started work on MASH, and it was the same year. That explains his appearance, as I don't believe he would do this after international stardom, but I don't know if all the research in the world wide web could fully explain the movie.

It's really a movie in two parts: the first half(ish) is story of a husband with a temper and jealous streak and throughout the second half the title of the movie is explored a little more and fleshed out (pun intended). Typical incoherent, excuse for a young filmmaker to get his name out by throwing in gratuitous walking-out-of-bed or to-and-from- the-bathroom-shot drive-in cinema with a director that never graduated from the genre in his short (directorial) career. There are moments of interesting story or character development, and the title song was amazingly nominated for an Oscar, but overall this is only worth watching for someone with an interest in films from the 1970s.

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

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.