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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.

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.

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.

Architect Frank Delgado returns to his home in Mexico. His wealthy client Alan Richmond forces himself on his wife Margo. Frank runs into Alan on his driveway. Suspecting them having an affair, Frank kills Alan and buries his body. He escapes without being seen by a fighting couple. The police investigates Alan's strangulation death but also the young Mexican woman. Dick Hill arrives with company to talk his business partner Frank into going to a beach house which belongs to Alan.

This movie starts off well with a murder. However the tension that is build up by the opening is lost as the movie struggles through a slow boring slough. This is possibly the worst looking movie I've ever seen that is nominated for an Oscar. Alejandro Rey is a pretty awful actor. The movie has a few good actors and Larry Linville could have been an interesting lead. The staging is very static and the bad direction drains away all of the tension.

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

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

In THE STEPMOTHER, Frank (Alejandro Rey) catches his wife Margo (Katherine Justice) having sex with another man, leading to Frank's putting an end to loverboy. After disposing of the body, Frank scowls and frowns a lot while the police investigate.

Meanwhile, a carload of hipsters arrive, led by Dick (Larry Linville!). Frank continues his grimacing amidst the frolicking hepcats.

Uh oh!

Frank sees Margo and Dick together! Luckily, it's all just a misunderstanding. Unluckily, Frank is too jealous and enraged to care. Sorry, Dick! Hmmm, why is Frank taking you to the roof of a tall building?

Eeeeaagh!

THE STEPMOTHER is another drive-in ready movie from Crown International Pictures. It's perfect for its time, complete with senseless violence, ample female nudity, 1970's ambiance, and serious groov-i-tude. In addition, how could anyone not like a movie with a character called "The Goof" in it?

How, indeed...

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.

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.

I wasn't expecting much, but it was better than what I was expecting. Mainly just wanted to see Katherine Justice nude after seeing her on Barnaby Jones, Cannon, and Mannix. She was also in Prescription Murder, the Columbo pilot movie. Having John Anderson in it was a plus. It was more intriguing than what I thought it would've been. Is it a must see? No, but I liked it just fine.