Steel Magnolias is about family, friends, and community, the ways in which we hold each other up through tough times and laugh together through the nice ones. It is about accepting people as they are, flaws and all. It is also about dealing with loss and that laughing together is helpful in getting past the sorrow and remembering the good.
Each one of the six women who star in this film are wonderful in their roles. But the lady we are focusing on is the one with the brightest smile in the whole cast, Dolly Parton.
Dolly Rebecca Parton was born in Tennessee in 1946. Known for her music, she was also a talented comedic actress with her first role in 9 to 5 in 1980. (Free on Philo.) Where her humor, charm and sass showed bright, she also sang the theme song which spoke to people who struggled to make a living. Her next film was also about women working for a living, The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas (free on OKRU). It utilized her singing skills as it was a musical based on a play of the same name. That movie featured “I Will Always Love You,” written by Dolly in 1973 and released in ‘74.
That was followed by one her least successful films, starring with Sylvester Stallone in Rhinestone. (Free with ads on The Roku Channel.) Even though the movie was a flop, Dolly was happy with it as it came on the heels of her recovery from surgery and depression. “It was the first movie I did after my sickness, and it lifted me up, started my creative juices flowing again.”
She did TV specials as well and had her own variety show in 1987, but her next big movie, which earned the 1990 People’s Choice Award, was the one we are watching tonight.
In Steel Magnolias Dolly plays Truvy Jones, who owns the best hair salon in Chinquapin Parish, Louisiana. It is the home base for a group of friends. Women who experience marriages, births, love, and death.
Spoiler alert.
This film does have a break out the tissues moment: At the funeral for Shelby (Julia Roberts), Sally Fields gives an amazing performance as her mother, M’Lynn, who is angry and devastated to bury her daughter. And when Clairee (Olympia Dukakis) breaks everyone up with a poke at Ouizer (Shirley MacLaine) the laughter is healing, it allows for the grief to not be the only thing you feel for the person you’ve lost. Truvy (Dolly Parton) says of the moment,
Laughter through tears is my favorite emotion.
That is what I hope we can do with the loss of our beloved Dolly.
Remember the joy she gave us that is what she would want.
Steel Magnolias stars Sally Field, Dolly Parton, Julia Roberts, Shirley MacLaine, Olympia Dukakis, Daryl Hannah, Tom Skerritt, Dylan McDermott, and Sam Shepard. Directed by Herbert Ross.
Steel Magnolias is available with subscription on Paramount+; free with ads on Pluto TV; $3.99 in the usual places.
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The short is Dolly and Kermit singing Everyday People from her 1987 variety show titled Dolly.
Look at this fantastic gift I just got. (Not the cat.)
Next week’s Movie Night selection is Clue in honor of Tim Curry. We did watch Clue before, but it goes all the way back June of 2022, it was our tenth movie. It was also the first poster that included Axl, Movie Night mascot. It is available for free with ads on YouTube; with subscription on MGM+, Paramount+, and Hulu; $4.99 in the usual places. (Trailer starts with flashing lights.)
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I believe we will have new people joining us tonight, hi there!
BONUS TRIVIA:
In the director is a huge dick trivia:
After a poor take, director Herbert Ross reprimanded Dolly Parton and asked her if she could act. She replied "No, but it's your job to make me look like I can!"
Sally Field and Shirley MacLaine said in an interview that director Herbert Ross was very difficult to work with, telling the lead actresses they couldn't act, and singling out Julia Roberts in particular, to the point that she would be left in tears.
Herbert Ross had lost his first wife Nora Kaye in 1987, only two years before the film's release. His harsh treatment of the actors led Shirley MacLaine to tell him that he'd been behaving badly since Nora's death, and it wasn't respectful to her or to them.
I am off to bed, I will see you tomorrow at 11 am ET for my third Nice Times post!
You made it through another week of hell, reward yourself with something nice.
We have original art from a Wonker; cats in hand knitted caps for pain relief; the Muppets talk weather, 2 brilliant women who reinvent the toilet, dad jokes from a survivor, Icelandic horses who can answer your emails, nice times from Wonkers and an ugly, nasty commie bitch.
What more could you want?