BEST MOVIE WITH JULIA ROBERTS & DOLLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is my favorite movie that has Dolly and Julia. I love Julia and Dolly both - but to have them together in one is even better! I also love Sally Field - second best actress. I am speechless. ALl I have to say is this is the most wonderful review ever.
Girl's Club in Louisiana At the moment I can think of no other film featuring four academy award winning actresses, and Darryl Hannah and Dolly Parton hold up well in this ensemble featuring Oscar-winners Julia Roberts, Sally Field, Olympia Dukakis and Shirley Maclaine.
Steel Magnolias is an artifice - a fictional Southern Universe where all the women are strong and funny and compassionate and lovable despite their flaws. It's the kind of fictional universe where the characters are named M'Lynn, Truvy, Ouiser (pronounced "Wheezer"), Annelle, Clairee and Shelby. In my extensive travels in the south I have met one Shelby, and no real people with these other names. I also have not met a Drum, Spud or Jackson. But the writing, which is funny from the opening wedding to the final funeral, is crisp and delivered with relish by the above-mentioned crew.
Now, part of the artifice in the film is that men are little more than accessories to the lives of our starring six women. The script, by Robert Harling from his script, gives us only a spattering of men who are all a good bit dumber, less caring, less compassionate and more boring than the women. Tom Skerrit, Sam Shepard and Dylan McDermot play the husbands of Field, Parton and Roberts respectively, but the screenplay makes them all disposable.
At the center of the story are Sally Field's M'Lynn, who is mother to Julia Roberts' Shelby, who is marrying Jackson. Everyone gets their hair done at Truvy's (played by Dolly), but the chief currency at the beauty parlor is gossip, traded with most enthusiasm by widowed Clairee (played by Dukakis) and with most bark and a little bite by Ouiser (Maclaine). As the film opens Darryl Hannah's Annelle has blown into town not sure if she's married or not (good fodder for the gossipers) and ready to put her fledgeling beauty technician skills to work at Truvy's, just before Shelby's wedding.
The spark in the film comes from the interactions of these female characters who have known each other in this small town all their lives. They know about Shelby's diabetes and about Ouiser's wang-dang and flapdoodle, and interest is generated seeing these characters knowingly dance around one another.
There are no crimes - of the heart or otherwise. No murders. No secret affairs. The Lord's name is taken in vain a few times, but Annelle lets `em know she don't appreciate it.
This world is fictional, but so are Never-Never Land, Middle Earth and most other worlds we visit in film, so as a native southerner I'm able to reconcile things like accents: Dolly is pretty stuck playing women with an East Tennessee twang, and to be honest I found Julia's accent no better than Olympia's. You'd think for two Oscar-winning actresses that the one from Georgia would have a better Louisiana drawl than the one from Massachusetts, but there ya' go.
The Mrs. Tells me I too often am critical of films that stretch my suspension of disbelief. This one stretched me, but only a little, and I liked the movie overall. The Mrs. Loves it.
G.R.Donham Very good product in VHS. However buyers beware of this title in DVD. I purchased 2 from different sellers and the sound was missing on both.
Classic movie to share with your gal pals I always loved this movie, and I was able to share this movie with my teen daughter.... she loved it just as much as I did. The characters and acting are priceless and I really couldnt be happier that I found it!
Women's love and strenght! After many years, I watched this film again a couple of days ago. It continues to be a touching and great women's story. Whenever it came to my mind, I remembered Sally Field's performance as Shelby's mother, M'Lynn, always giving love and support to her daughter even against her will and mother's feelings. All actresses were great, but my favourite charater will be always Sally Field's.
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