Steel Magnolias

Steel Magnolias is a 1989 American comedy-drama film directed by Herbert Ross and starring Academy Award winners Sally Field, Shirley MacLaine, and Olympia Dukakis with Dolly Parton, Daryl Hannah, and Julia Roberts. The film is a film adaptation of Robert Harling's 1987 play of the same name about the bond a group of women share in a small-town Southern community, and how they cope with the death of one of their own. The supporting cast features Tom Skerritt, Dylan McDermott, Sam Shepard and Kevin J. O'Connor.
Robert Harling based the story in part on his sister, Susan Harling Robinson. She died in 1985 of complications from Type 1 diabetes. In the film, Julia Roberts plays Shelby, the character based on Susan.
Plot
Annelle Dupuy (Daryl Hannah), a shy beauty school graduate, moves to Chinquapin Parish in northwestern Louisiana, where Truvy Jones (Dolly Parton) hires her to work in her home-based beauty salon.
Meanwhile, M'Lynn Eatenton (Sally Field) and her daughter, Shelby (Julia Roberts), busily prepare for Shelby's wedding that is being held later that day. M'Lynn's husband Drum Eatenton (Tom Skerritt) first uses a gun to get rid of the birds in the trees so they don't ruin Shelby's reception. M'Lynn hides the gun when Drum goes to the restroom, so he ends up using a few arrows and a bow with firecrackers attached to them to get rid of the birds. Along with Clairee Belcher (Olympia Dukakis)—the former mayor's cheerful widow—they arrive at Truvy's to have their hair done. While there, Shelby, who has Type 1 diabetes, suffers a hypoglycemic attack, but recovers quickly with the women's help. M'Lynn reveals that due to Shelby's medical condition, her doctor advises against her having children. Shelby considered ending her engagement to her fiancé, Jackson (Dylan McDermott), so he would not be deprived of children.
Grouchy and sarcastic Louisa "Ouiser" Boudreaux (Shirley MacLaine) arrives at the salon and immediately begins interrogating Annelle about her background. Annelle tearfully reveals that her no-good husband, Bunkie, is evading the police and has taken all their money, her clothes and jewelry, and the car. Annelle further admits she is unsure her marriage is legal. Shelby, sympathetic, invites Annelle to the wedding reception where she meets bartender Sammy DeSoto (Kevin J. O'Connor). At the Christmas festival later that year, Annelle, following a short-lived wild streak, becomes deeply religious, annoying everyone, including Sammy. And Shelby finds out that Clairee bought the radio station KPPD.
During the Christmas holidays, Shelby announces she is pregnant. Everyone is thrilled except M’Lynn, who knows the risks. Truvy encourages M'Lynn to instead focus on the joy a new baby brings.
Shelby has a baby boy and names him Jackson Latcherie Jr., but soon develops kidney failure requiring regular dialysis. Around Jackson Jr.'s first birthday, Shelby undergoes a successful transplant with M'Lynn's donated kidney. Shelby recovers, but four months later, Jackson arrives home to find her unconscious. Shelby is comatose, having contracted an infection in her central nervous system due to the suppressive therapy that keeps her body from rejecting the kidney. After doctors determine Shelby's condition is irreversible, the family jointly decide to remove her from life support and Jackson is seen signing the papers removing Shelby from life support. Shortly after Shelby's death, M'Lynn leaves the hospital and goes to Jackson's aunt Fern's house to pick up her grandson.
After the funeral, Jackson is seen walking to the family car with his parents beside him and Shelby's brothers Tommy (Knowl Johnson) and Johnathan (Johnathan Ward) are seen walking to their car. Shortly after that, M'Lynn starts breaking down, but the other women comfort her. M'Lynn gradually accepts her daughter's decision to have risked her life in return for a few special years of motherhood and decides to focus her energy on helping Jackson with raising her grandson. Annelle who married Sammy and is now pregnant, tells M'Lynn she wants to name her own baby after Shelby, even if the baby turns out to be a boy as she was the reason Annelle and Sammy met. M'Lynn approves, stating, "Life goes on."
At the town's Easter egg hunt, Annelle goes into labor and is rushed to the hospital by Truvy and her husband Spud (Sam Shepard) in their truck followed by Sammy in an Easter Bunny costume and Truvy and Spud's son Louie on Louie's motorcycle and another life begins.
Cast
Background
The original play dramatized experiences of the family and friends of the playwright's following the 1985 death of his sister from diabetic complications after the birth of his namesake nephew and the failure of a family member's donated kidney. A writer friend continuously encouraged him to write it down in order to come to terms with the experience. He did but originally as a short story for his nephew then later to get an understanding of the deceased mother. It evolved in ten days into the play.
Production
Released by TriStar Pictures in the United States on November 15, 1989, it grossed more than $83.7 million at the box office. Harling's first produced screenplay, he adapted the original film script which was then heavily rewritten beyond the on-stage one-set scenario (which had taken place entirely in Truvy's beauty salon) of the stage production: the scenes increased and the sequence was more tightly linked with major holidays than the play; the increased characters beyond the original, all-female play cast caused dialogue changes between on-screen characters (among them, Harling plays the preacher and Truvy has one son instead of two). Natchitoches, Louisiana served as both the 1989 film location and scenario location with historian Robert DeBlieux, a former Natchitoches mayor, as the local advisor. The house where much of the film was shot is now a six-suite B&B, available for rent. The church used for a wedding scene is St Augustine Catholic Church in Natchez.
Reception
An example of a less enthusiastic critic was Hal Hinson of The Washington Post, who said that it felt "more Hollywood than the South." More enthusiastic was Roger Ebert, who said that the film was "willing to sacrifice its over-all impact for individual moments of humor, and while that leaves us without much to take home, you've got to hand it to them: The moments work". The film received a score of 56 based 13 critics on Metacritic with "mixed or average reviews".
The movie received a limited release on November 15, 1989: it entered the U.S. box office at No. 4 with an opening weekend gross of $5,425,440; by the time of wider release two days later it grossed $15,643,935; stayed in the top 10 for 16 weeks, grossed $83,759,091 domestically with a further $12,145,000 with foreign markets, giving a worldwide gross of $95,904,091.
Home media
The film was released on VHS on June 19, 1990, and on DVD July 25, 2000, allowing the film to gross a further $40 million. The movie's overall gross was $135,904,091. The film was released on Blu-ray through the boutique label Twilight Time, on September 11, 2012–it has since gone out of print. A 30th anniversary Blu-ray was released on May 28, 2019.
Other versions
Lifetime version
Lifetime Television Network presented a remake directed by Kenny Leon, who had directed an ABC remake of A Raisin in the Sun (2008), set in Louisiana with black actors in the lead roles: Queen Latifah (M'Lynn), Jill Scott (Truvy), Alfre Woodard (Ouiser), Phylicia Rashād (Clairee), Adepero Oduye (Annelle) and Condola Rashād (Shelby). A review in The New York Times was mixed.
Pilot for TV show
CBS broadcast on August 17, 1990, a half-hour television pilot sitcom. The pilot, set after the events of the movie, featured the same characters, except for Shelby.
The cast included Cindy Williams as M'Lynn, Sally Kirkland as Truvy, Elaine Stritch as Ouiser, Polly Bergen as Clairee and Sheila McCarthy as Annelle. The show was not picked up to series.
Awards and nominations
See also
List of films featuring diabetes
References
External links
Diabetes in the Movies
1980s American films
1980s buddy comedy-drama films
1980s English-language films
1980s female buddy films
1989 films
1989 comedy-drama films
American buddy comedy-drama films
American female buddy films
American films based on plays
Films about funerals
Films about hairdressers
Films about mother–daughter relationships
Films about weddings in the United States
Films directed by Herbert Ross
Films featuring a Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe-winning performance
Films produced by Ray Stark
Films scored by Georges Delerue
Films set in Louisiana
Films shot in Louisiana
Natchitoches, Louisiana
TriStar Pictures films