Steel Magnolias

Steel Magnolias
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Herbert Ross
Produced by	Ray Stark Andrew Stone Victoria White
Screenplay by	Robert Harling
Based on	Steel Magnolias by Robert Harling
Starring	Sally Field Dolly Parton Shirley MacLaine Daryl Hannah Olympia Dukakis Julia Roberts Tom Skerritt Dylan McDermott Kevin J. O'Connor Sam Shepard
Music by	Georges Delerue
Cinematography	John A. Alonzo
Edited by	Paul Hirsch
Production company	Rastar
Distributed by	TriStar Pictures
Release date	November 15, 1989 (1989-11-15)
Running time	117 minutes[1]
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$95.9 million[2]

Steel Magnolias is a 1989 American comedy-drama film directed by Herbert Ross. It is a film adaptation of Robert Harling's 1987 play of the same name. The play and film are 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 story is based on Robert Harling's real life experience of the death of his sister, Susan Harling Robinson, in 1985 due to complications from Type 1 diabetes. He changed his sister's name in the story from Susan to Shelby Eatenton-Latcherie.

The title suggests the main female characters can be both as delicate as the magnolia flower, and as tough as steel.^[3]

Plot

Annelle Dupuy, a reserved beauty school graduate, is hired by Truvy Jones to work in her home-based beauty salon in northwestern Louisiana. At the same time, in another part of the neighborhood, M'Lynn Eatenton, and her daughter, Shelby, are preparing for Shelby's wedding, which is taking place later that day. They arrive, along with Clairee Belcher, the cheerful widow of the former mayor, to have their hair done. Suddenly, Shelby, who has type 1 diabetes, falls into a hypoglycemic state, but recovers quickly with the help of her mother's quick thinking. Later that afternoon, short-tempered, grouchy, and sarcastic Louisa "Ouiser" Boudreaux arrives in the salon and questions Annelle about where she has moved from, forcing Annelle to reveal that her husband has recently left her while fleeing the police, taking all their money and their car. Moved by Annelle's emotional confession, Shelby invites her to the wedding, where Annelle meets Sammy DeSoto, who is tending bar.

Several months pass and Shelby returns to town to celebrate Christmas. During the festivities, she announces that she and her husband, Jackson Latcherie, are expecting their first child. M'Lynn is devastated by the news, as the doctors had warned that Shelby’s extreme diabetes situation means that pregnancy could be a death sentence, but Shelby, unable to adopt, was unwilling to go on without having children, calling that a “life of nothing special.” Shelby's father Drum, and her brothers Jonathan and Tommy, are thrilled. Truvy, Annelle, and Clairee had originally thought that Shelby couldn't have children, but on the night of the big announcement, M'Lynn clarifies for them the doctors’ warnings. Unable to give her any words of wisdom, Truvy suggests they focus on the joy of the situation: Jackson and Shelby's first child, as well as Drum and M'Lynn's first grandchild. M'Lynn agrees, saying that nothing pleases Shelby more than proving her wrong.

Shelby successfully delivers a baby boy, Jackson Jr., but shows signs of kidney failure and starts dialysis. She celebrates July Fourth, around the time Jackson Jr. turns one, by successfully receiving a donated kidney from M'Lynn, allowing Shelby to seemingly resume a normal life. Four months later, on Halloween, Ouiser, Clairee, Truvy, and M'Lynn throw Annelle a surprise wedding shower, as she is now engaged to Sammy. Shelby is unavailable to attend due to a conflicting schedule with her nursing job, and is later found by Jackson unconscious on the porch of her house. Shelby is rushed to the hospital, where it is determined that Shelby has contracted an infection in her central nervous system due to the suppressive therapy given to keep her body from rejecting the kidney, but compromises the immune system. The doctors inform the family that Shelby is likely to remain comatose indefinitely, and they jointly decide to take her off life support. At the funeral, after the other mourners have left, M'Lynn breaks down in hysterics in front of Ouiser, Clairee, Truvy, and Annelle, but is comforted by them.

Later, at the wake, M'Lynn begins to accept her daughter's decision to end her life in return for a few years of motherhood. Annelle, now married and pregnant, asks M'Lynn if she could name her own baby after Shelby, since Shelby was the reason Annelle and Sammy met. M'Lynn gives her blessing and assures Annelle that Shelby would have loved it. Months later, on Easter morning, Annelle goes into labor during an Easter egg hunt, is rushed to the hospital by Truvy and her husband Spud, and another life begins.

Cast

Background

The original play dramatized experiences of the family and friends of the play's author 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.^[4][5]

Production

Released by TriStar Pictures in the United States on November 15, 1989 and 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 playing the preacher and Truvy has one son instead of two). Natchitoches, Louisiana served as both the 1989 film location and scenario location^[6] with historian Robert DeBlieux, a former Natchitoches mayor, as the local advisor.^[7]

Reception

It received generally positive reviews from critics and has a score of 69% on Rotten Tomatoes.^[8] An example of a less enthusiastic critic was Hal Hinson of The Washington Post, who said that it felt, "more Hollywood than the South."^[9] 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."^[10][11]

The movie received a limited release on November 15, 1989: 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, gross $83,759,091 domestically with a further $12,145,000 with foreign markets giving a worldwide gross of $95,904,091.^[12]

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.^[13][14] 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.

Awards and nominations

Failed TV sequel pilot

CBS broadcast on August 17, 1990, a half-hour television pilot sitcom sans Shelby's character as the story line was post death. 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.

Remake

Lifetime Television Network announced (October 10, 2011) a planned remake under the direction of Kenny Leon, director of the ABC movie A Raisin in the Sun (2008), set in Louisiana^[15] featuring lead role black actors: Queen Latifah (M'Lynn), Jill Scott (Truvy), Alfre Woodard (Ouiser), Phylicia Rashād (Clairee), Adepero Oduye (Annelle) and Condola Rashād (Shelby).^[16][17] The New York Times had mixed reactions: applauded it on some points and on others as either schmaltz or less attentive than the 1989 film.^[18]

See also

• List of films featuring diabetes
• Lists of films

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Steel Magnolias

• Steel Magnolias on IMDb
• Steel Magnolias at Rotten Tomatoes
• Steel Magnolias at the TCM Movie Database
• Diabetes in the Movies
• Steel Magnolias at Box Office Mojo