“Laughter through tears is my favourite emotion” – Truvey Jones
There really is no use fighting it, Robert Harling created a brilliant laugh-getting, tear jerking movie that moves the audience completely. Steel Magnolias concerns six women that spend most of their time in a Louisiana beauty parlor, starring the luminous likes of Sally Field, Dolly Parton, Shirley MacLaine, Daryl Hannah, Olympia Dukakis and Julia Roberts. The result of this movie can be best described as brilliantly entertaining.
Sally Fields has the key role of a self-sacrificing mother who would absolutely do anything, even donate a kidney, to save her sick daughter, who is played by Julia Roberts. Even though they are key parts of the movie, the real fun comes with Shirley MacLaine and Olympia Dukakis. MacLaine plays the hilarious town crank and Dukakis as the wealthy widow who goads her to distraction; these two women are priceless. We quickly introduced to Dolly Parton who plays the sassy-weet beauty-shop owner and the deglamourised Daryl Hannah who is the beauty-shop assistant. These women together create an incredible chemistry, you would think that they have been friends for years. In an interview Sally Fields said that it took them 30 seconds to become friends on the set and they have come away from making this movie with friendships that will last a life time.
Steel Magnolias is essentially a series of comic one-liners that have you quoting them for years afterwards. It has to be said that the one-liners are hilariously funny and the tragedy deserves most, but not all of the tears. The movie takes place in Louisiana during the 1980s and involves a tightly knit group of women friends who husbands (being dead, absent or depressed) leave them lots of time to gossip in the beauty parlor. Gossip is what these women do best, and it is Olympia Dukakis that says “If you have something bad to say about somebody come sit down right here beside me!” What these women treasure the most is anyone with a “past”, and when Daryl Hannah makes her appearance at the beauty parlor as the new assistant, they are in their element when she confesses that she “thinks” she is married. The beauty shop is run by Dolly Parton, reminding us that she is the sunniest and most natural of actresses there is. It is into her hands that bride to be Julia Roberts appears, who quickly becomes entwined in the friendship of these women. Dropping in to exchange their insights are Sherly MacLaine and Olympia Dukakis. These two women are the closest of friends, even if MacLaine’s character has an odd way of showing it. The six women are the steel magnolias of the title, Southern Belles who are dippy on the outside but are strong on the inside and can survive any challenge that is thrown at them, and in this film there are many.
Male characters are seen but not heard onstage. We are introduced to the husbands and boyfriends of the women played by Tom Skerritt, Sam Shepard, Dylan McDermott and Kevin J.O’Connor. But the men are not the point of this movie. Steel Magnolias is all about its actresses, who tap into the real lives and fundamental truths about the strength women derive from one another. These women are live wires and create sparks throughout the movie. Shirley MacLaine’s character dislikes men, especially Tom Skerritt’s character, she simply says “Drum is a real gentleman, I bet he takes the dishes out of the sink before he pees in it!” and “Men are the most horrible creatures, honey. They will ruin your life.” This is a woman’s picture, the women cook, sew, go to church and drive around town, they fight and make up, hug each other and cry.
At first we are not aware of the impending tragedy due to the movie sticking so successfully to its comic dialogue. I absolutely love the way these women talk, they are witty, funny and sarcastic all the time. Parton observes most of the time until she says something like “What separates us from animals is the ability to accessorize”. When tragedy strikes and there is a death in their group, they have the strength to grieve and the character to smile through their tears. The big scene in the movie is a heartbreaking monologue by Sally Field, who simply asks God the question that is often uppermost in all of our minds, “WHY?”. The way Fields asks this, and the words that she uses are tremendously effective and we are all moved. But like the rest of the movie the tears are followed by laughter when Dukakis offers Fields to hit MacLaine in order for her to feel better. This scene offers a comic lines that will always be remembered, “Are you high Clairee?!” and “We’ll sell t-shirts sayin’ I SLAPPED OUISER BOUDREAUX! Hit her!” Steel Magnolias is willing to sacrifice its over-all impact for individual moments of humor that people take away with them, you have to hand it to those women. Every moment works!
Writer's Block 