Im about to watch STEEL MAGNOLIAS (1989) for the first time

This movie is terrible. I can’t believe people watch this. So cringe.

I think I watched this once but can't even remember what it's about. I must not have liked it.

Well, you know what they say: if you don't have anything nice to say about Steel Magnolias, OP, come sit by me!

r2 the primary plot is really the background story... while the background stories are enough to give you diabetes.

The Shelby character is one dumb, selfish bitch: 'I'd rather have thirty minutes of wonderful than a lifetime of nothing special.'

OMG, Shelby’s haircut.

There are no words.

Now I know why my late-30 something teachers had that cut in the late 80/early 90s. The only woman cute enough to pull it off is a young Julia Roberts, and she basically looks like shit.

I loved it and watch it every 5 or more years.

I have zero hate for this film.

I saw it first with a date who had written some music for the film. GAWD, he was gorgeous! But he was 6”7, and I just couldn’t fuck a giant, so there’s that?

No OP I'm not because I saw it back when it was first release and didn't like it then (apart from Sally Field who was wonderful in it).

[quote]OMG, Shelby’s haircut.

It's a terrible wig, too. Bad cut, bad wig, bad shape for her face, just awful.

OP, perhaps you meant “envious,” rather than “jealous.”

R12 is new here. REAL new.

“ So cringe.”

As is your grasp of English, R1

Julia needed Sally's turban.

Jealous? Not really ... it ain't all that. The funeral scene is very dramatic and comedic, and the most impressive part of the film. The rest is snores-ville

No I’m not jealous.

I am embarrassed for you for two reasons.

1. You are only now watching Steel Magnolias.

2. You use the tired phrase “Jealous bitches?”

When were you released, OP?

I am positively GREEN, OP!

From now on, OP, whenever you meet a Mark, Rick or Steve, you'll wonder whether they have track lighting in their homes.

No OP. Because I went down to the fire sale at the Baptist bookstore in Shreveport last month. They had mismatched manger scenes at incredibly low prices, I cleaned them out of baby Jesuses.

When I was about 23, I left work early to see one of the first showings of Steel Magnolias.

Watched the cast on Oprah the day before.

And I loved it.

I should add that to the "whats the foggiest thing about you?" thread.

You know, OP

If you use your Suzanne Somers thigh master while you watch...

you can regain some of your bussy's original tightness

Spoiler alert….she dies.

Jackson was a shit husband. He would have ended up cheating.

This movie's wedding reception scene is funny in that you can obviously see who the local extras are because they have really bad clothes and hair.

Like two pigs fighting under a blanket.

[quote] I should add that to the "whats the foggiest thing about you?" thread.

Sounds like a great thread.

r28 you caught my mistake just when I did!

r23

It reminds me of movies like On Golden Pond or Terms of Endearment where every scene seemed set up to be an *Oscar Scene*. It’s hard to describe, but many films from that era seem that way to me. It ended up making them feel cheesy… or hammy.

Now, go one and berate me for my lack of cinematographic couth.

^ Wait, R30...

Does that mean you didn't think the "Shelby, drink your juice" scene was Oscar-worthy?

or the "Shelby dies" scene

or the "M'Lynn freaks out after Shelby's funeral" scene

or the...

Yeah, I hear you...

Yeah, I felt the film never achieved the heights that

Cindy Williams rose to in her portrayal of M'Lynn in the CBS TV movie pilot of the same name...

Not to mention Sally Kirkland and Polly Bergen, who were just incredible as Truvy and Ouizer!

My "Steel Magnolia" references are always to the TV movie pilot rather than that dreadful movie...

I hate everything about this rip-off of Terms of Endearment. The names of the characters are so stupid...saving grace......, Julia Roberts dies

M'Lynn! Did YOU see THIS??

I thought it was so unnecessary when the son breaks wind right next to Our Sally.

Wasn't it? I never understood the point of that. And until recently I never realized it was the dorky kid from Charles in Charge.

Clairee is my spirit animal.

R18. One of my favorite putdowns has always been "Shelby, drink your juice'. Appropriate when a friend is acting weird... etc.. But, several years ago I became friends with Bobby Harling who wrote the play and the movie. It's about his family and especially his sister. On several occasions, I have had to pinch myself when hanging out with him as he considered the comment rather unkind..

^Bobby sounds like he had track lighting.

The lock room scene is enough for the movie to always get three stars……all that 1980s male ass and thighs……….

I Use "Im not a bitch. Ive just been in a bad mood for 40 years" line all the time.

Yes,I know its originally "Im not crazy" but I like mine better.

R41 it's a DL requirement.

R1 what’s “so cringe” is that you think that “cringe” is an adjective.

It’s a verb.

R30 my friends call those scenes the “Kitchen Come Apart” - in other words, scenes written especially for awards season, where the actress is preparing a meal then sinks to the floor in a crying jag.

Meryl did it in “The Hours”. Sally Field regularly did it in “Brothers & Sisters”.

Did you watch and ever like the late 1970s TV miniseries take on "Sybil," OP? If yes, there'll be many moments and scenes where you'll feel very at home and nostalgic.

Nobody except Sally Field wanted Julia Roberts for the part of Shelby -

Meg Ryan was the original choice, but she dropped out to do "Harry Met Sally"

It is only when Sally Field went to bat for Julia, that the director gave in - as time was short and they couldn't find anyone else.

Where's the Herbert Ross Troll when you need him?

R44 Once upon a time, people younger than you started to use the word “cringe” as an adjective…shortened from “cringeworthy”. But alas, like Gretchen Wieners trying to shorten “fetching” to “fetch”, it never really happened.

[quote]One of my favorite putdowns has always been "Shelby, drink your juice'.

I often open with "Now, you know I'd rather walk on my lips than critcize anybody..."

I'll often compliment with "You were brought up right."

[Quote] Meryl did it in “The Hours”. Sally Field regularly did it in “Brothers & Sisters”.

And now you just reminded me of that rumour about Dave and Sally.

Not jealous, saw the play with Barbara Rush and Carole Cook. Far superior to the movie

During filming Herbert Ross was really hard on the actresses making for a hostile environment. One day he chastised Dolly for not being able to act, She told him in front of the cast(not verbatim) I am not an actress, you hired me because I am a personality associated with the south. You are the Director, it is your job to make me look like I am acting, and that was that.

Wait, did someone really mention a Steel Mags TV pilot??? Whaaaa?! Why? When? With whom?

R5 Agreed, she had a hot husband and they were both successful but she'd rather die to have a kid another woman would raise? Stupid stupid stupid.

Daryl Hannah's last decent film!

Well, since no one else is going to link to my fabulous performance as Truvy, I will.

WHO had the most realistic southern accent? Not Dukakis (cringe).

All I can remember about that insipid movie was Dylan McDermott. He was just at the first of his several peaks. I know from experience that no one likes to fuck more than a small town southern lawyer.

What I love about this movie is subtle way M’lynn hates Jackson. I had to watch it 3 times before I got all her asides and snide comments.

R59 of all the actors, Olympia Dukakis is the one who delivered her lines in inverted commas.

She didn’t have the rhythms of Southern sass.

And it's also layered in there that part of that hate R61 is social working M'Lynn sees Shelby's choice of Jackson as being a generational repeat of the relationship pattern she modeled for her daughter with herself and Drum. She worries that her daughter will end up middle aged and dissatisfied in her marriage, as she has.

As M'Lynn chose a man like Drum, Shelby chose Jackson.

Dolly and Julia were the only true Southern born actresses but even Julia sounded fake.

Dolly did not sound Southern so much as Appalachian but at least she sounded real.

I missed that R63. I never thought she seemed unhappy just the usual married for ever to the same guy attitude many have. Maybe the play had more revelations.

[quote]Maybe the play had more revelations.

The Cindy William TV movie had more revelations than a Bible...

My God, what Sally Kirkland and Polly Bergen did with those characters...

I went to an awful plantation house near New Orleans that Sally Field had visited..

And Sally wrote in the guest book that the house was painted in Shelby's favorite colors "Blush" and "Bashful"

So we have Sally Field to blame for the "Julia Roberts atrocity"?

[quote] So we have Sally Field to blame for the "Julia Roberts atrocity"?

Julia was already attached to the film "Pretty Woman" before she filmed Steel Magnolias.

Pretty Woman was being rewritten (at that point it was a drama!) while she filmed Steel Magnolis, and did both films back to back

In this appearance on Donahue, they talk about the "accent" as Olympia says she has a "Plantation" Southern Accent

Go 5 minutes & 20 seconds into video for the "accent" discussion

^ How did that cunt Shirley MacLaine get my seat in the middle of the front row?

[quote] Where is Miss Hannah?

Dolly wanted to make it clear Daryl was not snubbing anyone, that Daryl is extremely shy and terrified of an audience,

^ Besides someone had to stay at the beauty shop and organize the curlers...

Why did Julia Roberts get Shirley MacLaine's Oscar nomination?

I'm surprised Dolly is billed ahead of Shirley. How did they decide the billing?

Parton comes across as the most humble of the lot on Donahue.

If you ever saw a good theatre production of this from back in the day - when it was first being produced - you know how badly the performances in this movie SUCK.

This movie is da suck job. MacLaine and Dukakis are TERRIBLE.

Southern "excentricity" annoys me. Every character in that movie would have voted for Trump.

I don't know, I bought them as southern belles. But then again, I'm easily impressionable.

Maclaine has always had a huge ego. I actually think Parton and Hannah were the most winning and touching in their roles. Fields is pretty much herself , but a great actress.

The movie comes off too stagey.....it belongs in a theater, not a film.

I saw the revival with Christine Ebersole, Marsha Mason, Delta Burke and Frances Sternhagen. I forgot who played the younger parts. Sternhagen as Clairee was an absolute scene-stealer, and got a good dig Inn at Burke who went up on one of her lines. Delta's presence was ironic for me as the Designing Women we're going to see the movie when Charlene went into labor, my favorite episode. It made me wonder how Alice Ghostley would have been as Clairee or even Ouiser since she once played the grouchy Miss Hannigan. I don't even want to imagine Carol Burnett in that role. She would have made it exactly like Eunice. I'd always liked Frances Sternhagen, and I became a huge fan of hers after seeing that revival.

I don’t think anyone, including me, would consider this a work of art, but I’ll be damned if I haven’t seen it at least 30 times. I’m from the South and I recognize all these women (accents aside) and M’Lynn reminds me so much of my late mother. She and I went to see it, and then watched it again when it came out on vhs. And yes, I cried with her watching it. It’s so NOT my kind of movie—I like dark and edgy movies, usually—but I can’t help it, I love watching it. MARY! me all you want. I deserve it! And yes, for me as well, this is probably the faggiest (or “foggiest”) thing about me!

People complain about Dukakis's accent, but when I saw had, she got the most laughs. I would have loved more of Ann Wedgeworth in it too. Let's not forget bit roles played by. Bibi Besch and Nancy Parsons!

r86 sweet story! especially about your mother.

There's been a lot of debate over that stupid "Drink the juice!" scene. There are those (diabetics, a lot of them) who say that Shelby's reaction (getting hysterical and incoherent) is ridiculous; a diabetic with too much insulin would get lethargic and unresponsive, not nuts. Others (they also claim to be diabetics) say the scene is indeed true to life and accurate. I tend to think that Shelby's reaction was just made as dramatic as possible in order to create a memorable scene. I think it's probably true that diabetics don't behave like that, that it was just another exaggerated movie device.

I for one couldn't stand Shelby, who was supposed to be this delightful, charming, loveable character. But she's annoying as hell. She talks in cliches: "He really wants a son so bad he can taste it." 'That drives you up the wall, you're ready to spit nails because you can't call the shots." And that famous line "I'd rather have three minutes of wonderful than a lifetime of nothing special." Gag! Women swooned over that inanity.

R85, Rebecca Gayheart apparently played Shelby (weird stunt casting, she was neither famous enough or talented enough to make sense) and Lily Rabe played Annelle (that’s more like it). Did either make an impression?

r85 and r90 I saw that version as well, and barely remember any of it!

I recall Delta Burke, but only because I love her.

[Quote] and Lily Rabe played Annelle (that’s more like it).

I bet she killed it.

Turn down your track lighting before you watch it OP.

Frances Sternhagen has a smile that lights up the room.

Lily Rabe and Frances Sternhagen were excellent. The others weren't. The Truvy character has to drive the pace of the play and Delta was was not up to the job.

The Playbill cover photo is of a real woman from the town.

Sally Field and Julia Roberts were hilariously miscast as mother and daughter. They don't look like they could be even be third cousins.

Liquid brown eyes is all have in common. They seemed more like cousins.

I love Frances Sternhagen too. I recently rewatched The Closer in which she played Kyra Sedgewick’s Southern Belle mother.

I can't see Delta delivering the likability that Truuvy has. I imagine Delta playing Truuvy as a less vicious Ouiser.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pa3TmqOorZ6csm%2BvzqZmraCimq6le5Jpa2xraGl%2BbrWEfmlecGBahnq5jJqZqK2kYsGwedaaq5ygXajBprHLZqSan56kuaqt0mZocnBpYrOwvoytn55llp6%2FtMCMraCmnQ%3D%3D