STEEL MAGNOLIAS
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1989 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: Six women go through folly, friendship, and tragedy together. If the basic formula is familiar, at least the writing by Robert Harling--based on his own stage play--is usually crisp and often genuinely funny. Rating: low +2.
STEEL MAGNOLIAS is about as formulaic a "women's film" as any film I can imagine. You have a set of two or more women whom you get to know very well through relatively mundane circumstances. You get a feel for what they do in life's more ordinary moments. The tragedy (usually medical) strikes and having known them already you feel for their tragedy. Suddenly any old antagonisms seem small. But they are stronger for having known each other and the remainder of their numbers will abide and endure. That's BEACHES, that's TERMS OF ENDEARMENT, that's lots of other films, and that's STEEL MAGNOLIAS. All that makes one of these films good or bad is whether the viewer is really brought into the characters during the normal, mundane part and is that part enjoyable. In STEEL MAGNOLIAS the mundane part is quite good. As it so often is, it's not silly or cute or whimsical. It is genuinely funny. And as such it leaves most of the other films of its formula behind.
STEEL MAGNOLIAS is the story of six women from a small town in Louisiana. The women are played by Sally Field, Shirley MacLaine, Dolly Parton, Daryl Hannah, Olympia Dukakis, and Julia Roberts. Much of the story takes place in a beauty parlor--as did all of the play the film was based on. But the film greatly benefits from the opportunity to get out of the beauty parlor and see the world. There are really three pairs of women: a mother and daughter, the beauty parlor owner and her assistant, and two older women who are often at odds with each other.
As is almost the requirement for this sort of film, there is a soft and sentimental film score by George Delerue. Nobody plays these soft and sensitive strings like Delerue. Also reasonably good, but obviously of secondary interest, are the men, played by Tom Skerritt, Sam Shepard, and a few others. Also this film boasts (?) a view of the most revolting cake ever baked.
STEEL MAGNOLIAS obviously has a good cast and is diverting and enjoyable. I rate it a low +2 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
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