Sally Field in the graveyard absolutely destroys me every time. Such incredible acting. And then how it just turns into hilarity is perfect. Friend goals.
The play writer wrote it about his own family, his sister's death. He appeared in cameo in the movie in the funeral scene. He said he wrote it because he saw how strong the women were at handling the whole thing. This is why it's named "steel magnolias." The idea being that the women are pretty like magnolia flowers, but strong as steel. This is mentioned in Maline's rant where she said men are supposed to be the strong ones. Also, the play writer said he noticed as time passed that the son was living a life removed from the memory of his mother, naturally. And he wrote the play to tell the story of the mom's love for her son and sacrifice she made so he could have life.
It's said that "Jackson" got remarried within a short amount of time....like really short. And hearing "Jack Jr" calling her mommy maid them realized "Shelby's" memory could be lost so he wrote the play....The author of the play was her real life brother an actually starred in the film...he was the minister performing the wedding and the funeral.
I saw Dolly Parton in concert back in 2011. She said she ran into two drag queens dressed up like her. "One of 'em looked more like me than I ever will and the other was prettier than any of us women could ever be!" I truly adore that woman. Sally Field and Shirley Maclaine are the two standouts for me. I loved the Ouisa and Clairee friendship and how Drum and Ouisa were really frenemies. One of my favorite movies of all time!
The real woman's husband moved on and married somebody else, I believe it was 6 months later, and when his nephew started calling the new woman mom, he was inspired to write the story so that his nephew would know how much his mother loved him.
Gosh..how can go wrong with outstanding actors Sally Field, Shirley MacLaine, Olympia Dukakis, and Julia Robert’s ALL Oscar much deserved Oscar winners!
My mom passed away this year, at 101, and this was one of her favorites, along with "Fried Green Tomatoes", "The Trip to Bountiful" and "The Summer of 42."
When this came on cable i went over to a friend's house to watch it with her. Her mom just started taking nurses classes. As soon as Shelby started her diabetic attack she said girls pay close attention to this - then when she started calming down she said the acting was perfection. She couldn't have described an attack any better than what they showed. We're older now and our moms are gone. But everytime i watch this i see the incredible nurse that everyone loved at the hospital. Rest in peace moms ♥️
My Uncle who was actually a doctor played the doctor in the movie. His home in Natchitoches, Louisiana was rented to the film crew for lodging while making the movie! Great job reacting to this such a great movie!
As a southerner, I must say Sally should be declared an Honorary Southerner due to all her fantastic characters from the south. Norma Rae, Places in the Heart, Forrest Gump, this...etc.
According to the brother,and playwright, the movie stayed factual, the characters and events all happened. Yes, his father did try to scare the birds with a gun. He was worried that back home someone would figure out they were Ouiser, and get offended, but turned out everyone loved her and claimed she was based on them…..except the real one, she thought it was someone else. The brother, Robert Harling, was the pastor that performed both the wedding and the funeral scenes. The nurses in the film were Susan’s ( Shelby) real nurses. He wrote the play because it devastated him that his brother-in-law re-married only five months after her death, and hearing his nephew ( named Robert after him) calling another woman Mama. He wanted Susan’s son to someday know what she went through to have him. He did say the stepmother was a loving and wonderful woman.
Here's a fun fact. Many of them have ties to Soap Operas. Aunt Fern played by Anne Wedgeworth (RIP) played Lahoma on Another World while Olympia Dukakis was on it's Sister Show Search For Tomorrow as a Doctor. Julia Roberts lost the chance to be on All My Children whose role was given to Melissa Leo. Sally Field worked with Tom Hanks who worked with Peter Scolari who worked with Julia Duffy who was on The Doctors. Meg Ryan as offered the role of Shelby but couldn't do it because she was committed to doing When Harry Met Sally.
I saw someone else mentioned Sally Field in "Sybil" and I second that recommendation. It does require a commitment of time-about 5 hours and it is often harrowing, it was a TV miniseries in which her character's split into at least 12 separate selves was found to have been caused by extreme parental abuse as a child, but very much worth it. In a role that won her an Emmy Sally is riveting. It was a giant step forward in her career as she was mired in her teen fame (during production of Sybil the crew nicknamed it "Gidget Goes Nuts") and also boxed in by the success of her TV series The Flying Nun. But she shred all of that with the success of the miniseries and it enabled her to win the lead in "Norma Rae" leading to her first Oscar win. Both of her Oscar winning performances in "Norma Rae" and "Places in the Heart" are well worth catching up with as well. As far as this film goes it really is a wonderful representation of the bonds of friendship which may not always run smooth but warts and all can endure. Enacted by an unbelievable lineup of great actresses.
My sister and i were in our very early 20s when our parents rented this way back when it first came out on VHS. We loved it right away, laughed and cried. We've both watched it many times over the years. A couple years ago we decided to watch it together in a movie night. We found out when you're older, have more life experience, and (in my sister's case) are a mom and a grandma, this movie makes you cry SO MUCH more than it does when you're younger.
The writer of this movie actually wrote from experience. His sister went thru all that Shelby went thru. Very well written! One of my absolute faves. No matter how many times I watch, I cry.
I’m from Louisiana. The parish was made up. It was actually Natchitoches Parish. It ‘s on the Cane river. It is the oldest town in Louisiana. I love this movie because I laughed through tears of sorrow.
Sally is great in everything!! She won two Oscar’s 1. Places In The Heart 2. Norma Rae Back in the 70s she was in a TV movie called Sybil she played a woman with 12 multiple personalities, she was amazing!!! Watch her in the movie: An Eye For An Eye ( whew that one will get you, again she was amazing!)
I absolute love and worship Dolly Parton. She is one of the most beautiful, talented, sweetest and humble people on the planet ❤. Also the scene where they cut of the life support is heartbreaking to every one, but it hits even harder since I’m a mom
I'm from Louisiana! They boil crawfish/shrimp/crabs, corn, sausage, potatoes and garlic all together with lots of the hot and spices added in. Awesome and totally delicious and addicting. You can never eat just one.
I lived in the South for most of my life. This is one of the most accurate depictions of the South that I've ever seen. The other is Angel Heart... but that's another story. OK, but wait. She should have a beeper... or some way to get hold of him immediately. Mama, do you not remember the 80's? There was no immediate contact with people. If you were about to die, you called 911. You couldn't set up some way to immediately alert a loved one through technology.
Natchitoches didn't get 911 service until 1988; Shreveport (where the real Shelby lived with her husband) didn't get it until 1989. Pagers started to become popular in the late 80s in Shreveport, but it wasn't soon enough for the real-life Shelby.
@@sharonsimmons6427 The real Shelby was not in this movie. It was fairly clear by everything else that occurs in the movie that it was set in the 80's. That, or small town Louisiana was wildly ahead of it's time when it comes to fashion that people wear.
Love this movie, all the characters were perfectly cast. Tears just come with this movie. 😢🤧 I always remembered that Dolly quote as, " it's expensive to look this cheap". 😊
I use to work in Theatre and we did this play (I designed the set) and it all takes place in the salon. Also the cast for the play is all women. Besides that it is pretty much the same.
They filmed this in August in Louisiana, meaning high heat and humidity. The ladies all complained, except for Dolly, who navigated the sets in stiletto heels and a waist cincher without a drop of sweat or a breath of complaint. When Shirley McClaine asked her how she could do that, Dolly replied that she had been so blessed in her life that she had a made a vow to herself that she would never complain about anything so trivial.
A guy at my college was diabetic. We were working the basketball game and something wasn't working out. Can't remember what but it wasn't a huge deal. He just started having a breakdown. Crying and such. His insulin levels were out of wack.
I actually think the scene with Shirley Maclaine and Olympia on the bench is ad libbed. They're both laughing for real, and I just think they both just kept it going until Olympia fell off the bench. That whole funeral scene was wonderfully acted. Sad and then funny. So well done.
The scene where Dolly is dishing up the corn and other food, is either a shrimp boil or a crawdad boil. Live shrimp or crayfish (referred to as crawdads in many southern regions), are boiled along with corn, potatoes, onions, sometimes peppers, and lots of spices. Dished out onto butcher paper or newspaper, and eaten with the hands. Poor man's food.
I was just re-enacting the one-liners from this film last night to my friends who haven't seen it. I think it's my favourite film ever, and all the actresses should have been Oscar nominated! And just watching you watching the film was wonderful!
Being an older lady I remember when Sally Fields was “Gidget” on the tv series. She was a teenager being raised by her single father. Mostly comedy but had some serious scenes where she cried. It was always hard to watch because she’s such a good actress you could feel her pain.
It’s funny that you did the Mummy quote of “What’s a place like you doing in a girl like this” cause the guy that plays Sammy played Benny in the Mummy.
When I saw you were reviewing this ICONIC film, I started choking up. Because of the content of the film and knowing your reaction Nic. Thank you so much for sharing this with him and us, Jen. I saw this when it came out and have owned it in every format ever released. Dolly Parton is the GOAT. I remember when Oprah interviewed the cast during the promotion time of the film and Sally Field said she was blow away by the fact that Dolly had read the entire script backwards and forwards and new everybody's lines. Dolly said she knew going in the weight of this film with the cast alone and didn't want to embarrass herself in front of the ladies she respected so much. And the preacher at the beginning was played by Robert Harling, who wrote the source material of the film. It was his family the story was based around. Thank you again, Jen & Nic. You two make my day every time. I'm thrilled I stumbled upon your channel and talk about it all the time to family & friends. 🖖
Mom, I would love to see you introduce Nick to some 80's classic comedies such as 9 to 5, The Incredible Shrinking Woman, All of Me, Kiss Me Goodbye, and The Goodbye Girl if he has not seen them. Great movies from my very young youth that I adored.
The diabetic attack scene at the beginning has always gotten to me, but it hits differently now. My daughter is autistic and non-verbal and, at the age of 12, started having seizures. She's a warrior. Many years ago I worked very briefly with Olympia Dukakis. She was an absolute force of nature! ❤️
My mom always refused to watch this movie with me. She said she read a magazine article about the real Shelby and she had cried enough reading that that she didn't need to see the movie.
It's funny because when I saw the word Steel Magnolias I was actually wondering if your mom was the 1 who saw this first. I grew up in the deep south and my mom used to watch this every time it came on every time she would cry.
OH MY! I saw this with my mother & grandmother, back in the day, when it came out. Tears all around! Wonderful story of life, and an all-star cast in a class of it's own. I love how the people are just themselves, and are accepted and cherished-warts and all:)
This was my best friend Corey's favorite movie. On May 1 of 2021 I told him that Olympia Dukakis had passed away. I still have the Facebook message where he said "Oh No! Claree!!" He unexpectedly passed a week later and this movie was hard to watch even now because I last watched it with him. I love all the reactions I have seen you do but this one healed my heart a little so Thank you. 💖
I've had type 1 diabetes for over 25 years. This movie scared the crap out of me :( Having felt bad lows before I didn't think the portrayal was that far off for the time. This was the 80's-diabetes technology and insulin options have grown light years since then
You’ve been told the play write is the actual brother of “Shelby”. What no one’s said is he has a twin and he is gay. He’s amazing. You guest correctly, the whole play is set in Truvy’s Beauty Shop. I have grown up in the rural south and it’s true. Women are made of steel. If you live in a city, life is so much easier for you. But my momma had to bury one of her babies that was the weak one of a set of twins on the backland. No one could afford a Doctor and no one had the money to help bury the baby properly. So, she took my oldest sister with her to hold the baby and a flashlight while she dug the grave at night. The STRENGTH she had was admirable, but it also made her bitter. She was tough and didn’t suffer fools.
Great choice of movie Jen and beautiful reactions from both you and Nick. I'd like to recommend a Johnny Depp movie you might not be familiar with called Finding Neverland (2004). It is described as a "biographical fantasy based on true events" in the life of JM Barrie, the author of "Peter Pan." JM Barrie meets a family with four young sons and is inspired to write a play about children who don't want to grow up. Charming and heartfelt.
This Was One Of My Late Grandma's Favorite Movie's,This One & Fried Green Tomatoes,I Thinks Of Her Now, When I Watch These Movie's, Great Reaction Guy's
I love this film! What a cast! Brilliant writing, it’s a movie I watch every now and again to cry to. If you haven’t already seen it Jen, I think you might like The Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood based on how you feel about this movie, it also sits in my cathartic crying countdown. Enjoyable reaction as always ❤
If you ever get a chance go to Natchitoches, LA because it is beautiful and all the houses used in this are there, but the town is great. That hill is a bank of the river and there are a lot of shops and restaurants.
ooh looking forward to this one! y'all should check out "divine secrets of the ya-ya sisterhood" it's a beautiful film and no one ever reacts to it but it's very, very touching though hard to watch at times. it's about a mother and daughter and generational trauma and mental health but it's laced with so much humor and heart felt moments. i'd love to see someone react to it some day.
I love this movie, and your warm, intelligent reviews ☺♥. I can empathize with everyone, especially Sally Field's character. My daughter's been diabetic since a week after her twelfth birthday. She was never fat, just unlucky, she has type 1 diabetes. People who learned I had a diabetic daughter often assumed she was fat and it was my fault for encouraging her to overeat. People can be cruel. As if it isn't heartbreaking enough your child has diabetes and will need insulin three times a day until a cure is found. Some people who develop diabetes are overweight, but that doesn't mean they are to blame for their condition, or that they don't deserve our heartfelt sympathy. Some people overeat because they are unhappy, and some people overeat because they don't realize there may be consequences. I'm sad for all those who have diabetes, fat, thin, tall, short, young, or old, and their families. Sending love and hugs to all those affected by diabetes. Congratulations to the cast and crew of this wonderful movie. The script is fabulous and I love every character but Shirley McLaine is my favourite, closely followed by Olympia Dukakis.
You need to watch Places in the Heart which won Sally Field her second Academy Award as Edna Spaulding, and her first Academy Award winning performance the title role in Norma Rae.
Shout out to Mom, showing her Son, an outstanding female cast, that just played their characters...( With out slamming our heads into cupboards being woke).. An ensemble cast.. epic movie.
I realize I'm catching this a bit late but just had to add a comment about some of the older ladies in my church and in several others here in town. They are the queens of the "big hair brigade".... my great aunt had a saying... "the higher the hair, the closer to the Lord".... some of those ladies, I swear, were trying to scrape the bottoms of the clouds.... God bless Aqua Net hair spray... that stuff is hurricane proof!
I would love to see your reaction to 'Erin Brockovich' (2000), it is a based on a true story movie featuring Julia Roberts, Albert Finney & Aaron Eckhart. Like any good movie it has moments that make you aggressively mad, emotionally happy & plenty of humour to balance it all out & well worth a watch with your mum. Great reaction & always looking forward to your next one.
Great pick. My dad was a victim of "agent orange" from Vietnam and ended up with one of my kidneys. He had it for 8 years before passing. The process of donating is soooo easy now. I think if more people knew how easy it was, more would sign up on the donor list.
You truly are beyond amazing for your Pops, especially being a Viet vet, and I hope you inspire many others to donate as well. I can't, diabetic, but anyways. ❤️
Btw, my Hispanic Padre-in-law was also a Vietnam veteran who also suffered from Agent-Orange more and more every year until he finally stopped suffering last year, and so the extra time y'all have with your Dad is priceless!❤🤍 💙
Thanks@@Billy-zv6gv but really nothing to it. I'm fortunate to be from Michigan and UM happens to be one of, if not the best place to have a kidney transplant performed.
I haven't watched this video of yours yet. This movie - is sinister. The author wrote about his own sister's experiences with autoimmune (type 1) diabetes . The entire plot of this movie is about eugenics - it is so insidious. As an autoimmune diabetic myself, this is more horror movie than feel good drama. The acting is excellent and it is indeed one of the best visual representations of how hypoglycemia (low) blood sugar affects someone in a movie or TV show.
Hey!!! I know you loved this and Fried Green Tomatoes I love those too!! There’s another similar movie that I know you’d “love” You don’t have to do it on the channel you can just watch it on your own it’s : “THE SPITFIRE GRILL “ Starring Ellen Burstyn Beautiful, you’d love it !!
I worked at a very small company w a woman for many years who had 9 children & was very much a mother figure to me. She had a daughter w juvenile diabetes who also worked with us for a while (She's the only person I've ever seen irl have an attack from blue blood sugar. Its really scary. They do get very mean out of nowhere and you don't know what's going on at first) anyway, she Passed the same way as JR. she also had TWO children when they told her it was not a good idea. Her bf came home and found her on the kitchen floor, The girls were playing in the bedroom. A silly little twist: Our boss was a gay dude who quoted Weezer literally on a daily basis. It was a fun place.😊 I've never been able to watch this movie the same tho.💔😭💔 But beethoven's meth head cousin...😂😂😂😂
Hi, I really enjoy your reactions. Wondering if either of you has seen October Sky, a very good movie starring a young Jake Gyllenhaal. It's basically a science movie. If you get time, try it out, I know you'll both love it. I read a lot of comments saying that a bunch of teachers have shown this to their students because it is so inspiring. Thanks for your time, take care!
Hey guys. Haven't been to your site in a while: COVID... Anyway, the movie is completely different from the play. I adored the play; didn't care so much for the movie. All the action in the play took place at Truvey's Beauty Shop. Absolutely no men were involved. I enjoyed that; I thought the men did nothing for the movie. Anyway, hope you all doing well and best for 2024.
