Steel Magnolias

A beauty salon in a small Louisiana town and the six women who gather around it. At the centre is Shelby's decision: she wants a child despite the severity of her type 1 diabetes. Herbert Ross directed. Sally Field, Dolly Parton, Shirley MacLaine, Daryl Hannah, Olympia Dukakis and Julia Roberts star. The source is Robert Harling's 1987 play, and the play's source is real: his sister Susan died in 1985 of complications after childbirth, with her diabetes making it worse. It opened on 15 November 1989. On a 15 million dollar budget it grossed 96.8 million worldwide. The reviews were mixed. Rotten Tomatoes sits at 73 percent, with critics praising the humour and the performances and attacking the portrayal of the South. One reviewer wrote that it runs on gags pitched to the cheapest seats and maudlin emotion. Julia Roberts took her first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress and won the Golden Globe in the same category. Sally Field and Shirley MacLaine were nominated too. Who it is for: viewers who like emotional films built on friendship between women. Who it is not for: anyone who avoids heavy melodrama. The last half hour is directly about grief and hides nothing.