Dolly Parton was a singer, a songwriter, a humanitarian, an entrepreneur, an "angel on Earth" (according to numerous commentators, in the wake of her Aug. 25 death) and, also, on occasion, a movie star.
That last aspect of her career will be celebrated Saturday, Sept. 5, when a Dolly Parton double feature arrives at three Malco theaters.
"Steel Magnolias" (1989) and "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" (1982) will screen at the Malco Ridgeway, Collierville and Desoto cinemas.
Show times will be announced later this week.
Directed by Broadway choreographer-turned-filmmaker Herbert Ross (whose credits include "The Goodbye Girl" and the original "Footloose"), "Steel Magnolias" is an ensemble comedy-drama focusing on a group of small-town Southern
women. These gentle-yet-tough "steel magnolias" are played by Parton, Sally Field, Shirley MacLaine, Daryl Hannah, Olympia Dukakis and Julia Roberts (who earned a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination). Parton is cast as Truvy Jones, whose home-based beauty salon provides a refuge and gathering place for the friends.
Parton's followup to her hit movie debut, "9 to 5," "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" was adapted from a 1978 Broadway musical. Directed by Colin Higgins, the film teams Parton with the world's top box-office star at the time, the musically disadvantaged Burt Reynolds. Reynold stars as a Texas sheriff who is the longtime beau of "Miss Mona," played by Parton, the operator of the title brothel, "The Chicken Ranch."
If most of the movie's tunes ("Hard Candy Christmas," for example) haven't exactly entered the Great American Songbook, the soundtrack did give Parton a chance to revisit her 1974 No. 1 hit (later a smash for Whitney Houston), "I Will Always Love You." Parton's re-recorded version also reached No. 1 on the country charts, in 1982, making her apparently the only artist to have hit the top spot with different versions of the same song until Taylor Swift duplicated this feat with "Love Story," in 2008 and 2021.
Movie tickets go on sale Sept. 2, with proceeds benefiting Dolly Parton's Imagination Library. To order tickets online, when available, visit malco.com.
John Beifuss is an entertainment writer at The Commercial Appeal. Contact him at john.beifuss@commercialappeal.com.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Dolly Parton movies will be back on Memphis movie screens
