MOVIES - May 30, 1988

Academy Award winners Shirley MacLaine, Sally Field and Olympia Dukakis will come to terms with life, death and marriage in a small Southern town in the movie version of “Steel Magnolias,” producer Ray Stark’s latest project. The film, based on the acclaimed off-Broadway play about six women in a small Louisiana town, also will star Dolly Parton and Daryl Hannah. “(Director) Herb Ross and I have put together what I think is the most exciting ensemble cast since George Cukor did ‘The Women’ in 1939,” said Stark. That cast included Joan Crawford, Norma Shearer, Rosalind Russell, Paulette Goddard, Joan Fontaine, Marjorie Main and Hedda Hopper. Shooting is scheduled to start in Natchitoches, La., on July 12.