AMC Theaters is screening two of Dolly Parton's most celebrated films this weekend in tribute to the country icon, who died Tuesday at age 80 following a brief battle with cancer.
AMC CEO Adam Aron announced the revival screenings, which will run at discounted prices from Friday through Wednesday, September 2. According to Billboard, the two films selected are the 1982 musical comedy The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and the 1989 dramedy Steel Magnolias.
Parton was already a well-established cross-genre music star by the time she appeared in Whorehouse, which was based on a 1978 stage musical. The film co-starred Burt Reynolds, Jim Nabors of The Andy Griffith Show, Charles Durning, and Dom DeLuise. It tells the story of Parton's character Mona Stangely, the madame of the Chicken Ranch, whose secret relationship with local sheriff Ed Earl Dodd, played by Reynolds, is upended when a television reporter arrives to expose the brothel.
The film performed well at the box office and earned two Golden Globe nominations. Parton received a Best Actress nod in the Musical or Comedy category, while Durning earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role as the Texas governor.
The film's soundtrack featured songs from the original Broadway score alongside two originals from Parton. One of those was a reworked version of "I Will Always Love You," released as a single in 1982, which hit number one on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in October of that year. The original version had topped the same chart eight years earlier.
Steel Magnolias, also adapted from a stage play, follows six women in a small Louisiana town. Parton played Truvy Jones, a hairdresser who runs a salon out of her home. The cast included Sally Field, Shirley MacLaine, Daryl Hannah, Olympia Dukakis, Julia Roberts, Tom Skerritt, Sam Shepard, and Dylan McDermott.
The film was a box office success and collected several awards. Julia Roberts won Best Supporting Actress at the Golden Globes for her role and received an Oscar nomination in the same category. Sally Field also earned a Supporting Actress Globe nomination.
Whorehouse and Steel Magnolias were among a dozen film appearances Parton made during her career, which also included her 1980 breakout role in 9 to 5 and a 1984 appearance in Rhinestone alongside Sylvester Stallone.
