Search - The Turning Point

One of a cycle of '70s post-Women's Liberation "women's pictures," Herbert Ross's drama uses the ballet world to examine the conflict between family and career. Former dance colleagues Deedee (Shirley MacLaine) and Emma (Anne Bancroft) are reunited when Emma's New York ballet company stops in Oklahoma City for a performance. Having dropped her career for marriage and motherhood, Deedee envies prima ballerina Emma's limelight life; aging Emma, realizing that her days as a star are numbered, wishes that she had the fulfillment of a family like Deedee's. Tensions simmer when Deedee's talented teenage daughter, Emilia (Leslie Browne), moves to New York to join Emma's company. As Emma maternally bonds with Emilia, and Emilia falls in love with womanizing dancer Yuri (Mikhail Baryshnikov), Deedee feels that she's losing her place even as a mother. After Emilia's triumphant debut, Deedee's and Emma's resentments boil over into an all-out catfight that ends when they realize they can unite in happiness for Emilia's future. Splitting the desires to nest and to work between two characters, Ross and writer Arthur Laurents reveal the difficulty faced by women in a world of expanding options. As in Michael Powell's and Emeric Pressburger's seminal ballet film The Red Shoes (1948), dancing and a personal life don't mix, even as the films display ballet's seductive power here in the gracefully integrated numbers by dance stars Browne and Baryshnikov. Despite reservations about its melodramatic aspects, The Turning Point earned box-office success and eleven Oscar nominations (but no wins). Even if its wife/work struggle seems a bit old-fashioned, Deedee's and Emma's final bond suggests that the next generation may not have the same regrets. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

Anne Bancroft - Emma
Shirley MacLaine - Deedee
Mikhail Baryshnikov - Kopeikine
Leslie Browne - Emilia
Tom Skerritt - Wayne

1977	Best Director (winner)	Los Angeles Film Critics Association	Herbert Ross
1977	Best Director (nominee)	Directors Guild of America	Herbert Ross
1977	Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama (nominee)	Golden Globe	Anne Bancroft
1977	Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Pic (nominee)	Golden Globe	Mikhail Baryshnikov
1977	Best Supporting Actress (nominee)	Golden Globe	Leslie Browne
1977	Best Director (winner)	Golden Globe	Herbert Ross
1977	Best Screenplay (nominee)	Golden Globe	Arthur Laurents
1977	Best Actress (nominee)	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie	Anne Bancroft
1977	Best Actress (nominee)	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie	Shirley MacLaine
1977	Best Art Direction (nominee)	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie	Albert Brenner
1977	Best Art Direction (nominee)	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie	Marvin March
1977	Best Cinematography (nominee)	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie	Robert Surtees
1977	Best Director (nominee)	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie	Herbert Ross
1977	Best Editing (nominee)	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie	William H. Reynolds
1977	Best Original Screenplay (nominee)	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie	Arthur Laurents
1977	Best Picture (nominee)	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie	Herbert Ross
1977	Best Sound (nominee)	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie	Theodore Soderberg
1977	Best Sound (nominee)	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie	Paul Wells
1977	Best Sound (nominee)	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie	Douglas O. Williams
1977	Best Sound (nominee)	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie	Jerry Jost
1977	Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Pic (nominee)	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie	Mikhail Baryshnikov
1977	Best Supporting Actress (nominee)	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie	Leslie Browne
1977	Best Actress (winner)	National Board of Review	Anne Bancroft
1977	Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Pic (winner)	National Board of Review	Tom Skerritt
1977	Best Picture (nominee)	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie	Arthur Laurents

These movies have the touch and feel of The Turning Point...
1	The Trip to Bountiful
2	The Chosen (PG)
1	A Tale of Springtime (PG)
1	Waiting for the Light (PG)
1	The Star (NR)
These movies have the subject or theme of The Turning Point...
3	The Red Shoes (NR)
4	New York, New York [Special Edition] (PG)
5	Comedy Classics: 50 Movie Pack
1	Dance, Girl, Dance (NR)
7	Great Balls of Fire! (PG-13)
21	Postcards from the Edge (R)
S	Ginger and Fred (PG-13)
22	A Chorus Line (PG-13)
13	For the Boys (R)
5	The Tall Guy (R)
S	Classic Musicals Collection: Classic Musicals from the Dream Factory, Vol. 3
3	Tap [Special Edition] (PG-13)
1	Limelight (NR)
19	The Commitments (R)
1	The Idolmaker (PG)
4	The Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland Collection (NR)
S	Young Man With a Horn (NR)
8	Sweet Dreams (PG-13)
12	A Star is Born (R)
These movies share cast/crew with The Turning Point...
66	Steel Magnolias (PG)
2	Pennies From Heaven (R)
S	Woman Times Seven (NR)
7	Max Dugan Returns (PG)
88	Footloose (PG)
5	Funny Lady (PG)
4	The Sunshine Boys (PG)
S	Goodbye, Mr. Chips (G)
21	Postcards from the Edge (R)
45	Terms of Endearment (PG)
20	Elephant Man (PG)
4	Fatso (PG)
S	Desperate Characters (R)
1	The Prisoner of Second Avenue (PG)
These movies are similar to The Turning Point...
22	A Chorus Line (PG-13)
3	The Red Shoes (NR)
S	Rich and Famous (R)
32	Center Stage (PG-13)