To me, this movie is perfection.

the audience applauded

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

I really like this movie, it has a fine cast and the stories are woven together very nicely. I was busy raising a family when this was in theaters in the late 1970s, but now was able to watch it on Netflix streaming movies.It is a story about dancers and families in ballet. It seems its whole inspiration came from the family of one of the cast members, Leslie Browne, whose family are all dancers and Ross, the director, is in real life her godfather. Nonetheless she is perfect for the role, young, beautiful, and a fine ballerina.The leads are veterans Anne Bancroft as 40-something Emma who is still a featured ballerina, even though she is probably past the years where she should be performing, and her old friend Shirley MacLaine as Deedee, who was a competitor of Emma's those 20-odd years ago, and who chose to leave ballet and be a wife and mother.In fact her daughter is teen dancer Leslie Browne as Emilia, showing so much promise that part of the family moves to NYC and stays in a small apartment inside Carnegie Hall for the summer so that Emilia can study. There she is noticed and appears destined for the career that her mother was never able to realize.Another dancer is 20-something Mikhail Baryshnikov as Yuri, one of the dancers in the company. He and Emilia dance together and also romance each other. Reliable Tom Skerritt is Deedee's husband, Emilia's dad, also a former dancer. The dancing is great because real ballet dancers are used. This is an old-fashioned drama, and it was nominated for several awards. The old friends have old issues to settle, the young dancers have to decide what their career choices will be. Good movie!

If you think ballet is amazing and one of the greatest forms of art, then are you in for a treat with "The Turning Point". It is chock full of ballet from start to finish--and you will clearly get your fill of dancing. However, if you are like the other 90% of the public, you are NOT in love with this dance, then you might find the film very, very slow going. It's not only because there is so much dancing but because the film is very, very slow. And, because the characters seemed rather unappealing, it's made even worse. Clearly the film is well made but dull as dishwater. Now I am NOT saying that a ballet theme can't be good (I loved "The Black Swan")--but this particular ballet film is just too tough going for the average bloke. And, I can see while SOME on the Oscar committee loved it, I can also understand how it received 11 nominations and not a single win since it's such a niche film with such limited appeal. Not easy to watch if you are me....

Shirley MacLaine and Anne Bancroft play one-time ballerina rivals in this pointless sudser from 1977. MacLaine has a loving husband and comfy home, but gave up her career; Bancroft has the career, but no one to share it with. Both re-meet when MacLaine's daughter becomes a ballerina and struggle with feelings of what could have been if each had pursued the life of the other. Congratulations if you can muster up the energy to care about any of this, because I sure as hell couldn't.The film features an Academy Award nominated performance by Mikhail Baryshnikov, whose nomination was for his dancing, not his acting, and another wonderful low-key performance from the shamelessly underrated Tom Skerritt as MacLaine's husband. The high point of the film is when MacLaine and Bancroft let loose on one another in a good old fashioned hair-pulling, face-scratching cat fight. The rest is a dull bore.Grade: C-

Ballet has never really been user friendly subject matter for movie box office potential but 1977's THE TURNING POINT was remarkable exception to that school of thought. Not only did this film preserve on screen some of the most beautiful ballet dancing ever scene forever, but it brought two Hollywood icons together for the first time who both turned in the Oscar-nominated performances of their careers. As a matter of fact, this is one of two films in Oscar history (THE COLOR PURPLE being the other) that was nominated for 11 Oscars but didn't win a single award. Nonetheless, it is still a compelling and riveting melodrama which uses ballet as its backdrop. The film focuses on two women, Emma Jacklin (Anne Bancroft) and Deedee Rodgers (Shirley MacLaine) who were both in the same ballet company many, many years ago and were competing for the lead in a new ballet when Deedee became pregnant and Emma got the role and this is way their relationship forked and their lives went separate ways. Deedee got married to a dancer in the company (Tom Skerritt) had three children and runs a dance studio now, but part of her still yearns to be a prima ballerina. Emma became the prima ballerina that Deedee wanted to be; however, Emma's life is all about work now...she takes class, she dances, and she goes home to her dogs. When Emma's dance company comes to Deedee's town, they are reunited and both begin to quietly choices that they made. Thrown into the mix is Amelia (real life prima ballerina Leslie Browne), Deedee's daughter who may be a better dancer than her mother ever was and Emma begins to groom and pulls strings to get her in the company which causes further resentment from Deedee. This movie is about choices, regrets, crushed dreams, and dreams fulfilled. Bancroft and MacLaine turn in grand performances and the dancing of ballet superstar Mikhail Barysnakov and Leslie Browne is outstanding (even though every time Browne opens her mouth you want to stuff a sock in it.) A beautiful melodrama anchored by supreme performances by two of the best actresses in the business.