The Turning Point (1977 film)
Encyclopedia
The Turning Point is a 1977 film written by Arthur Laurents
and directed by Herbert Ross
. In starring roles were Shirley MacLaine
, Anne Bancroft
, Mikhail Baryshnikov
, Leslie Browne
, Tom Skerritt
, Martha Scott
, Anthony Zerbe
, Marshall Thompson
and James Mitchell
.
.
DeeDee (Shirley MacLaine
) left the ballet school after becoming pregnant with the child of another ballet dancer, Wayne (Tom Skerritt
). The two settled down to raise a family and co-run a ballet studio in the suburbs of Oklahoma City. Emma (Anne Bancroft
) stayed and eventually became a prima ballerina with the American Ballet Company. When the company finally comes back to town, the two reunite. The reunion stirs up old memories and affects the present.
DeeDee's daughter, Emilia (Leslie Browne
), is invited to join the company at Emma's request. Emilia starts an affair with a big-name Russian ballet defector and ladies' man, Yuri (Mikhail Baryshnikov
). Emilia's brother Ethan is offered two ballet scholarships, but is unsure to pursue a career between ballet and baseball. Also, an old male friend of DeeDee's is getting to know her all over again. Meanwhile, it looks as if Emma's day in the sun is coming to an end.
Old friends and DeeDee eventually enter into major conflict, as DeeDee resents it that Emma acts as a foster mother to Emilia even though she had abandoned the idea of family life by pursing a career in ballet, while Emma feels that DeeDee is jealous of the success that Emma has had as a dancer. Emilia also suffers when she sees how Yuri carries on relationships with other girls.
Eventually, misunderstandings are settled, with Emma and DeeDee settles their differences and Emilia and Yuri becoming a stable couple with Emilia deciding to pursue a career in ballet.
: Best Actor in a Supporting Role
(Mikhail Baryshnikov), Best Actress in a Leading Role
(Anne Bancroft), Best Actress in a Leading Role
(Shirley MacLaine), Best Actress in a Supporting Role
(Leslie Browne), Best Art Direction-Set Decoration
(Albert Brenner
, Marvin March
), Best Cinematography
, Best Director
, Best Film Editing
, Best Picture
, Best Sound (Theodore Soderberg
, Paul Wells
, Douglas O. Williams and Jerry Jost
) and Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen. Despite these 11 nominations, the film won no Oscars. Thus, along with The Color Purple
, it shares the record of receiving the most Oscar nominations without a single win.
Ms. Browne was also the goddaughter of Herbert Ross, the director, and appeared in several films after The Turning Point, including: Nijinsky (1980) and Dancers (1987), each directed by Herbert Ross.
This film was also an introductory acting film for famous Russian ballet dancer, Mikhail Baryshnikov. Though his by-now famous stage presence and soaring jumps had been made famous by PBS's airing of In Performance Live from Wolf Trap (his American television dancing debut in 1976), Baryshnikov's performance of Yuri Kopeikine in The Turning Point was his first film role; one for which he received an Oscar nomination. He subsequently played in several other films following The Turning Point including: White Nights (1985), with Gregory Hines and Isabella Rossellini (choreographed by Twyla Tharp), and Dancers (1987).
, Fran references the film by saying: "This is like that movie 'The Turning Point', only they were dancers and one was the mother and they were old friends... [looks confused] I should really rent that again."
In the Judy Blume
book Summer Sisters
this film sparked a great discussion with the two main characters of the story, Vix and Caitlin, which showed how different the girls' priorities were.
In the episode of That '70s Show
entitled Fez Dates Donna, Eric, much to his delight, could not take Donna out to see the movie since Donna was pretending to be dating Fez.
In an episode of "Beverly Hills, 90210
" ("Pass/Not Pass"), Brenda (Shannen Doherty
) and Andrea (Gabrielle Carteris
) perform a scene from the film for their theatre class.
Arthur Laurents
Arthur Laurents was an American playwright, stage director and screenwriter.After writing scripts for radio shows after college and then training films for the U.S...
and directed by Herbert Ross
Herbert Ross
Herbert Ross was an American film director, producer, choreographer and actor.-Early life and career:Born Herbert David Ross in Brooklyn, New York, he made his stage debut as Third Witch with a touring company of Macbeth in 1942...
. In starring roles were Shirley MacLaine
Shirley MacLaine
Shirley MacLaine is an American film and theater actress, singer, dancer, activist and author, well-known for her beliefs in new age spirituality and reincarnation. She has written a large number of autobiographical works, many dealing with her spiritual beliefs as well as her Hollywood career...
, Anne Bancroft
Anne Bancroft
Anne Bancroft was an American actress associated with the Method acting school, which she had studied under Lee Strasberg....
, Mikhail Baryshnikov
Mikhail Baryshnikov
Mikhail Nikolaevich Baryshnikov is a Soviet and American dancer, choreographer, and actor, often cited alongside Vaslav Nijinsky and Rudolf Nureyev as one of the greatest ballet dancers of the 20th century. After a promising start in the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad, he defected to Canada in 1974...
, Leslie Browne
Leslie Browne
Leslie Browne is an American ballet dancer and actress.She was born Leslie Brown, the daughter of Kelly Brown and Isabel Mirrow. She had two brothers and one sister; her brother Kevin is a film producer. At the age of seven she began dancing, and would be trained at her father's studio in Arizona,...
, Tom Skerritt
Tom Skerritt
Thomas Roy "Tom" Skerritt is an American actor who has appeared in over 40 films and more than 200 television episodes since 1962.-Early life:...
, Martha Scott
Martha Scott
Martha Ellen Scott was an American actress best known for her roles as mother of the lead character in numerous films and television shows.-Early life:...
, Anthony Zerbe
Anthony Zerbe
Anthony Jared Zerbe is an American stage, film and Emmy-winning television actor. Notable film roles include the post-apocalyptic cult leader Matthias in The Omega Man, a 1971 film adaptation of Richard Matheson's 1954 novel, I Am Legend; Milton Krest in the 1989 James Bond film Licence to Kill;...
, Marshall Thompson
Marshall Thompson
Marshall Thompson was an American film and television actor.He was born James Marshall Thompson in Peoria, Illinois. In 1943 Thompson, known for his boy-next-door good looks, was signed by Universal Pictures...
and James Mitchell
James Mitchell (actor)
James Mitchell was an American actor and dancer. Although he is best known to television audiences as Palmer Cortlandt on the soap opera All My Children , theatre and dance historians remember him as one of Agnes de Mille's leading dancers...
.
Plot
This film tells the story of friends and former competitors in the world of balletBallet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
.
DeeDee (Shirley MacLaine
Shirley MacLaine
Shirley MacLaine is an American film and theater actress, singer, dancer, activist and author, well-known for her beliefs in new age spirituality and reincarnation. She has written a large number of autobiographical works, many dealing with her spiritual beliefs as well as her Hollywood career...
) left the ballet school after becoming pregnant with the child of another ballet dancer, Wayne (Tom Skerritt
Tom Skerritt
Thomas Roy "Tom" Skerritt is an American actor who has appeared in over 40 films and more than 200 television episodes since 1962.-Early life:...
). The two settled down to raise a family and co-run a ballet studio in the suburbs of Oklahoma City. Emma (Anne Bancroft
Anne Bancroft
Anne Bancroft was an American actress associated with the Method acting school, which she had studied under Lee Strasberg....
) stayed and eventually became a prima ballerina with the American Ballet Company. When the company finally comes back to town, the two reunite. The reunion stirs up old memories and affects the present.
DeeDee's daughter, Emilia (Leslie Browne
Leslie Browne
Leslie Browne is an American ballet dancer and actress.She was born Leslie Brown, the daughter of Kelly Brown and Isabel Mirrow. She had two brothers and one sister; her brother Kevin is a film producer. At the age of seven she began dancing, and would be trained at her father's studio in Arizona,...
), is invited to join the company at Emma's request. Emilia starts an affair with a big-name Russian ballet defector and ladies' man, Yuri (Mikhail Baryshnikov
Mikhail Baryshnikov
Mikhail Nikolaevich Baryshnikov is a Soviet and American dancer, choreographer, and actor, often cited alongside Vaslav Nijinsky and Rudolf Nureyev as one of the greatest ballet dancers of the 20th century. After a promising start in the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad, he defected to Canada in 1974...
). Emilia's brother Ethan is offered two ballet scholarships, but is unsure to pursue a career between ballet and baseball. Also, an old male friend of DeeDee's is getting to know her all over again. Meanwhile, it looks as if Emma's day in the sun is coming to an end.
Old friends and DeeDee eventually enter into major conflict, as DeeDee resents it that Emma acts as a foster mother to Emilia even though she had abandoned the idea of family life by pursing a career in ballet, while Emma feels that DeeDee is jealous of the success that Emma has had as a dancer. Emilia also suffers when she sees how Yuri carries on relationships with other girls.
Eventually, misunderstandings are settled, with Emma and DeeDee settles their differences and Emilia and Yuri becoming a stable couple with Emilia deciding to pursue a career in ballet.
Awards
The film was nominated for 11 Academy AwardsAcademy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
: Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
(Mikhail Baryshnikov), Best Actress in a Leading Role
Academy Award for Best Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
(Anne Bancroft), Best Actress in a Leading Role
Academy Award for Best Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
(Shirley MacLaine), Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
(Leslie Browne), Best Art Direction-Set Decoration
Academy Award for Best Art Direction
The Academy Awards are the oldest awards ceremony for achievements in motion pictures. The Academy Award for Best Art Direction recognizes achievement in art direction on a film. The films below are listed with their production year, so the Oscar 2000 for best art direction went to a film from 1999...
(Albert Brenner
Albert Brenner
Albert Brenner is an American production designer and art director. He has been nominated for five Academy Awards in the category Best Art Direction.-Selected filmography:...
, Marvin March
Marvin March
Marvin March is an American set decorator. He has been nominated for five Academy Awards in the category Best Art Direction.-Selected filmography:March has been nominated for five Academy Awards for Best Art Direction:* Addams Family Values...
), Best Cinematography
Academy Award for Best Cinematography
The Academy Award for Best Cinematography is an Academy Award awarded each year to a cinematographer for work in one particular motion picture.-History:...
, Best Director
Academy Award for Directing
The Academy Award for Achievement in Directing , usually known as the Best Director Oscar, is one of the Awards of Merit presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to directors working in the motion picture industry...
, Best Film Editing
Academy Award for Film Editing
The Academy Award for Film Editing is one of the annual awards of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Nominations for this award are closely correlated with the Academy Award for Best Picture. Since 1981, every film selected as Best Picture has also been nominated for the Film Editing...
, Best Picture
Academy Award for Best Picture
The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only...
, Best Sound (Theodore Soderberg
Theodore Soderberg
Theodore Soderberg was an American sound engineer. He was nominated for six Academy Awards in the category Sound Recording.-Selected filmography:* Imitation of Life * The French Connection * The Poseidon Adventure...
, Paul Wells
Paul Wells (sound engineer)
Paul Wells is an American sound engineer. He was nominated for two Academy Awards in the category Best Sound.-Selected filmography:* The Turning Point * The Rose -External links:...
, Douglas O. Williams and Jerry Jost
Jerry Jost
Jerry Jost is an American sound engineer. He was nominated for an Academy Award in the category Best Sound for the film The Turning Point.-External links:...
) and Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen. Despite these 11 nominations, the film won no Oscars. Thus, along with The Color Purple
The Color Purple (film)
The Color Purple is a 1985 American period drama film directed by Steven Spielberg, based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name by Alice Walker. It was Spielberg's eighth film as a director , and was a change from the summer blockbusters for which he had become famous...
, it shares the record of receiving the most Oscar nominations without a single win.
Details
Leslie Browne, a young professional dancer with the American Ballet, received a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in this film. She had joined the American Ballet Theatre just a year prior, in 1976, as a soloist, then became principal in 1986. She retired from the company in 1993. In 1997, she was awarded the Distinguished Achievement Award by the New York City Dance Alliance.Ms. Browne was also the goddaughter of Herbert Ross, the director, and appeared in several films after The Turning Point, including: Nijinsky (1980) and Dancers (1987), each directed by Herbert Ross.
This film was also an introductory acting film for famous Russian ballet dancer, Mikhail Baryshnikov. Though his by-now famous stage presence and soaring jumps had been made famous by PBS's airing of In Performance Live from Wolf Trap (his American television dancing debut in 1976), Baryshnikov's performance of Yuri Kopeikine in The Turning Point was his first film role; one for which he received an Oscar nomination. He subsequently played in several other films following The Turning Point including: White Nights (1985), with Gregory Hines and Isabella Rossellini (choreographed by Twyla Tharp), and Dancers (1987).
Appearances in popular culture
In an episode of The NannyThe Nanny (TV series)
The Nanny is an American television sitcom co-produced by Sternin & Fraser Ink, Inc., and Fran Drescher in association with TriStar Television for the CBS network...
, Fran references the film by saying: "This is like that movie 'The Turning Point', only they were dancers and one was the mother and they were old friends... [looks confused] I should really rent that again."
In the Judy Blume
Judy Blume
Judy Blume is an American author. She has written many novels for children and young adults which have exceeded sales of 80 million and been translated into 31 languages...
book Summer Sisters
Summer Sisters
Summer Sisters is a 1998 novel by Judy Blume. It focuses on the life of two fictional characters, the girls Victoria Leonard and Caitlin Somers....
this film sparked a great discussion with the two main characters of the story, Vix and Caitlin, which showed how different the girls' priorities were.
In the episode of That '70s Show
That '70s Show
That '70s Show is an American television period sitcom that centers on the lives of a group of teenage friends living in the fictional suburban town of Point Place, Wisconsin, from May 17, 1976, to December 31, 1979...
entitled Fez Dates Donna, Eric, much to his delight, could not take Donna out to see the movie since Donna was pretending to be dating Fez.
In an episode of "Beverly Hills, 90210
Beverly Hills, 90210
Beverly Hills, 90210 is an American drama series that originally aired from October 4, 1990 to May 17, 2000 on Fox and was produced by Spelling Television in the United States, and subsequently on various networks around the world. It is the first series in the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise...
" ("Pass/Not Pass"), Brenda (Shannen Doherty
Shannen Doherty
Shannen Maria Doherty is an American actress, producer, author and television director, known for her work as Heather Duke in Heathers , as Brenda Walsh in Beverly Hills, 90210 and its spinoff series 90210, and as Prue Halliwell in Charmed .-Early life and career:Doherty was born in Memphis,...
) and Andrea (Gabrielle Carteris
Gabrielle Carteris
Gabrielle Anne Carteris is an American actress known for her role as Andrea Zuckerman on the early seasons of the 1990s television series Beverly Hills, 90210.-Personal life:...
) perform a scene from the film for their theatre class.