Stephen Farber

“Some people may call The Turning Point a soap opera, simply because they don't know how else to describe a movie about women and the moments of crisis in their lives…. If it had subtitles, it would certainly be acclaimed as a classic, for it has the depth of feeling and the uncompromising integrity that we expect to see in European films, but not in Hollywood products….

“…. Laurents has populated the movie with a rich gallery of characters, some of whom are necessarily drawn in broader strokes than others, but all of whom register as individuals.... The Turning Point overflows with an abundance of life that movies have denied us lately. Laurents's dialogue is notable for its wit, conciseness and eloquence. The long, perfectly modulated fight scene between Emma and Deedee crackles with some of the best writing ever to grace the screen.

“Laurents could not have asked for a finer company of actors to deliver his dialogue. Anne Bancroft has only had a few movie roles worthy of her talents; she seizes this rare opportunity, and she's magnificent. She looks more stunning than ever, and she runs a complete gamut of emotions, from bitchy repartee to controlled fury to transcendent warmth to tragic anguish. An actress has to be brave or foolhardy to play against Anne Bancroft, and yet Shirley MacLaine manages to hold her own….”

Stephen Farber, The New West, November 21, 1977

David Ansen

“…. It is the most ravishing display of emotional fireworks you are likely to see on screen this year. "The Turning Point" has its flaws--some overwritten scenes and lapses into staginess and sentimentality--but they are those of heady excess and are easily forgiven….

“... [T]his is not primarily a dance film; it's a warm and stormily human melodrama, and it belongs finally to Anne Bancroft and Shirley MacLaine. Bancroft has lately shown a tendency toward florid, great-lady-of-the-screen mannerisms, but here she has a part in which to use those mannerisms for all they're worth. Emma is a prima donna, as well as being a gifted and generous artist, and Bancroft is sensational in this tricky role. A part of Emma's soul is always "on." Charming, tough, manipulative and fiercely intelligent, she captures a woman who is always conscious of an effect, even in the wildest disarray. MacLaine's part has less razzle-dazzle, but she gives the film's most subtle, sustained performance . . . These are plum roles, and much of the excitement of "The Turning Point" comes from watching these two superb actresses take large, juicy bites.”

David Ansen
Newsweek, date ?

Molly Haskell

“As the prima ballerina who … is now being eased into semi-retirement, Anne Bancroft looks ravishingly taut. In some striking way she defies, in her person, the laws of aging to which her character must defer. But even within the story's framework, she is allowed to edge toward retirement with dignity, and without even a whiff of a hint that she made the wrong choice or violated a sacrosanct biological destiny. For once--and this is what makes The Turning Point a turning point in women's films--career is rated higher than happily married life. The old soap-opera philosophy … is scuttled, gracefully and summarily, in the more complex view that no one choice, no life decision, will put an end to insomniac doubts….

“The balance would be overwhelmingly in favor of the career woman were it not for Shirley MacLaine's magnificence in the role of the Oklahoma City housewife….

“…. Were Bancroft and MacLaine any less extraordinary as the two women who square off like gunfighters and collapse in healing laughter, Baryshnikov would easily have stolen the show.”

Molly Haskell
New York, November 21, 1977

Pauline Kael

“…. For many years, a fair number of people have been longing for more of those Bette Davis-Miriam Hopkins movies….

“Will anybody long for more Anne Bancroft-Shirley MacLaine movies? It's doubtful…. Anne Bancroft overdoes her sacrificial-artist laceration. Trying for glamour and bravura, she holds her haggard head up gallantly, with her neck drawn so taut that it pulls her mouth down. She has a gnarled, ascetic look, and the worst case of nobility in the eyebrows since Greer Garson. Garbo's suicidally exhausted ballerina in Grand Hotel was a ball of fluff compared with Bancroft; suffering, not dance, seems to be Bancroft's art. Shirley MacLaine plays in a snappier spirit…. But ... with subsidiary roles played by a dozen or more famous dancers, and with the possibility of seeing them dance, Emma and Deedee would have to be larger personalities to hold our attention. We get a glimpse of something great in this movie, and Emma and Deedee--two harpies out of the soaps--block the view….

Pauline Kael
New Yorker, November 14, 1977
When the Lights Go Down, p. ?