Shirley MacLaine’s ‘Turning Point’ 1977

 

Anne Bancroft & Shirley MacLaine, superb as long-time friends facing middle-age
 in 1977's "The Turning Point."

The Turning Point was not only Shirley MacLaine’s 1977 movie comeback but also an apt description of when actresses showed that they still could carry films, after a long dry spell.

Shirley MacLaine and Anne Bancroft made a contrasting cinematic pair: MacLaine is the self-doubting ballet contender who settled for the role of wife and mother; Bancroft is the cool ballet diva whose personal life is practically non-existent. Many of the characters’ specifics were inspired by dancer Nora Kaye—director Herbert Ross’ wife—and her life in the ballet world. I found Arthur Laurents’ screenplay adult and smart, much like The Way We Were. Obviously, he was inspired by the Bette Davis/Miriam Hopkins “woman’s picture” Old Acquaintance in framing the story. That’s fine, as the Laurents/Ross/Kaye/ creative team bring enough of their own story to make it work. And The Turning Point is far better than the actual Old Acquaintance remake from 1980, Rich and Famous.

Shirley MacLaine, Anne Bancroft, & Tom Skerritt
in 1977's ballet drama, "The Turning Point."

Anne Bancroft plays the aging ballet star who visits the city that her friend now lives. 
MacLaine plays a housewife who envies the life of her long-time dance school friend,
in 1977's "The Turning Point."

I saw The Turning Point as a 1977 Upper Michigan high school graduate and I related to the middle class family life setting in Oklahoma City. It felt realistic then and now. I admire how the characters are not judged or punished for their occasional poor choices, as they would have been a generation before. The Turning Point is a hybrid of a smart soap opera with just enough ‘70s realism to make it engrossing entertainment.

Shirley MacLaine as DeeDee, a one-time ballet contender who settled for being a wife
 and mother. She watches her daughter's dance career take off under the wing
of friend and competitor, ballet diva Emma Jacklin (Anne Bancroft).

Shirley MacLaine was a top star from the late ‘50s thru the ‘60s. Many of Shirley’s movies showcased her sassy and brassy personality. Her career seemed to alternate between huge hits and equally big bombs, often the case for newer stars after the studio system glory days. I preferred Shirley with her restrained performances in The Apartment and The Children’s Hour rather than going big in Can-Can or What a Way to Go!

Love the sly look on Shirley MacLaine's face as DeeDee, when the kids ask her
if she could have been a great ballet star, in 1977's "The Turning Point."

By the time of 1969’s expensive flop Sweet Charity, Shirley’s appeal as the raucous pixie had waned with audiences, and MacLaine as a box office draw was over for the time being. MacLaine was in the same boat as contemporaries Liz, Audrey, Doris, Sophia, and Debbie. They were all 40-ish or over in the realistic ‘70s. MacLaine, like a lot of studio era stars, tried television in the early ‘70s and failed. Shirley made a few art movies to some good reviews but drew no audiences. MacLaine went back to performing live and writing, and her memoir Don’t Fall off the Mountain became a well-reviewed best-seller.

DeeDee's jealousy over Emma snaps in the bar scene of 1977's "The Turning Point."

Emma's about to give DeeDee her drink in 1977's "The Turning Point."

As the once promising dancer who opted for marriage and motherhood, DeeDee is one of Shirley MacLaine’s most restrained but heartfelt performances. She’s dialed down her from her previous cut up persona and later grumpy old women roles that started with Terms of Endearment. Not only is Shirley’s performance realistic in her attitudes but she is presented as an attractive but early middle-aged woman.  MacLaine walks a fine line of making us empathetic of her character’s second-guessing life choices, yet not judging DeeDee.

I love Shirley MacLaine's body language in this brawl with DeeDee's longtime
best friend Emma, played by Anne Bancroft, in 1977's "The Turning Point."

This all comes to a head when her former dance classmate and friend Emma (Anne Bancroft) comes to Oklahoma City to perform. Though Emma later confides to DeeDee that her best days are behind her, MacLaine’s housewife is still jealous of her life. What really ignites DeeDee’s envy is when Emma takes her talented dancer daughter under her wing. When DeeDee accompanies her daughter to Emma’s world in NYC, her memories and now fish out of water status makes everything bittersweet. The competition for the daughter’s attention comes to a head in a catfight showdown. While some today groan about how old-fashioned this spat plays, social media and reality TV proves that brawls and catfights are still alive and well.

Anne Bancroft as Emma Jacklin, the grand ballet star at a crossroads in her career,
in 1977's "The Turning Point." A few years later, Bancroft was offered the title role
as "Mommie Dearest," a career bullet Annie dodged!

Anne Bancroft was already in her “grand phase,” what with The Hindenburg and later The Elephant Man. No wonder she was offered the role of Joan Crawford in Mommie Dearest just a few years later. However, it’s most appropriate here, as Emma the ballet diva who’s always “on.” Bancroft does it beautifully. At other times, when the mask slips, Anne’s even better. MacLaine and Bancroft are totally believable as life-long frenemies. The women look great, but in a natural ‘70s way. Sure, this is a mainstream film, so they get some close-up beauty shots. But other times, when contemplating their aging lives, they are photographed realistically. To modern eyes, it’s a bit of a shock to see two actresses in their mid-40s photographed looking like women in—shudder!—their mid-40s! This probably looks like a time capsule to today’s audiences, now used to actresses 30 and over with puffed up cheeks and lips, without a line or expression on their faces.

Shirley MacLaine & Anne Bancroft were both 40-something, without plastic surgery, in 1977's "The Turning Point." This would be considered miraculous in 2024!

The Turning Point has a supporting cast of old pros who offer strong performances. Martha Scott is especially good as the pragmatic but acerbic Adelaide, who keeps her dance company afloat no matter what, and worthy of a supporting Oscar nomination. Tom Skerritt is very appealing as Shirley’s husband Wayne and perhaps worth of a supporting Oscar nod. Instead, the two ingénue performers, Mikhail Baryshnikov and Leslie Browne were nominated. Both are pleasant, attractive, great dancers—but hardly deserving of Oscar nominations.

I've never seen Martha Scott get to be so acerbic, as dance company director Adelaide,
 in 1977's "The Turning Point."

Tom Skerritt is a natural as Shirley MacLaine's husband Wayne, who teaches at
their small town dance studio, in 1977's "The Turning Point."

By the late ‘70s, Hollywood actresses were starting to get good roles again, after a late ‘60s and early ‘70s drought. As often happens, the Best Actress category with lead nominees MacLaine and Bancroft cancelled each other out. Shirley’s long-delayed Oscar came from a movie half a dozen years later, Terms of Endearment. But I really like Shirley here, in The Turning Point, a last hurrah for MacLaine at her most real and empathetic. Shirley MacLaine was at the height of her appeal and the beginning of her maturity, as a star character actress.

Here is my look at Shirley MacLaine, in Billy Wilder’s The Apartment:

https://ricksrealreel.blogspot.com/2019/12/the-apartment-still-perfect-view-1960.html

A haunting, realistic shot of Shirley MacLaine as DeeDee, as her dancer daughter
is now the center of attention, while her best friend Emma is alone on the stage.
1977's ballet drama, "The Turning Point."

Lillian Hellman and Her 'Little Foxes'

Lillian Hellman's 'The Little Foxes.' This 1941 film, with Bette Davis, is the only film version.

Lillian Hellman’s most famed play, The Little Foxes, is not revived as regularly as Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Perhaps that’s how the perception began that Foxes was dated. Quite the opposite, its similar themes about corruption and greed are timely as ever.

Tallulah Bankhead was the first Regina Giddens.

The Little Foxes debuted in 1939, with Tallulah Bankhead in her best role as Regina Giddens. In 1941, Bette Davis gave one of her most restrained performances as ruthless Regina, with the Broadway cast, in William Wyler’s screen version.

Tallulah Bankhead couldn’t have been thrilled to see Bette Davis play Regina, especially after Davis recently had one of her greatest successes in a film version of a Bankhead stage flop, Dark Victory. Later, Bankhead “jokingly” accused Bette of borrowing her mannerisms when playing Broadway diva Margo Channing in All About Eve, or as Tallulah dubbed it, All About Me. However, Bankhead did get to recreate Regina Giddens in a radio adaptation, as did Davis.

Laura Linney and Cynthia Nixon are winning raves in a 2017 Broadway revival of The Little Foxes. What’s unique is the two stars are alternating the juicy roles of rapacious Regina and fragile Birdie. Given the chance, I don’t think Tallulah and Bette would have ever done this!

Cynthia Nixon and Laura Linney are doubly dynamic in 'The Little Foxes.'

Lillian Hellman was inspired by her mother’s greedy relatives to write The Little Foxes. Foxes’ family is ruled by the pursuit of riches, no matter what the cost. Regina Giddens is a woman staring at middle age, reliant on her husband Horace Giddens’ staid financial decisions. Regina’s brothers, Ben and Oscar Hubbard, have used the family fortune to finance their own business ventures. Regina, as a woman of her time, has no authoritative power. A Yankee developer proposes to build a cotton mill in their town, making them all partners. The brothers say yes, but Regina must get her estranged husband’s consent. She brings Horace home from the hospital—weak heart, beware—to get him on board. Once he’s home, Regina’s motives are obvious. Horace wants no part of the venture, which will exploit their townspeople, and refuses to participate. Let’s just say this decision doesn’t bring out the best in Regina or her brothers.

Tallulah Bankhead in her best stage role.

The Little Foxes is Hellman’s indictment on America’s mindless greed and exploitation of the working class. Hellman was a lifelong political and social activist, finding herself blacklisted during the McCarthy era, after famously testifying, “I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year's fashions…”

The notoriously persnickety Hellman kept tight reins on her plays’ revivals—and apparently this has continued after her death. Still, it may be surprising to know about a few other versions of The Little Foxes.

Ann Blyth as young Regina Giddens: 'Another Part of the Forest.'

In 1948, Universal released Another Part of the Forest, based on Hellman’s stage play “prequel” to The Little Foxes. Forest focuses on the Hubbard clan when Ben, Oscar, and Regina were young vipers, and their father Marcus conniving to capitalize even further on the loot made as a post-Civil war profiteer. Papa Hubbard’s parenting skills trained his children early on how to be rotten adults. Fredric March (The Best Years of Our Lives) plays patriarch Marcus. Ann Blyth, who played Veda, the daughter from hell, in Mildred Pierce, won kudos as a young Regina.  Edmund O’ Brien plays Ben; fittingly, Dan Duryea plays Oscar, since he played Oscar’s son seven years earlier in The Little Foxes. Betsy Blair, aka Mrs. Gene Kelly, plays young Birdie. John Dall, of The Corn is Green and Rope, plays her cousin. And Dona Drake, famous as Bette Davis’ trashy maid in Beyond the Forest, plays Oscar’s trampy “dancer” girlfriend. Critics highly praised the screen adaptation and cast when Another Part of the Forest was released, but it’s a rather forgotten film today.

Greer Garson & Franchot Tone in '56 'Foxes.'

In 1956, NBC’s Hallmark Hall of Fame presented their version of The Little Foxes, with MGM’s noble Greer Garson as Regina and Franchot Tone as Horace (once married to Joan Crawford when they were MGM stars!) Eileen Heckart, who made a splash as bereaved and boozy Mrs. Daigle in The Bad Seed, gets to be boozy and bravura again as Birdie. Sidney Blackmer (Rosemary’s Baby) and E.G. Marshall (12 Angry Men) are Regina’s bad brothers Ben and Oscar. One of famed TV director’s George Schaefer’s early efforts, he later directed the only film “fox,” Bette Davis, in two of her best latter day TV films: A Piano for Mrs. Cimino and Right of Way.

'67 'Foxes': Ben (George C. Scott) implores his sister Regina, Anne Bancroft.

In 1967, fresh off The Graduate, Mike Nichols again directed Anne Bancroft, as another scheming mother in a stellar revival of The Little Foxes. As the shyster brothers, George C. Scott played Ben and E.G. Marshall repeated his role as Oscar. British actress Margaret Leighton played Birdie and Richard Dysart (L.A. Law) played long-suffering Horace.

Actor Austin Pendleton, who played the nitwit nephew in the ’67 Mike Nichols production, got a rare opportunity in 1981. Now a director, as well, Pendleton guided Elizabeth Taylor as Regina Giddens, in her Broadway debut. As with all about Liz, the production received a tsunami of publicity. Taylor had recently helped husband John Warner get elected senator in Virginia. Post-election, the junior senator left Liz down on the farm, and went to Washington. Home alone, the actress ate and drank, and her figure and self-esteem went south. Taylor quickly tired as the target of comics’ fat jokes, and started losing weight. 

Elizabeth Taylor played another southern belle in the hit '81 revival of The Little 'Foxes.'

A chance meeting with Broadway producer Zev Buffman led to an offer to star on stage. Several plays were considered, with Elizabeth deciding on The Little Foxes. A canny choice, since Taylor’s best film work was theatrical adaptations of strong dramas, often playing Southern women. Taylor showed her famed determination by putting down the fork and the bottle, knocking off 40 pounds and working hard on her debut.

Lillian Hellman, at the center of attention!

Lillian Hellman, who had a formidable ego, didn’t like the notion of her play becoming The Elizabeth Taylor Show. Luckily, Elizabeth was as much of a strategic charmer as Regina Giddens. Taylor used great diplomacy in deferring to Hellman’s demanded changes in the production, mostly over Liz looking too lavish in the role. Lillian, who gave Bette Davis a run for her money in the cantankerous department, ceased complaining when the money came rolling in. In the pre-internet era, Taylor’s Foxes sold almost $1 million in tickets the first week. Another crusty broad that Taylor won over was the great Maureen Stapleton, who played Birdie. Like Hellman, Stapleton was no beauty. But instead of being envious over Taylor’s beauty, “Mighty Mo” and ET became fast friends. The production received mostly good reviews, with surprise raves from The New York Times and even Taylor’s old nemesis, Time magazine.

Stockard Channing looking very Liz-like in the '97 revival of 'Foxes.'

In 1997, Stockard Channing, looking very Elizabeth Taylor-esque, played Regina, with Frances Conroy of Six Feet Under and American Horror Story, as Birdie. The reviews were mixed and it’s one of Channing’s few stage roles where she didn’t receive a Tony nomination.

And now, we have two great character actresses, Laura Linney and Cynthia Nixon, burning up Broadway in both roles. This production has a “that 70’s show” quirky footnote by casting Michael McKean, Lenny of Laverne and Shirley as Ben Hubbard and Richard Thomas, John-Boy from The Waltons, as Horace Giddens. Lenny and John-Boy as brothers-in-law, together on Broadway!

The latest success of The Little Foxes reminds me of one of Regina Giddens’ big lines: “I’ve always been lucky…I’ll be lucky again.”

The latest Foxes, 2017!