The Turning Point is a 1977 American drama film centered on the world of ballet in New York City, written by Arthur Laurents and directed by Herbert Ross. It stars Shirley MacLaine and Anne Bancroft, along with Leslie Browne, Mikhail Baryshnikov, and Tom Skerritt. It was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, including Best Picture; however, the film did not win any Oscars, and it is tied with The Color Purple (1985) with that distinction for most nominations and no wins. The script is a fictionalized version of the real-life Brown family and the friendship between ballerinas Isabel Mirrow Brown and Nora Kaye.