A star turn for MacLaine
THERE'S not a great deal to get excited about on TV tonight, though it is most certainly an improvement on yesterday's rubbish.
Any film which brings movie stalwarts Anne Bancroft and Shirley MacLaine together can't be all bad and The Turning Point (World, 9.30pm, original running time 119 mins) isn't, though it could have been better.
Two friends who both started out in ballet meet again years later. Bancroft has become a star ballerina, while MacLaine is a housewife-ballet teacher whose daughter (Leslie Browne) is about to begin her own dancing career . . . not to mention an affair with a star Russian dancer (Mikhail Baryshnikov in his film debut).
Resentment soon emerges as both women air long-held grievances over career versus motherhood, comfort versus arduous training, etc.
MacLaine and Bancroft are outstanding but they are badly let down when the script, which should be saying something about women's relationships, cops out completely and ends in a cat-fight.
Still, the uncut dance sequences are beautiful. HAVEN'T seen the made-for-cable movie The Haunting of Sarah Hardy (Pearl, 9.45pm, ORT 100 mins), but it sounds distinctly average.
Beautiful heiress Sarah (Sela Ward) goes against the advice of her friends and marries Austin (Michael Woods), a man she's only known for a few months.
On their wedding night she hears strange noises and believes she is being haunted by her dead mother, a mentally unstable woman who committed suicide years earlier.
Morgan Fairchild co-stars as Sarah's best friend. INTREPID explorer - and wearer of a certain watch - Sir Ranulph Fiennes makes a guest appearance on Eye on Hongkong (Pearl, 7.35pm). The man often described as a real-life Indiana Jones talks about his most recent expedition, when he and Dr Michael Stroud made the first unsupported crossing of the Antarctic.
Both men suffered severe frostbite and hypothermia on the 2,160km trek, which Sir Ranulph described as ''the most unpleasant and nasty expedition'' he'd ever undertaken. Find out what makes him do it tonight.
And, if you've ever wondered what an art director does on a film, Eye on Hongkong reveals all, while there's more footage from Paul George and Valerie Chow's recent trip to Los Angeles.
GENERAL Norman Schwarzkopf became a national hero after he commanded the US forces in the Gulf War in 1991. In 20/20 (Pearl, 8.05pm), anchor-woman Barbara Walters talks to ''Stormin' Norman'' about his life in the military and the war. She also has a sneak preview of the general's new book.
CHILDREN should enjoy The Selfish Giant (STAR Plus, 10am) an adaptation of Oscar Wilde's story about a young boy who shows a giant how to enjoy life. David Niven narrates.