Directed By: Bruce Beresford
Starring: John Hargreaves, Pat Bishop, Graham Kennedy
Tag line: "What a helluva night!"
Trivia: First major acting role in a feature film for Australian Television personality Graham Kennedy
October, 1969. A general election is being held in Australia, and, anticipating a victory for the underdog Labour Party, school teacher Don Henderson (John Hargreaves) and his wife Kath (Jeanie Dryan) decide to throw a party. Among the attendees are John’s outspoken friend Mal (Ray Barrett) and his oft-depressed significant other, Jenny (Pat Bishop); Simon (Graeme Blundell), a meek accountant, and his pretty but naïve wife Jody (Veronica Lang); Mack (Graham Kennedy), a wannabe photographer whose wife has just left him; Cooley (Harold Hopkins), a womanizing lawyer, and his curvaceous 19-year-old date du jour, Susan (Claire Binney); and Kerry (Candy Raymond), a sultry artist whose dentist husband, Evan (Kit Taylor), is most definitely the jealous type. As the alcohol flows and the election results come in, gentle ribbing turns into all-out insults, innocent flirtations lead to adultery, and before the party is over, more than one marriage will be teetering on the brink of collapse.
Based on a 1971 play by David Williamson, Don’s Party is a very funny movie (after throwing back a few beers, Cooley confesses to Mack that he once slept with his now-estranged wife. Not missing a beat, a nonplussed Mack, in turn, admits that he knew all about the tryst because he was in the bedroom closet shooting photos of it, which he now sells for a profit). Of course, seeing as it deals so openly with relationships, the film also has its fair share of drama; on more than one occasion, a couple will “air their dirty laundry”, often doing so quite loudly. Toss in a moment or two of frontal nudity (both male and female) and plenty of sexual innuendo, and you have a smart satire that takes aim at politics, marriage, art, and the middle class; as well as a bawdy sex comedy that’s as titillating as it is thought-provoking.
As with any movie based on a play, Don’s Party does, at times, feel a bit too talky for its own good. What saves the film, however (apart from its clever screenplay, which Williamson himself penned), is the cast that director Beresford assembled, all of whom deliver strong performances (Graham Kennedy is especially good as the party’s lone single attendee, as is Pat Bishop, who, though stuck in the background for most of the movie, has one very poignant scene late in the film). Thanks to them, what could have been a stage-bound, dialog heavy snooze fest is instead fascinating and alive.
Whether it’s sophistication or sex you’re after, Don’s Party has what you’re looking for.
