Main Cast: Ray Barrett, Clare Binney, Pat Bishop, Graeme Blundell, Jeanie Drynan
Release Year: 1976
Country: AU
Run Time: 90 minutes
Plot
Early in his career, Australian director Bruce Beresford helmed Don's Party, which closely mirrors Shampoo in its basic premise and its edgy correlations between sex and politics. One pivotal election night, Don, played by John Hargreaves, throws a party for a group of friends, ostensibly so that everyone can watch the ballots roll in on television. But when booze is consumed in quantity, inhibitions are kicked downstairs. Particularly boorish under the influence of alcohol are Don's male friends, who indulge in a barrage of insulting verbal attacks on each other when they aren't trying to get each other's wives into bed. Unapologetically adult in its content and themes, Don's Party was adapted from a play by David Williamson; it marks one of the earliest classics of Australian New Wave cinema. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Bruce Beresford's adaptation of David Williamson's coruscating black comedy on the dashed political hopes of a group of thirtysomething friends is a sort of Australian Big Chill, albeit far more penetrating and honest. When Don Henderson (John Hargreaves), a partisan of Australia's Labor Party, invites some like-minded friends over to celebrate an anticipated victory in the national election of 1969, their mood turns ugly after their candidate's loss is announced. As the drinking continues apace, the men's thin veneer of civility also begins to wear away. Mack (Graham Kennedy) brandishes a naked photo of his recently divorced wife, while the others are intent on pursuing any woman not their spouse. More tellingly, the playful comic jabs exchanged by the men earlier in the evening give way to increasingly vicious personal attacks, as they gradually reveal the disillusionment of compromised lives, with the women equally disenchanted, if more ruefully amused by the childish behavior of their husbands. Resolutely unamused by her mate is the most grounded of these characters, Don's long-suffering wife, Kath (Jeanie Drynan), and one wonders if their marriage will survive the party. The playwright's take on the way in which personal goals are displaced into the political realm blends with a more universal vision of the sobering effect of aging in a film of lasting impact. Although its stage origins may be evident in the unity of time and place, Beresford's deft editing, Williamson's scathing dialogue, and an excellent cast are enough to efface these apparent limitations. While some of the slang will remain a mystery to non-Australians, a surprising number of the funnier and less subtle idioms can be inferred from context. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide
Rhoisin Harrison - Art Director, Anna Senior - Costume Designer, Bruce Beresford - Director, William M. Anderson - Editor, Donald M. McAlpine - Cinematographer, Phil Adams - Producer, Rhoisin Harrison - Set Designer, David Williamson - Screenwriter, Leos Janácek - Featured Music, David Williamson - Play Author
Don's Party is a 1971 play by David Williamson set during the 1969 Australian federal election. Adapted to a 1976 film by the author and directed by Bruce Beresford, Don's Party stars John Hargreaves as Don Henderson, a schoolteacher living with his wife, Kath (Jeanie Drynan), in 1969. Out of boredom, he invites a small group of friends to celebrate a predicted Australian Labor Party (ALP) election victory, much to the dismay of his wife. The play is set in suburban Melbourne, while the film is relocated to a suburb on the North Shore of Sydney.
As the party wears on, it becomes clear that the ALP, who are supported by Don and most of the guests, are not winning. As a result the drinking goes up a few notches, and the humorous "cracking-on" between Don and his male friends about their failed aspirations gets uglier, as does their behaviour toward the women.
Mack (Graham Kennedy), a design engineer whose wife has just left him, pulls out a nude photo of her for his friends' approval. Cooley (Harold Hopkins), whose professed passions are "shaving, shitting, and shagging," but apparently not in that order, pursues the available women. Meanwhile, the disillusioned wives exchange tales of their husbands' subpar sexual performance.
By the end of the night, Don and some of his friends have begun to grasp the emptiness of their compromised lives. The film has never been appreciated by the critics but struck a chord with audiences and was recently reissued in a 2-DVD commemorative edition. Australians don't know whether to celebrate or excoriate the film, representing as it does every stereotype of the boorish, beer-swilling Australian male, yet their crude propositions and inept overtures make them somehow vulnerable, and when the carefully orchestrated wife-swapping climax collapses so do they - on top of each other.
