Dons Party...A 1976 movie about the "real" Australia has dated very badly. This is my first viewing of this "Australian Classic", but i found it a fabricated experience. Its the sort of writing that Anton Checkov would have came up with....when he was 3 years old. The acting is only OK, and i found the script tedious and...at times...pretentious. David Williamson has written many Australian plays and has been quite successful, but here the stagy feel about the structure is not a bonus. No doubt that many people from that time in history still rate it very highly. After all....Australia is not known for making good movies. (They are good at...cricket !!)

An adaptation of a popular play, this inherently Australian film examines the dynamics of a cocktail party thrown by a couple on election night in 1969, which eventually deteriorates into confrontation and some sexual shenanigans. Hargreaves and Drynan play the couple who have a minor amount of dissatisfaction between them which is exacerbated by the interplay of their guests. Barrett and Bishop are on the verge of divorce themselves. Blundell and Lang are the black sheep of the group, living a bit better off and rooting for the opposite political party. Taylor and Raymond are on the rocks due to his attempts to rein in her free and artistic spirit. Sexually voracious Hopkins brings his latest nubile conquest Binney with him. Kennedy is the lone single guest, having just evicted his wife following another domestic squabble. These folks drink and chatter about politics, but as the night wears on and the political party that most of them support begins to flounder, things begin to spiral downward. Binney decides she wants to bed down with Hargreaves, understandingly upsetting Drynan. Taylor gets angry and storms out when Raymond doesn't wish to leave. The remaining men gang up on Blundell and humiliate him for being different. Hopkins makes a move on one of the wives while the rest bicker amongst themselves or with their mates. It's almost a plot less film; more of a character study with the characters representing exaggerated facets of the Australian populace. Accordingly, it may mean more to its core audience, though it remains entertaining and compelling to others as well. It's aggressively tacky in décor and costuming and vulgar in dialogue, but has a nice clipped pace and contains many interesting exchanges between the characters. Also, there are considerable doses of skin on display to keep things spicy. Four of the men and three of the women have nude scenes of varying exposure. Though some of the actors are not well-known apart from their work Down Under, the cast is made up of several of the country's most popular performers of the era. Sadly, Hargreaves died of AIDS in 1996.

Don's Party is a really funny film. It also is a glimpse at how the 60's sexual revolution invaded suburban Australia. The dialogue is taut and sharp, the characters both quirky and realistic, and the setup funny in a tawdry, Blake Edwards kind of way. A fun rental well worth seeing.

Perhaps one of the best of Williamson's plays/movies, the story is about an election eve party where the winning side is the wrong one for most of the participants.The characterization of the drunk middle-aged, middle class, and slightly socialist characters is in my opinion the highlight of the film.A must see for anyone wanting to understand Australia.