Episode 117: Don’s Party (1976)

I revisit Bruce Beresford’s Don’s Party (1976), a wild and very funny snapshot of Australian life that takes place on election night in 1969. It’s a film about politics, drinking, sex, relationships and a party that gradually spirals out of control.

I watched it with Mum and Dad, and their reaction became one of the most enjoyable parts of the experience. They recognised the fashions, attitudes and behaviour of the period, while I found myself remembering pieces of the Australia I grew up in during the 1970s and 80s.

I also look at Bruce Beresford’s remarkable run of Australian films, the political and sexual attitudes captured by Don’s Party, and whether films like this really can capture what a country was like at the time they were made.

A funny, raunchy and unexpectedly nostalgic return to one of Australian cinema’s great time capsules.