Don’s Party is a great Australian movie. It is set entirely on the night of the 1969 Federal election, when Gough Whitlam was destined to lead Labor to victory for the first time in twenty years. David Denby wrote,
Don’s Party is derivative of Pinter, Fellini, Antonioni, Albee, and about a dozen others, and it’s a dispiriting, ugly experience, cliche’d rather than illuminating, smarmy rather than funny.
As we said, a great movie.
For many years we’ve had an election night tradition: Marty’s Don’s Party Party. Friends are invited over to watch Don’s Party in the early evening, and then to stick around to watch the election returns, getting happily or unhappily drunk, whichever is appropriate for the occasion. 2019, of course, was an occasion for the latter, the archetypal Don’s Party evening. Alas, covid and life may preclude MDPP next Saturday. But we’ll be watching the movie, and the returns, and we’ll be drinking. It’s the only way to do it.
For those who want to watch Don’s Party, it is available here (at least for now), and a short clip is below. Enjoy.