The Club (1980)

Synopsis: Like DON'S PARTY, THE CLUB is an adaptation of a David Williamson satirical play, and, like the earlier play, it's a dissection of male power games. Jack Thompson stars as Laurie, the coach of the... Like DON'S PARTY, THE CLUB is an adaptation of a David Williamson satirical play, and, like the earlier play, it's a dissection of male power games. Jack Thompson stars as Laurie, the coach of the mediocre Collingwood football club, for which he was once a star player. Given the team's sagging fortunes, both the team's unctuously Machiavellian administrator, Gerry (Alan Cassell), and its blustering president, Ted (Graham Kennedy), intimate to the coach that he might soon be working elsewhere. But it's not easy for Laurie to motivate players such as Danny (Harold Hopkins), an aging veteran who can't accept that he's not the player he was, or Geoff (John Howard), an irreverent young superstar who thinks the game is "a load of competitive macho bull****." He must also contend with Jock (Frank Wilson), another crusty ex-star and part-time woman beater who's angling for Laurie's job in his own punch-drunk manner. As the tactics of the businesspeople become progressively more repellent, Laurie wonders if they've irrevocably destroyed his feeling for the game. The characters in Williamson's hilarious, sharply observed slice-of-life are universally familiar, and his play is very well served by the cast and director Bruce Beresford. [More]

Starring: Jack Thompson, Graham Kennedy, Frank Wilson, John Howard

Starring: Jack Thompson, Graham Kennedy, Frank Wilson, John Howard

Director: Bruce Beresford

Director: Bruce Beresford

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