A bit off topic for this forum but I was wondering if anyone could assist with a query.

I remembered watching an Australian film around 1984/85 set in the Sydney Opera House where 4 young people are following the news of nuclear war breaking out in Europe. It was sort of an Australian version of the cold war era films that were released at the time.

I was sure it was called One Night Stand but had never been able to find a copy of it on video or DVD so I thought I may have had the title wrong. I seem to recall some Midnight Oil music was used in the soundtrack which would have been appropriate as their 1984 album Red Sails In The Sunset featured Sydney after a nuclear attack on the cover.

During some recent unrelated research I came across an advert for the film which proved the title was correct and the film was directed by John Duigan. I have found some basic information on the film via internet searches but still haven't found whether it is available for purchase or whether it had even made it to video.

An online review is as follows "In Australia, four teenagers in the Sydney Opera House are horrified to hear the news that nuclear war has broken out in Eastern Europe. They try to figure out the best way they can survive the coming conflagration. At the film's end, it is left uncertain whether Sydney will be hit by nuclear weapons, although the US spy facility at Pine Gap has been obliterated."

It may not even be a great film (the online revue ratings for it aren't high) but I wouldn't mind seeing it again after 27 years just out of interest. I tended to like films at the time which featured Soviet intrigue from behind the Iron Curtain such as The Falcon & The Snowman, Gorky Park or even lighter themed ones such as Gotcha or Spies Like Us.

Does anyone know if this film, One Night Stand, is available to buy anywhere?

Below is an advert for the film (from an April 1984 Football Record)

Must admit to having never heard of this one.

But there were so many local movies released during that era due to very generous tax breaks. The 1970s-80s were a huge time for local cinema with a new Australian film released nearly every week it seemed.

My father is an actor and starred in quite a lot of local productions - Storm Boy, Blue Fin, The Last Wave,etc. Some are on DVD but many others aren't.

It's all a matter of who owns the rights to them. And some of them are owned by several companies so they may never see the light of day. I want to find a movie called 'The Fourth Wish' starring John Mellion and made in 1976. My father and brother were in it and it was filmed at the local pub which my family owned. Can't find that anywhere on DVD either unfortunately.

Would love to see all of them released sometime - a great snapshot of a fine era.

Check out this link on a fantastic movie looking back on all of those types of films...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Not_Quite_Hollywood

Guru, I have seen it!!! I saw it on Foxtel about 8 years ago or so. It was FAB!!!

Thanks for that info Patrick, much appreciated. I haven't seen Not Quite Hollywood yet, will put that on a "to do" list.

I love 70's and 80's Australian movies (and many TV dramas) as they developed an urban feel to them that I could relate to much more than imported material from the US or UK. In movies such as The Club or Moving Out I would recognise landmarks in Collingwood and Fitzroy. Blue Fin and Storm Boy were 2 definite favourites among many that had a real Australian feel to them. I even think the current remake of Puberty Blues captures the 70's quite well.

I knew you did film reviews in Adelaide but wasn't aware there was a family connection to acting and movies.

Will keep looking for One Night Stand

Fantastic that it has been shown on Foxtel, so it is still floating around - unfortunately I don't have Foxtel. If it ever gets shown again you will have to do a copy for me.

It's a wonder that Umbrella Entertainment hasn't released it on DVD. As they seem to release many forgotten Aussie movies from the 70's and 80's. I have never seen the movie, but I remember seeing the movie traler so many times at the cinemas. It was released on video in the 80's by Columbia/Hoyts video. I will have to look out for it on Foxtel next time. And do check out 'Not Quite Hollywood' it's great.

I do love Aussie films from the 70's and 80's, even today, very easy to relate to with the characters and scenery. Guru, I agree that the series 'Puberty Blues' is spot on, depicting life in suburban Australia in 1977. I even had a laugh at the scene at the end of last weeks episode when the 2 girls were watching Countdown - the intro to it and David Bowies 'Heroes' clip and recording it onto cassette from the TV - god I did that in the mid to late 80's recording music from VHS movies onto audio cassette (even though it sounded s h i t). LOL. TV shows shot in Melbourne in the late 70's to mid 80's in Melbourne appeal to me too ie 'Prisoner'. I was born in Box Hill and lived in Box Hill and the Ringwood area, so a lot of the outdoor shots, I was familiar with.

I assume the aussie movie 'One Night Stand' was a bit lighthearted, going by the promo poster, even though it had a serious theme behind it? The actors from 'One Night Stand', who are they? are they nobodies? I also like the Cold War theme of the mid 80's and the tension between the US and Soviet Union, which is why 'Rocky IV' is one of my faves (and interestingly enough, it was the hightest grossing movie of all the Rocky movies - those yanks do love to come out on top and be victorious. LOL)

'One Night Stand' reminds me of that movie with Dannii Minogue in the early 90's about a group of teenagers stuck in a room downstairs and unable to get out while the Beatles are performing at the venue (I haven't seen the movie). Also reminds me of other movies like 'The Breakfast Club'.

Jason, do you remember which Foxtel channel 'One Night Stand' was on, going back 8 years ago?

Michael
That is a fairly good comparison in regards to Breakfast Club as the type of setting. It was along the same lines with character development as they grapple with what they are facing. It must have had a reasonable script as much of the film from memory relied on the dialogue. I remember enjoying it when I saw it on TV in around 1985 so I am keen to see it again to see if it actually was good or I was just in a happy mood on that particular day and willing to absorb anything.

Brett
Good to know it was officially released. I assumed it would have been as everything went to video back then - many low budget movies went straight to video. Video rentals was huge in the mid 80's.

I just tried a different tactic and rather than search for One Night Stand I typed in "John Duigan" into ebay and found a copy in the US for $40 + $10 postage - looks ex-rental with a "comedy" label on the front. I remembered it as entertaining but didn't think it was a comedy. Not the cheapest thing I have ever bought but after years of looking I will finally get a copy - almost certainly NTSC though.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/310444168121?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

Speaking of movies - Does anyone know of a good site that has 'Vibes' starring Cyndi Lauper and 'Tina - What's Love Got To Do With It' for sale on DVD? Maybe I'll get it on second hand on ebay?

Patrick
I have a VHS tape of The Fourth Wish released by CEL Home Entertainment. Are you interested in a DVD copy?

Wow, am I ever! Yes please that would be fantastic.

If you want anything for it in return send me an email. Cheers for that, very much appreciated.

Hi GuruBob,

I just noticed your post about wanting a copy of the 1984 Australian movie "One Night Stand" with actors Cassandra Delaney (Fair Game movie, Richmond Hill & once married to singer John Denver), Tyler Coppin, Jay Hackett (Puberty Blues movie, Sons And Daughters) & Saskia Post (Sons And Daughters, Return To Eden series & Dogs In Space movie with the late Michael Hutchence). If you're still wanting a copy I have a video copy from tv which I taped as a late movie in the late 80s that I can transfer to a dvd. It is clear and ad free I think. Will have to check.


I have been a keen Australian movie collector for many years and am always looking for any rare 60s, 70s & 80s movies. Not sure if anybody on here is able to help with two movies I am trying to find "The Set" (1970) with Hazel Phillips & Rod Mullinar and the movie "Sweet Dreamers" (1982) with Richard Moir & Sue Smithers. Have ben searching for these for many years and they seem like their non-existent. I knew Sue back in the 90s and she also did not have a copy of this movie. Of anyone is able to help would really very much appreciate it.

Hi
I would be happy to take a copy of your recording of One Night Stand if you wanted to do that. If there are ads in it then I would actually prefer that you keep them in. I know a collector of TV ads who I can trade those with and as that person has many copies of Hey Hey It's Saturday from 1983 onwards I need to find something to trade with him as I loved the "live" music acts that appeared on that show.

I did buy the copy of One Night Stand that I found on ebay, it cost me $50 including postage and as it was from the US it is an NTSC format tape. All of my 11 video recorders are PAL VHS and I have never bothered getting an NTSC machine as I rarely deal with NTSC video material. I have a cheap Multi Video System converter to change the signal from NTSC to PAL when I make copies but it seems to make a letterbox format for the picture which is not as ideal as a full screen PAL copy. I have since seen 5 copies of the video listed on Amazon but they are also all NTSC tapes from the US. Therefore if you were able to make a copy of your off air recording then that would be greatly appreciated, just let me know what you want for it. I often trade footage but I don't think I have much in the way of rare Australian films so I might just need to pay you if you find that acceptable.

I have never heard of The Set or Sweet Dreamers but it is possible I may have them if they screened on TV in the last 20 years. I once bought about 5,000 videos on ebay which have general TV recorded on them (unfortunately no music or sport though). It was a deceased estate and as I was the only bidder I got them for 99c the lot - which was about 50 tapes for every 1c outlay. If I hadn't have bought them they would have gone to the tip and I thought it was too interesting to turn that into landfill. When I went to pick them up every room plus the garage was floor to ceiling video tapes, I'd never seen anything like it. The lady who recorded them between 1990-2008, recorded just about every movie and many dramas/comedies that screened over that time, including SBS, so it is possible that those 2 movies are amongst them somewhere if they screened at any time during that period. It would take me about a week to look through all the tape labels and I don't have the time for that at the moment, particularly as there is probably little chance that the films you seek are there. I have never even had the chance to watch any of the tapes as yet - apart from a few episodes of Rafferty's Rules - due to time limitations. It looks like they were recorded in long play as there are up to 4 movies or 18 episodes of 30min serials on each tape so there is up to 40,000 hours of footage there. Some of it like Hey Dad could be rare as that will not be getting screened or released any time soon.

Below are the scans of the cover and back of my NTSC video of One Night Stand.

Guru, if you come across any episodes of 'E Street', 'The Flying Doctors', 'Acropolis Now' or 'Tonight Live with Steve Vizard' let me know - I'm trying to think of more stuff I would find interesting from the early 90's??? Although an answer to this could take some time, months or years going by the amount of tapes you have.

I don't recall having seen any Acropolis Now amongst my off air tapes but as it was officially released on video and DVD it should be relatively easy to obtain. I have the first 11 episodes on the video release. The DVD box set (all 63 episodes) has sold for $245 recently on ebay according to completed listings while there is one currently listed at 99c but I suspect that it will finish much higher.

E Street I saw a bit just the other day when looking through a Beta tape, it was only about the first 10 min of an episode though before the tape ran out. Flying Doctors I have 2 episodes that I know of when Brian Mannix made a guest appearance. Tonight Live with Steve Vizard I have a few bits and pieces only as far as I can recall, usually just the opening parts of an episode as it often appeared after Tuesday night football games that had been recorded on my tapes.

Michael,
The Flying Doctors and Acropolis Now were available on DVD at Crawfords Store website, the website at www.crawfordstore.com.au and for E Street and Tonight Live With Steve Vizard, you can search it on eBay or Amazon and it was on DVD before.

HI, I am too after a copy of One Night Stand and have been looking for ages. I have found many copies on Ebay but alas I do not have an NTSC Video Player. I would be able to do a swap with anything you may be after. I have a lot of Prisoner stuff (A lot of events I have been to)on video, mainly avi's and Mp4's. Let me know as I would really enjoy seeing this show again.

Cheers Terry

Thanks Nicholas. I'm aware that Crawfords are flogging these. I have a slight interest in seeing them, but not a diehard fan to part with that much money. As for 'E Street', I have the 2 DVD's that were released (The Mr Bad storylines). There was a time there in the late 90's and 2004 when they showed E Street on Ten during the day, but they only get to a certain point in the series and stop - I've heard that many episodes are too damaged to air and put onto disc for sale (which is why they focus on certain storylines for DVD release).

Merry Christmas all.

I have copied a dvd of the movie "One Night Stand" with ads also. As I copy on LP mode to save on disc space I have also added a second Aussie flick from 1984 "Melvin, Son Of Alvin" which is the sequel to the Alvin movies of the 1970s. You may know or already have it. This was aired around the same time of the "One Night Stand" movie either 1988 or 1989 something like that and it also has adds added. I don't have any recollection of the movies I requested ever airing on commercial tv since the mid 1980s so I doubt you will be able to help me with those titles although it would be good if you did have them in you're collection. I know I would have recorderd them by this had they been on the tv as I always record the classic Aussie movies back at the time. Nothing has changed always waiting for that rare forgotten Aussie movie gem. Please if you can send me some sort of list what you have in the way of music or tv or film. My tastes are fairly broad so I'm sure there is something I will want. Just send me you're details and will post off this week.

Hope you enjoy them.

Hi Scott
I don't actually have a contact email for you.

Also I don't have a list of all the movies I have from the bulk lot I bought - there would be about 1000 but mostly common I'd assume - all shown on TV in the last 20 years. That lot actually came with a cataloged (hand-written) list but I can't find it at the moment but either way not much use.

I could send a list of music but I haven't updated my list since mid 2010 due to a lack of time, although I haven't gotten much since then as I had mainly been trading football footage. I can give you that to look through.

Does the quality of the movie remain OK recorded in LP? I find once you go beyond 2 hours on a disc you start experiencing pixelation.

Not sure if I am late to this. But I got two dvd copies from www.ioffer.com
There is one for sale there now:

http://www.ioffer.com/i/one-night-stand-cassandra-delaney-507210501

Hope that helps!

Tom
tgs333@yahoo.com

Thanks for the reply Tom, much appreciated.

I have however received a copy from Scott but it is good to know other sources for material.

In John Duigan's interview on The Weekend Australian Review dated April 14-15 2012, he is working with Umberlla Entertainment to track his pre-fame 70s films for DVD release and he said to The Weekend Australian Review, "Mouth To Mouth is one, which I'm very pleased about. Far East is another, Winter Of Our Dreams, and they're hoping to do One Night Stand as well."
If his 1994 film Sirens starring Elle Macpherson got a soundtrack of old songs, it will have Girls On Film by Duran Duran on a possible would-be soundtrack.

One Night Stand is for sale on videotape at Amazon.com

One Night Stand will be released on DVD by Umbrella Entertainment next month. It's part of Ozploitation Classics series.

I have a Countdown themed ep of Tonight Live

I saw this movie in year 8 (1987) at school. Thought it was great then, so borrowed it from the library in the 90's and watched it again, with more of an understanding of what it was all about. Still think it's a classic.

As of September this month an official DVD movie “One Night Stand” from 1984 is released for sale through all good DVD and retail stores. Enjoy!