Going Down (film)
1983 Australian film
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Going Down is a 1982 Australian film about young people living in a share house.[2]
Vera Plevnik
Julie Barry
Moira MacLaine-Cross
- 1983
| Going Down | |
|---|---|
VHS cover | |
| Directed by | Haydn Keenan |
| Written by | Moira MacLaine-Cross, Julie Barry, Melissa Woods (also credited as "Additional Directed Material") |
| Starring | Tracy Mann Vera Plevnik Julie Barry Moira MacLaine-Cross |
Release date |
|
Running time | 92 min |
| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
| Budget | A$400,000[1] |
The film's one-liner reads: "Four women friends leave behind the feral days of youth after a night of uncontrolled excess in inner-city Sydney during the early 1980s."[3]
Cast
- Tracy Mann as Karli
- Vera Plevnik as Jane
- Julie Barry as Jackie
- Moira MacLaine-Cross as Ellen
- David Argue as Greg / Trixie [4]
- Esben Storm as Michael
- Ian Gilmour as Shadow
- Danny Adcock as Supporter
- Mercia Deane-Johns as Ned
Release
The film was self-distributed and ran for 14 weeks in Sydney but performed poorly in Melbourne.[5] In 2025, Muscle Distribution, as part of its first acquisition and theatrical release, restored the film in 4K for its first-ever U.S. run, premiering at BAM Rose Cinemas in New York.[6]
The film was officially rereleased in May 2026 in Australia by Smart St Films [7]
Reception
"A remarkable landmark in Australian independent filmmaking. Unfortunately, it is a landmark that few people noticed.” - Marcus Breen, Australian Film 1978 - 1992 (1993).[8]
"One of the first films to show the world the true gritty underside of Australian life, Going Down has become a cult classic for its realistic depiction of Sydney in the 1980s, a portrayal decidedly at odds with the sun, surf, sand and barbies of Australia's tourism campaigns." - Melbourne International Film Festival 2009 [9]
In the Sydney Morning Herald in 2011 Mark Swayer wrote "no film I've seen has better captured the chaotic heartbeat of the young sensation-seeker's Sydney."[1]
