Natural Causes (1985) – Nostalgia Central

This made-for-TV movie from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) had four former university friends reuniting to exhume the body of their friend, Sonny, who they buried 12 years earlier in the foundations of their long-abandoned inner-city share-house in Sydney, which is now scheduled for demolition.

Danni, Warren, Cass and Jerry were part of the 1960s revolution of sex, drugs, Vietnam demos and The Beatles. They shared a house, smoked dope, slept around and talked about changing the world.

But now it’s the 1980s, and all have sold out in their own way.

Danni (Geraldine Turner), who once aspired to be a serious actress. is now the hostess of a wheel segment on a TV variety show; Warren (Gary Day) is a Ferrari-driving architect who builds housing commission tower blocks high enough for people to jump off: Cass (Robyn Gurney) is a deserted mother in overalls, and Jerry (Bill Young) is a dentist still into drugs.

They haven’t seen each other for years.

Then Warren finds out their old shared house is to be demolished. In the cellar, a skeleton is buried – their old pal who jumped off the roof on an LSD trip – and they must dig it up before the demolishers arrive.

Gradually, other “skeletons” are revealed – Danni has herpes, Jerry is gay, Cass once tried to get into bed with Danni’s lover (the skeleton in the cellar), and Warren is still in love with Danni.

Scattered throughout are some memorable one-liners (“Straight men are like dinosaurs –  they don’t exist anymore”), and there are some wonderfully funny and dramatic moments as the foursome’s joy at seeing each other again seesaws between bitter reminiscences and nostalgia for the golden days of their radical youth.

Danni
Geraldine Turner
Warren
Gary Day
Cass
Robyn Gurney
Jerry
Bill Young
Sgt. Winterton
Roger Carroll
Constable Da Nelly
Tony Martin
Constable Fulford
Nicholas Opolski
Johnny Matlock
Mike Woods
Kwik Klown
Paul Fitzgerald
Bowler
Dick Moss

Director
Michael Carson

Video