Tom Shales

Talk about your quintessential Washington affairs: Hostess Maximus Sally Quinn tossing a backyard dinner party at the Quinn-Ben Bradlee Georgetown mansion in honor of "Mr. Conservative: Goldwater on Goldwater," a new HBO documentary on the late Barry Goldwater, Republican Arizona senator and one-time presidential candidate, that gets its premiere on the cable network Monday night (Sept. 18) at 9.

A tent was set up in the narrow but very deep yard—just beyond the tennis courts which are just beyond the pool—and guests included Sen. John Warner, columnist and commentator George F. Will, former MPAA Chief Jack Valenti, ex-CBS anchor Bob Schieffer, a smattering of HBO executives (including Sheila Nevins, in charge of nonfiction programming), MSNBC's never-shy Chris Matthews and too many more to list.

Some were in tears during the more emotional parts of the doc, and Quinn told an HBO vice president how impressed she was that everybody stayed for the entire film—no early sneaking out as usually happens when a movie is shown after a dinner in this hungry and impatient town.

Quinn and Goldwater were close friends; she and Bradlee are both interviewed in the film, as are many of those who attended the party. CC Goldwater, the senator's granddaughter and executive producer of the film, paced nervously through the crowd before the screening began but was reportedly much encouraged by the audience reaction. They loved the film and, if they didn't love Barry Goldwater when the film started, they did by the time it ended.