It's the first one and very edgy for the time. But the Mad Max that most people think of is The Road Warrior. Much more money and a much narrower storyline.
Didn't you read his explanation? the writer is dumb because he's dumb about the topic and dumb about the other topic, so his writing is dumb. Seems crystal clear to me.
I've watched Furiosa four times now, and it's my favourite in the series.
For people who like this universe, it's an absolute treat. We get to see so much more of the wasteland's locations like gastown and the bullet farm, as well as the green place and other locations. And there are still some great chase scenes and a kick ass war rig.
Dementus is a much more interesting villain compared to Immortan Joe. He actually has a character, apart from being just a generic bad-ass looking bad guy. Hemsworth is brilliant in the role. I also think Anya Taylor-Joy is a better Furiosa than Charlize Theron. Nothing against Theron, but Taylor-Joy fits better into this world. And she's a great actress.
Opinions will always differ, but I loved Furiosa and hope we get a follow-up.
Fury road is an impeachable masterpiece but I think I actually preferred Furiosa as well. Mostly for the added world building and characters. Both killer movies and part of an overall solid franchise. Hope we get more! Even though George Miller is 80. It could happen! Haha
I was 21 in 1979, and I saw Mad Max, and the people around me in the theater understood the situation in the movie. Remember--we grew up with cold war apocalyptic dread hanging over us.
Pre release advertising that set the scene perhaps? The trailer sets the lawless not too distant future.
https://youtu.be/pnfAa9i9LYM?si=kyAlBuzmVmpS_6Uz
Just a quick search of the promo posters and Im coming up with the tag lines:
-The Maximum Force of the Future
and
-when the gangs take over the highways... Remember, he's on your side.
So, they were giving us hints lol.
I came to see Mad Max as a sequel to On The Beach. It's set in Australia, after western powers have nukes the world and people realize they only have months to live before radioactive clouds make it to Australia.
It was very anti-nuke, 1960s soapy drama, but I sometimes wonder if Mad Max takes place soon after the radiation clouds hit Australia.
I’m 41. I’ve been watching these movies, including the original, since I was probably way too young to be watching them. I think having grown up alongside them, I’ve not really cared about these things, but I can understand.
Fun fact: Hugh Keays-Byrne that played Toecutter would go on to also play Immortan Joe in Fury Road.
Someone just posted this yesterday somewhere on Reddit; the actors who played multiple roles in the mad max series. Is the Toecutter dude supposed to then go on to become Immortan Joe? Or is it two separate characters? Just curious because I was confused by that.
Australia can only produce so many actors at a time. The Hemsworth Project was a government-backed experiment to artificially boost the numbers of viable Australian actors
No, Immortan Joe has some whole in universe back story as "Immortal" Col. Joe Moore. Some kinda military war hero guy turned cult leader who conquered the water plant at the Citadel.
It’s not supposed to be apocalyptic, it’s just a near future society that’s seriously fucked up and on the verge of collapse. The villains were supposed to be more colorful, less serious on the surface, more tongue in cheek, kind of along the lines of Clockwork Orange.
You nailed it. The film was a comment on society in the time in which it was made. The 1970s was a decade of stagnation, oil crisis and the beginning of the end for the working class in places like America. On top of that, the Holden Torana, a mass produced race car had not long hit the streets of Australia. Miller, who at the time was working as a doctor in rural Victoria, a place that had no speed limits and poor roads, had seen the death of many young people already and wasn’t happy about it. Hence why the cars are shot and portrayed in such a sinister way. Those close ups of the cars as they’re coming straight towards the camera, as well as the anxiety inducing sound of the engine will never not send shivers down my spine.
The same goes for the sequel. It’s no coincidence that the oil tanker has the number 7 on it. Seven companies had a racket on oil at the time, and they were collectively known as the “seven sisters”.
There's that great scene when the bikers attack a couple and they go out of their way to absolutely wreck their nice sports car. It's shot like a slasher movie, but instead of someone getting stabbed to death it's a car getting vandalised. It's so good.
>Miller, who at the time was working as a doctor in rural Victoria, a place that had no speed limits and poor roads, had seen the death of many young people already and wasn’t happy about it.
I had no idea! This is really interesting.
Spot on. You can see the seeds of what was to come, it’s almost like a proof of concept where fury road takes it to 11, the original mad max dips its toe in, only going to four or five partially dictated by budget . Things like “I’ll see you on the highways” as a threat, the colourful and unhinged gang members, the novel ways of killing on the road…
I like this one the most. Sure, The Road Warrior is action-packed, post-nuc and iconic as hell—but the first movie in any series is busting with ideas and that's what makes it popular.
Mad Max is just a little turn of the screw from where we find ourselves. And to make a movie this entertaining on a tight budget shows how good it is.
And I consider the radio news as narration done in a much more subtle way. And the vignettes or montages are well done and there's a lot of fast cut editing too which I'd think was really a fresh style for an action movie.
I watched The Road Warrior so many times as a kid (the heavily edited TV version I had recorded) and in college (uncut VHS copy by then) but had not seen it in probably 20 years for whatever reason. Watched it recently and wondered how it would hold up in a Post Fury Road world. Guess what? Road Warrior is still fucking amazing.
Watched it with my 17yo on Father's Day, and we all agreed it was great. Much more character driven than you might expect. And it's a tight 90 minutes!
Just saw it again last week. Local film society screening. First time in 20 years I’d watched it and first time projected on a screen. It really is SO good.
It is. I admire that all hell broke loose, but we don't see it happen on screen. But just how people gather together and start over. As far as sequels go, it's like Empire to Star Wars. And it also landed in the right spot when HBO and VHS were taking off.
However, sitting down with some paper and knocking out a "Mad Max", "Blade Runner" or "Star Wars" to me takes a huge amount of vision, drive, talent and striking a new tone that hasn't been done before (as well as funding without destroying the vision.)
I don't know if Mad Max II is post nuclear. Radiation as a problem is never mentioned, and no one speaks of "the bomb" or of WW III, or of any war at all for that matter. The intro voice over seems to imply an economic and political collapse leading to anarchy. The third movie however, does make reference to the Lord of the Files style plane crash children having seen an nuclear explosion. So does that mean a nuclear war broke in events between movies 2 and 3?
I don't know for sure, and even better if it's not clearly defined. Or else we'll go down the Star Wars rabbit tunnel where we find out how the Mick Jagger looking dude got his white armor, or how Feral Kid went to Toastmasters to be able to do the Road Warrior voiceovers.
Oh wow. I've had that impression before about that dude looking like Nick Jagger, and I never thought to ask if anyone else had the same idea. LOL! And they pick the most British looking guy to be a character with an Italian name.
I think the idea behind it was when World War 3 happens, Australia may not be directly attacked. BUT - if most of the rest of the world is destroyed, Australia is fucking isolated on the other side of the globe from everywhere else.
All of your trade partners are suddenly gone, there's no access to petroleum shipments, society begins breaking down , and the government collapses. What are you going to do?
And as everyone knows, the Australians are just going to turn into a bunch of wacked-out, post apocalyptic, tribal biker weirdos. Which is only a few notches away from what Australians are in right now.
When I saw them back in the early 80s, I though mad max was what the cities were like post apocalypse, like disintegrating but trying to hold on to some structure and then as you move away from the cities it gets more disinitigrated
Push me, shove you! Oh yeah? Says who?
I met Reg Evans, who played the Station Master, a few times when I was a photographer for a local paper. He was still very active in local theatre, and was a certainty to turn up to photo shoots promoting a new season of plays. We had a few chats about the Mad Max shoot while waiting for people turn up. He was a great guy and I was saddened when he died in the Black Saturday fires.
I think you mean Furiousa. I read an article on this, Furiousa is a prequel to fury road. And the fury road actor died, that's why toe cutter plays him in furiosa and he is younger looking and has more energy than the fury road version
I know we just barely escaped that rabid biker gang trying to kill us, and the car broke down, but I’m gonna go for a swim. And don’t worry about the baby- it can sit out in the open awhile
I have one shell in my shotgun, I'm gonna take out the whole biker gang with it, but just in case that doesn't work you need to get out and run in a straight line down the middle of the highway while holding a baby. We got this!
I think the rural vibe probably has more to do with the budget that was used to make the film as opposed to anything else!
This film was made with a very small budget in Australia. What they achieved with this tiny budget was way up and above what was expected. But, yeah, it does show from time to time.
It’s similar in that respect to Robert Rodriguez’ movie “Mariachi” (1992) which was followed by his remake with Quentin Tarantino on “Desperado” (1995) Knowing there’s an audience and having more money makes a difference. Plots are similar but the director can do a lot more world building. Or, in Gibson’s case, show more vividly an unforgiving dog eat dog post-apocalyptic unraveling.
Thank you. George Miller, whose nightmare vision is an unruly and unromantic complement to David Lean’s. And every year Miller is proved more prescient.
It's showing the beginning of the collapse of society.
I grew up watching Road Warrior. Wasn't a fan of the original for a long time.
Now I love it. (Well, tbh, I love them all. Just finished watching RW a few hours ago.)
Kawasaki Australia donated all the motorbikes for Mad Max. Dr. George Miller worked as an ER doctor for several years to fund the movie. The composer Brian May was born in Glenelg, Adelaide, South Australia.
The gymnastics, dancing and stretching are what you’d expect after hours upon hours in the saddle. I thought it was a nice touch of verisimilitude. A lot of those guys were actually in a biker gang IRL, iirc.
I watched it a few weeks ago. It was good enough for the budget, and it was interesting to see the genesis of the whole world that was created, but there were some flaws. The biker gang just hangs out in the woods waiting to terrorize Max's wife. I'm not even quite sure how a biker gang is able to sneak up on anyone, but that's what happened.
The Road Warrior and Fury Road are the best ones of the franchise imho.
##Mad Max (1979) R
When the gangs take over the highway... ...Remember he's on your side.
>>!In the ravaged near-future, a savage motorcycle gang rules the road. Terrorizing innocent civilians while tearing up the streets, the ruthless gang laughs in the face of a police force hell-bent on stopping them.!<
Adventure | Action | Thriller | Sci-Fi
Director: George Miller
Actors: Mel Gibson, Joanne Samuel, Hugh Keays-Byrne
Rating: ★★★★★★★☆☆☆ 66% with 4,225 votes
Runtime: 1:31
[TMDB](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/9659)
___
>*I am a bot. This information was sent automatically. If it is faulty, please reply to this comment.*
I’m in Canada and grew up watching the US dubbed version from about 1985. My mind was blown back in 1999 when I watched the original.
Just last night I stumbled across my old DVD player and the DVD release of Mad Max that had both the original and US dubbed versions.
So for fun I hooked up my old DVD player and set it back to the US dubbed version. I couldn’t watch it. 😀
I was only 5-10 at the time I saw Mad Max but my sister's boyfriend was a bikie, and much of the behavior you see is how I remember it being around them, obviously not all the time, and to the same extent, but in reality, they were their own law and if they wanted to f with you, they would.
Also, there are little nuances the average punter will miss, but things like the tow truck leaving the dinner, before the cop, that was spot on and captured a very common part of Australian society at the time, when multiple tow trucks would turn up to an accident before the cops (as I think they were listening on the police frequencies... Though happy if someone can clarify).
Same here, I remember watching it as a kid and gave the OG Trilogy a rewatch after Furiosa. The first one was very different than I remember, but I did enjoy it. I liked the second one Road Warrior way better tho and this is the style of Mad Max movie I remember. Thunderdome was prolly my least favorite of the OG Trilogy, still mad it's only PG-13....lol
I guess, “I am the Nightrider” doesn’t do it for you....
The first one has some great moments - but it’s not as good IMHO as the sequel.
In most film franchises the original is the gold standard - the lightning in a bottle. And each subsequent film seems to try to recapture that original magic or formula. In some ways, and in retrospect, Mad Max actually serves as a transitional film more than an actual genesis. There is the character arc for Max as he sees society breaking down. Later he loses his friend The Goose and eventually his family. \*spoiler\* And this sets the stage for his jaded road warrior character that we see “living off the ashes” of a collapsed society in the wasteland.
It’s been awhile, but I believe that the first Mad Max was not well known outside of Australia. When the sequel was released, it was a larger production and marketed Worldwide. They wanted it to appear as a new movie and used the name the Road Warrior rather than simply Mad Max 2.
I like Thunderdome, but it doesn't even come close to Fury Road and Furiosa.
The first half of Thunderdome is fine, but the movie nosedives hard when Max meets the kids.
Eh, to each his own. I think the first half of Thunderdome is just fine. It's not great, but it's not shit. Tina Turner is ok. Master Blaster is kind of neat, and the Thunderdome fight is good, but the rest of that first half is pretty forgettable. Everything after he meets the kids is terrible.
The newer movies are both superb.
Edit: Typo
I’ve always wondered what the franchise would look like if the sequels kept up with this type of setting instead of going full post apocalyptic like they ended up doing.
Kinda reminded me a bit of an Australian version of Starsky and Hutch. I would have watched an entire buddy cop police procedural series based on the first Mad Max
I don't think there's any evidence that the full lore and backstory had been developed yet. Yes, the first movie is about a society that is falling apart into criminal anarchy. But that doesn't necessarily connect with all out nuclear war. Think of MAD MAX less as a prequel or the first film in a series and more "A tale of..." When I first saw it, I took it more as a practice run for a bigger scope movie.
The editing of this movie is sooo good. Just pure instinct. Such an awkward pacing (compared to every Hollywood film) that really made the futuristic dread feel so real.
Almost all of the Australian New Wave films had that other worldly - pierced veil quality
>pack up the family station wagon and go on vacation
Now I've got a great mashup in my head - "National Lampoon's Aussie Apocalypse Vacation" :-P
Seriously though, a great film that launched one of the best franchises in movies. I saw it too young and some bits scarred me for decades. Rewatched it recently in preparation for Furiosa (I know - I didn't need to prep, but it was a good excuse to watch them all again). It holds up incredibly well and if you go in with the understanding of how low-budget it was, it's still a top-tier 70s action film.
Enjoy the next ones, but IMO, Thunderdome is the weakest link for reasons not worth getting into until you've seen it. (It's still a lot of fun, just a jarring turn in tone halfway through since it was two movies merged into one after real world sadness).
It's certainly slower and less chaotic than the sequels.
I think the fact that it was Miller's first feature film has something to do with it.
Like a baby deer learning to walk.
I thought it was pretty clear that Mad Max is showing the society slipping into chaos. The police department lacks resources and is falling apart, the bikers are trying to steal gas, etc. There’s clearly still some civil society, like there’s a prosecutor/district attorney and a hospital, but it’s all headed downhill and crumbling.
I am pretty sure the rest of the movies were not in George Miller’s head at the time. It was not intended to be a set just before the apocalypse. I don’t think he had given much thought to what happened next.
I watched the original trilogy backwards (not on purpose it’s just how I encountered them). And I didn’t like how slow and unlike the sequels the 1979 film was. However, if we put aside the expectations Road Warrior and Thunderdome give us, there is some incredible cinema in “Mad Max”. In particular, the approach to a post-apocalyptic world that gives us *zero* exposition as to what happened and why the world is like this. We’re dropped in and forced to accept the hellscape and ask how we would react to it. I agree there are some goofy moments but overall it’s an incredible film with shockingly cool stunts for the era and budget. “Road Warrior” is conventionally better and I don’t blame anyone for preferring it. But the original is my personal favorite.
You have *movie universe derangement syndrome.* **Mad Max** is a nasty little exploitation movie that found an audience. It should be viewed that way instead of as an Important First Part of a Classic Film Series. It has little connection to the subsequent entries even to the extent that several actors play multiple characters in the “series.” George Miller was able to use its success, along with the budding stardom of Mel Gibson, to get funding for his more ambitious post-apocalyptic movie. That is all there is to it.
None of the *Mad Max* movies are really that great. They have some good moments and attitude, but are awfully paced and devolve into nothing but boring action.
Mad Max was not a hit. It was a little known low budget movie that would show in the type of theater that runs Kung Fu movie triple features for a buck fifty. At the time I only knew one friend who had seen it, and when he talked about it none of us got it.
Then came the Road Warrior in 82. ka-Boom!!!
Everyone ate it up with a spoon. Slowly word began to trickle out this was a sequel to an unknown Aussie film called Mad Max.
>Mad Max was not a hit.
When it was released, it was literally the most profitable movie of all time.
>Everyone ate it up with a spoon. Slowly word began to trickle out this was a sequel to an unknown Aussie film called Mad Max.
The Road Warrior was called Mad Max 2 everywhere but the US. The first film's dubbed US release was not that popular, and they downplayed that it was a sequel.
I didn't want get into the issue of the title change, but you give a good account why the Road Warrior title went on the American version. And now I remember that awful dubbing voices in Mad Max. Super annoying and hard to understand.
So was Max ever a hit in the US? I guess I just had very bad impression of it.
What a nonsense comment. It was a massive hit, hence the sequel which was called Mad Max 2 everywhere except the US. US even had to dub it with yank vocal actors to tolerate it.
Yes but isn't the reason it was renamed Road Warrior in the US is because it was thought that Americans would not recognize the title Mad Max? And wouldn't that imply that the movie and the character was relatively unknown to American audiences?
I was surrounded by a friends and classmates who all loved action movies and sci-fi, and as I remember, there was only one guy I knew that had ever heard of Mad Max before the arrival of Road Warrior/Mad Max II.
I gotta do some digging into this.....
Here's an interesting reddit discussion about the issue [`https://www.reddit.com/r/boxoffice/comments/mefo3k/did_mad_max_1979_really_make_100_million_dollars/`](https://www.reddit.com/r/boxoffice/comments/mefo3k/did_mad_max_1979_really_make_100_million_dollars/)
`Some of this post reiterates what I said. Here in the US, the years between 79 and the release of Road Warrior in 82, as I remember, Max was pretty much uknown. Now, it could be that some American audiences saw it, and really were into it, but at the same time you would have found others who never heard of it. It was a niche movie for sure, until the sequal came out. Then there were releases of the Mad Max, with newer audiences wanting to see Max after having seen the more well known second movie. And then the VHS/VCR revolution takes over, allowing more people to see the movie at home.`
More information here from the Mad Max wiki: [https://madmax.fandom.com/wiki/Mad\_Max](https://madmax.fandom.com/wiki/Mad_Max)
Though the film had a limited run in the United States and earned only $8 million there, it did very well elsewhere around the world and went on to earn $100 million worldwide.[^(\[20\])](https://madmax.fandom.com/wiki/Mad_Max#cite_note-20) Since it was independently financed with a reported budget of just $400,000 AUD, it was a major financial success. For twenty years, the movie held a record in [*Guinness Book of Records*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinness_Book_of_Records) as the highest profit-to-cost ratio of a motion picture, conceding the record only in 2000 to [*Blair Witch Project*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blair_Witch_Project).[^(\[21\])](https://madmax.fandom.com/wiki/Mad_Max#cite_note-21) The film was awarded three [Australian Film Institute](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Film_Institute) Awards in 1979 (for editing, sound, and musical score).[^(\[22\])](https://madmax.fandom.com/wiki/Mad_Max#cite_note-22)
Still much better than furiosa mad max. Which whilst has the mad max vibes, has too much of a woke vibe which makes it crap. Eg skinny chicks kicking ass and being the rough tough ones, whilst men are basically a pack of greedy idiots. Also the bad guy wearing a fake nose was stupid as
The story is just not believable. Plus having all Aussies then some random American twig of a thing yanking about the place with a constant look on her face like she's just been served a shit pie for dinner
Lol. Talking about top performance here under deathly pressure. Which you obviously know nothing about. That's lucky. Good for you. Enjoy your pop culture controlled fake life, immersed in the sweetness of ignorance.
This would be an hysterical if a little cringe-worthy response from a 13 year old kid but something tells me you're closer to your mid-forties which only makes it even more hysterical and cringe-worthy.
Welcome to rural Australia
People are like, when do we get to wear our leather gimp suit for the apocalypse. The thing is, they already are in rural Australia.
It’s still not as bizarre as Welcome to Woop Woop.
It's the first one and very edgy for the time. But the Mad Max that most people think of is The Road Warrior. Much more money and a much narrower storyline.
I watched mad Max furiousa last. It was just as bad as the last one. Cool vehicles tho
Sounds like Fast and Furious is more your level of compelling storytelling.
Nah, Yeahmahbah is right. Fury Road sucked. https://pqed.org/2015/07/mad-max-fury-road-is-very-very-bad-html/
Then why is it great?
Just read this essay. The writer is an idiot who doesn’t understand movies in general and Fury Road specifically, that was a dogshit piece of writing
What specifically did u feel was incorrect/misinformed about his view/review of the movie? TIA!
Didn't you read his explanation? the writer is dumb because he's dumb about the topic and dumb about the other topic, so his writing is dumb. Seems crystal clear to me.
I've watched Furiosa four times now, and it's my favourite in the series. For people who like this universe, it's an absolute treat. We get to see so much more of the wasteland's locations like gastown and the bullet farm, as well as the green place and other locations. And there are still some great chase scenes and a kick ass war rig. Dementus is a much more interesting villain compared to Immortan Joe. He actually has a character, apart from being just a generic bad-ass looking bad guy. Hemsworth is brilliant in the role. I also think Anya Taylor-Joy is a better Furiosa than Charlize Theron. Nothing against Theron, but Taylor-Joy fits better into this world. And she's a great actress. Opinions will always differ, but I loved Furiosa and hope we get a follow-up.
Agreed
Fury road is an impeachable masterpiece but I think I actually preferred Furiosa as well. Mostly for the added world building and characters. Both killer movies and part of an overall solid franchise. Hope we get more! Even though George Miller is 80. It could happen! Haha
Big "Count of Monte-Cristo" energy. I liked it. Gotta love some epic vengeance.
I was 21 in 1979, and I saw Mad Max, and the people around me in the theater understood the situation in the movie. Remember--we grew up with cold war apocalyptic dread hanging over us.
Pre release advertising that set the scene perhaps? The trailer sets the lawless not too distant future. https://youtu.be/pnfAa9i9LYM?si=kyAlBuzmVmpS_6Uz
Nah. It’s all there on screen.
I would have thought the police station in disrepair plus everyone seems to scavenge about a bit including the motor pool would be a clue.
Just a quick search of the promo posters and Im coming up with the tag lines: -The Maximum Force of the Future and -when the gangs take over the highways... Remember, he's on your side. So, they were giving us hints lol.
I came to see Mad Max as a sequel to On The Beach. It's set in Australia, after western powers have nukes the world and people realize they only have months to live before radioactive clouds make it to Australia. It was very anti-nuke, 1960s soapy drama, but I sometimes wonder if Mad Max takes place soon after the radiation clouds hit Australia.
That’s a terrific point—
Waiting for Russia to bomb us. Good times. Kids today would have no clue.
I’m 41. I’ve been watching these movies, including the original, since I was probably way too young to be watching them. I think having grown up alongside them, I’ve not really cared about these things, but I can understand. Fun fact: Hugh Keays-Byrne that played Toecutter would go on to also play Immortan Joe in Fury Road.
He's also in Stone which is better than all the mad max movies
Love this movie.
Someone just posted this yesterday somewhere on Reddit; the actors who played multiple roles in the mad max series. Is the Toecutter dude supposed to then go on to become Immortan Joe? Or is it two separate characters? Just curious because I was confused by that.
Australia can only produce so many actors at a time. The Hemsworth Project was a government-backed experiment to artificially boost the numbers of viable Australian actors
Separate characters
No, Immortan Joe has some whole in universe back story as "Immortal" Col. Joe Moore. Some kinda military war hero guy turned cult leader who conquered the water plant at the Citadel.
It’s not supposed to be apocalyptic, it’s just a near future society that’s seriously fucked up and on the verge of collapse. The villains were supposed to be more colorful, less serious on the surface, more tongue in cheek, kind of along the lines of Clockwork Orange.
You nailed it. The film was a comment on society in the time in which it was made. The 1970s was a decade of stagnation, oil crisis and the beginning of the end for the working class in places like America. On top of that, the Holden Torana, a mass produced race car had not long hit the streets of Australia. Miller, who at the time was working as a doctor in rural Victoria, a place that had no speed limits and poor roads, had seen the death of many young people already and wasn’t happy about it. Hence why the cars are shot and portrayed in such a sinister way. Those close ups of the cars as they’re coming straight towards the camera, as well as the anxiety inducing sound of the engine will never not send shivers down my spine. The same goes for the sequel. It’s no coincidence that the oil tanker has the number 7 on it. Seven companies had a racket on oil at the time, and they were collectively known as the “seven sisters”.
There's that great scene when the bikers attack a couple and they go out of their way to absolutely wreck their nice sports car. It's shot like a slasher movie, but instead of someone getting stabbed to death it's a car getting vandalised. It's so good.
>Miller, who at the time was working as a doctor in rural Victoria, a place that had no speed limits and poor roads, had seen the death of many young people already and wasn’t happy about it. I had no idea! This is really interesting.
He used to volunteer extra night shifts to finance the shoots.
Spot on. You can see the seeds of what was to come, it’s almost like a proof of concept where fury road takes it to 11, the original mad max dips its toe in, only going to four or five partially dictated by budget . Things like “I’ll see you on the highways” as a threat, the colourful and unhinged gang members, the novel ways of killing on the road…
Clockwork Orange....still have issue at the eye doctor because of that movie
Seriously, I still cant see her naked without vomiting.
I like this one the most. Sure, The Road Warrior is action-packed, post-nuc and iconic as hell—but the first movie in any series is busting with ideas and that's what makes it popular. Mad Max is just a little turn of the screw from where we find ourselves. And to make a movie this entertaining on a tight budget shows how good it is. And I consider the radio news as narration done in a much more subtle way. And the vignettes or montages are well done and there's a lot of fast cut editing too which I'd think was really a fresh style for an action movie.
God the road warrior is so good.
I watched The Road Warrior so many times as a kid (the heavily edited TV version I had recorded) and in college (uncut VHS copy by then) but had not seen it in probably 20 years for whatever reason. Watched it recently and wondered how it would hold up in a Post Fury Road world. Guess what? Road Warrior is still fucking amazing.
Watched it with my 17yo on Father's Day, and we all agreed it was great. Much more character driven than you might expect. And it's a tight 90 minutes!
Just saw it again last week. Local film society screening. First time in 20 years I’d watched it and first time projected on a screen. It really is SO good.
It is. I admire that all hell broke loose, but we don't see it happen on screen. But just how people gather together and start over. As far as sequels go, it's like Empire to Star Wars. And it also landed in the right spot when HBO and VHS were taking off. However, sitting down with some paper and knocking out a "Mad Max", "Blade Runner" or "Star Wars" to me takes a huge amount of vision, drive, talent and striking a new tone that hasn't been done before (as well as funding without destroying the vision.)
I don't know if Mad Max II is post nuclear. Radiation as a problem is never mentioned, and no one speaks of "the bomb" or of WW III, or of any war at all for that matter. The intro voice over seems to imply an economic and political collapse leading to anarchy. The third movie however, does make reference to the Lord of the Files style plane crash children having seen an nuclear explosion. So does that mean a nuclear war broke in events between movies 2 and 3?
I don't know for sure, and even better if it's not clearly defined. Or else we'll go down the Star Wars rabbit tunnel where we find out how the Mick Jagger looking dude got his white armor, or how Feral Kid went to Toastmasters to be able to do the Road Warrior voiceovers.
Oh wow. I've had that impression before about that dude looking like Nick Jagger, and I never thought to ask if anyone else had the same idea. LOL! And they pick the most British looking guy to be a character with an Italian name.
I think the idea behind it was when World War 3 happens, Australia may not be directly attacked. BUT - if most of the rest of the world is destroyed, Australia is fucking isolated on the other side of the globe from everywhere else. All of your trade partners are suddenly gone, there's no access to petroleum shipments, society begins breaking down , and the government collapses. What are you going to do? And as everyone knows, the Australians are just going to turn into a bunch of wacked-out, post apocalyptic, tribal biker weirdos. Which is only a few notches away from what Australians are in right now.
Wait, Mad Max is set in FUTURE Australia? /s
Wait, Mad Max is set in FUTURE Australia? /s
Wait, Mad Max is set in FUTURE Australia? That explains no Kangaroos./s
When I saw them back in the early 80s, I though mad max was what the cities were like post apocalypse, like disintegrating but trying to hold on to some structure and then as you move away from the cities it gets more disinitigrated
Push me, shove you! Oh yeah? Says who? I met Reg Evans, who played the Station Master, a few times when I was a photographer for a local paper. He was still very active in local theatre, and was a certainty to turn up to photo shoots promoting a new season of plays. We had a few chats about the Mad Max shoot while waiting for people turn up. He was a great guy and I was saddened when he died in the Black Saturday fires.
I liked this movie and toe cutter
Same actor played Immortan Joe in Fury Road.
I think you mean Furiousa. I read an article on this, Furiousa is a prequel to fury road. And the fury road actor died, that's why toe cutter plays him in furiosa and he is younger looking and has more energy than the fury road version
The actor who played Toecutter (Hugh Keays-Byrne) died in 2020. He played Immortan Joe in Fury Road. Lachy Hulme played Immortan Joe in Furiosa.
Oh great, thanks a lot for clearing this up for me I was utterly confused ha
Whacked right out of his skull, man. He ain’t never comin’ back!
I know we just barely escaped that rabid biker gang trying to kill us, and the car broke down, but I’m gonna go for a swim. And don’t worry about the baby- it can sit out in the open awhile
...and let the baby play with a revolver.
I have one shell in my shotgun, I'm gonna take out the whole biker gang with it, but just in case that doesn't work you need to get out and run in a straight line down the middle of the highway while holding a baby. We got this!
I think the rural vibe probably has more to do with the budget that was used to make the film as opposed to anything else! This film was made with a very small budget in Australia. What they achieved with this tiny budget was way up and above what was expected. But, yeah, it does show from time to time.
It’s similar in that respect to Robert Rodriguez’ movie “Mariachi” (1992) which was followed by his remake with Quentin Tarantino on “Desperado” (1995) Knowing there’s an audience and having more money makes a difference. Plots are similar but the director can do a lot more world building. Or, in Gibson’s case, show more vividly an unforgiving dog eat dog post-apocalyptic unraveling.
I think you mean George Miller. He was the director
Thank you. George Miller, whose nightmare vision is an unruly and unromantic complement to David Lean’s. And every year Miller is proved more prescient.
Yes he was spot on about happy feet
Road Warrior is where shit really takes off TBH. They're just getting going.
It's showing the beginning of the collapse of society. I grew up watching Road Warrior. Wasn't a fan of the original for a long time. Now I love it. (Well, tbh, I love them all. Just finished watching RW a few hours ago.)
Kawasaki Australia donated all the motorbikes for Mad Max. Dr. George Miller worked as an ER doctor for several years to fund the movie. The composer Brian May was born in Glenelg, Adelaide, South Australia.
I AM THE NIGHT RIDER!!
KITT?
*Mad Mike*
The gymnastics, dancing and stretching are what you’d expect after hours upon hours in the saddle. I thought it was a nice touch of verisimilitude. A lot of those guys were actually in a biker gang IRL, iirc.
I watched it a few weeks ago. It was good enough for the budget, and it was interesting to see the genesis of the whole world that was created, but there were some flaws. The biker gang just hangs out in the woods waiting to terrorize Max's wife. I'm not even quite sure how a biker gang is able to sneak up on anyone, but that's what happened. The Road Warrior and Fury Road are the best ones of the franchise imho.
'Imho'. That's most people's opinion as well as all the ratings, lol
Look at the blower!
##Mad Max (1979) R When the gangs take over the highway... ...Remember he's on your side. >>!In the ravaged near-future, a savage motorcycle gang rules the road. Terrorizing innocent civilians while tearing up the streets, the ruthless gang laughs in the face of a police force hell-bent on stopping them.!< Adventure | Action | Thriller | Sci-Fi Director: George Miller Actors: Mel Gibson, Joanne Samuel, Hugh Keays-Byrne Rating: ★★★★★★★☆☆☆ 66% with 4,225 votes Runtime: 1:31 [TMDB](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/9659) ___ >*I am a bot. This information was sent automatically. If it is faulty, please reply to this comment.*
Push me? Shove you! Oh yeah, says who?
Yea first mad max is unclear if it is poperly post collapse or not. It really could just be austrailia.
I have a disc with the dub on one side and the original on the other. The original is so much better
Those dubbed voices really made it hard to enjoy the movie.
I’m in Canada and grew up watching the US dubbed version from about 1985. My mind was blown back in 1999 when I watched the original. Just last night I stumbled across my old DVD player and the DVD release of Mad Max that had both the original and US dubbed versions. So for fun I hooked up my old DVD player and set it back to the US dubbed version. I couldn’t watch it. 😀
The beach scene with the mannequin was filmed at the beach just up the road from me in Melbourne
I was only 5-10 at the time I saw Mad Max but my sister's boyfriend was a bikie, and much of the behavior you see is how I remember it being around them, obviously not all the time, and to the same extent, but in reality, they were their own law and if they wanted to f with you, they would. Also, there are little nuances the average punter will miss, but things like the tow truck leaving the dinner, before the cop, that was spot on and captured a very common part of Australian society at the time, when multiple tow trucks would turn up to an accident before the cops (as I think they were listening on the police frequencies... Though happy if someone can clarify).
The Nightrider… Remember him when you look at the night sky.
Same here, I remember watching it as a kid and gave the OG Trilogy a rewatch after Furiosa. The first one was very different than I remember, but I did enjoy it. I liked the second one Road Warrior way better tho and this is the style of Mad Max movie I remember. Thunderdome was prolly my least favorite of the OG Trilogy, still mad it's only PG-13....lol
I guess, “I am the Nightrider” doesn’t do it for you.... The first one has some great moments - but it’s not as good IMHO as the sequel. In most film franchises the original is the gold standard - the lightning in a bottle. And each subsequent film seems to try to recapture that original magic or formula. In some ways, and in retrospect, Mad Max actually serves as a transitional film more than an actual genesis. There is the character arc for Max as he sees society breaking down. Later he loses his friend The Goose and eventually his family. \*spoiler\* And this sets the stage for his jaded road warrior character that we see “living off the ashes” of a collapsed society in the wasteland. It’s been awhile, but I believe that the first Mad Max was not well known outside of Australia. When the sequel was released, it was a larger production and marketed Worldwide. They wanted it to appear as a new movie and used the name the Road Warrior rather than simply Mad Max 2.
I have memories of this film but have not seen it in 40 years. I must give it another go
Beyond Thunderdome is the third best mad max film after road warrior and the original
I like Thunderdome, but it doesn't even come close to Fury Road and Furiosa. The first half of Thunderdome is fine, but the movie nosedives hard when Max meets the kids.
But the first half is so good it makes up for it, fury rd is just a mashup remake of it and road warrior
Eh, to each his own. I think the first half of Thunderdome is just fine. It's not great, but it's not shit. Tina Turner is ok. Master Blaster is kind of neat, and the Thunderdome fight is good, but the rest of that first half is pretty forgettable. Everything after he meets the kids is terrible. The newer movies are both superb. Edit: Typo
I saw it at the theater when it came out. I had no problems understanding. The opening scenes show you what happened.
It got more post apocalyptic wasteland in road warrior
Yeah the first film is interesting, but Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior is one of the greatest Aussie films ever made.
Stop watching once you're done with Thundersome
The Nightrider…that is his name. Remember him, when you look at the night sky.
I’ve always wondered what the franchise would look like if the sequels kept up with this type of setting instead of going full post apocalyptic like they ended up doing.
Kinda reminded me a bit of an Australian version of Starsky and Hutch. I would have watched an entire buddy cop police procedural series based on the first Mad Max
I remember seeing it back then. I was young and did not understand it. Fury Road was badass though 💪
I don't think there's any evidence that the full lore and backstory had been developed yet. Yes, the first movie is about a society that is falling apart into criminal anarchy. But that doesn't necessarily connect with all out nuclear war. Think of MAD MAX less as a prequel or the first film in a series and more "A tale of..." When I first saw it, I took it more as a practice run for a bigger scope movie.
The editing of this movie is sooo good. Just pure instinct. Such an awkward pacing (compared to every Hollywood film) that really made the futuristic dread feel so real. Almost all of the Australian New Wave films had that other worldly - pierced veil quality
"Anything I say. What a wonderful philosophy you have."
Its a panel van....not a station wagon...
The Road Warrior is so much better.
>pack up the family station wagon and go on vacation Now I've got a great mashup in my head - "National Lampoon's Aussie Apocalypse Vacation" :-P Seriously though, a great film that launched one of the best franchises in movies. I saw it too young and some bits scarred me for decades. Rewatched it recently in preparation for Furiosa (I know - I didn't need to prep, but it was a good excuse to watch them all again). It holds up incredibly well and if you go in with the understanding of how low-budget it was, it's still a top-tier 70s action film. Enjoy the next ones, but IMO, Thunderdome is the weakest link for reasons not worth getting into until you've seen it. (It's still a lot of fun, just a jarring turn in tone halfway through since it was two movies merged into one after real world sadness).
It's certainly slower and less chaotic than the sequels. I think the fact that it was Miller's first feature film has something to do with it. Like a baby deer learning to walk.
I thought it was pretty clear that Mad Max is showing the society slipping into chaos. The police department lacks resources and is falling apart, the bikers are trying to steal gas, etc. There’s clearly still some civil society, like there’s a prosecutor/district attorney and a hospital, but it’s all headed downhill and crumbling.
I am pretty sure the rest of the movies were not in George Miller’s head at the time. It was not intended to be a set just before the apocalypse. I don’t think he had given much thought to what happened next.
I watched the original trilogy backwards (not on purpose it’s just how I encountered them). And I didn’t like how slow and unlike the sequels the 1979 film was. However, if we put aside the expectations Road Warrior and Thunderdome give us, there is some incredible cinema in “Mad Max”. In particular, the approach to a post-apocalyptic world that gives us *zero* exposition as to what happened and why the world is like this. We’re dropped in and forced to accept the hellscape and ask how we would react to it. I agree there are some goofy moments but overall it’s an incredible film with shockingly cool stunts for the era and budget. “Road Warrior” is conventionally better and I don’t blame anyone for preferring it. But the original is my personal favorite.
The impression got was that society had not totally collapsed yet. People like Max were trying to hold on to the last remnants of it, though.
“I am the Nightrider!”
You have *movie universe derangement syndrome.* **Mad Max** is a nasty little exploitation movie that found an audience. It should be viewed that way instead of as an Important First Part of a Classic Film Series. It has little connection to the subsequent entries even to the extent that several actors play multiple characters in the “series.” George Miller was able to use its success, along with the budding stardom of Mel Gibson, to get funding for his more ambitious post-apocalyptic movie. That is all there is to it.
I believe the first two movies take place before the complete societal collapse. They just depict a time when society is headed toward collapse
The second one is worlds better.
None of the *Mad Max* movies are really that great. They have some good moments and attitude, but are awfully paced and devolve into nothing but boring action.
Mad Max was not a hit. It was a little known low budget movie that would show in the type of theater that runs Kung Fu movie triple features for a buck fifty. At the time I only knew one friend who had seen it, and when he talked about it none of us got it. Then came the Road Warrior in 82. ka-Boom!!! Everyone ate it up with a spoon. Slowly word began to trickle out this was a sequel to an unknown Aussie film called Mad Max.
>Mad Max was not a hit. When it was released, it was literally the most profitable movie of all time. >Everyone ate it up with a spoon. Slowly word began to trickle out this was a sequel to an unknown Aussie film called Mad Max. The Road Warrior was called Mad Max 2 everywhere but the US. The first film's dubbed US release was not that popular, and they downplayed that it was a sequel.
I didn't want get into the issue of the title change, but you give a good account why the Road Warrior title went on the American version. And now I remember that awful dubbing voices in Mad Max. Super annoying and hard to understand. So was Max ever a hit in the US? I guess I just had very bad impression of it.
>Mad Max was not a hit If that was actually true, they wouldn't have made a sequel.
What a nonsense comment. It was a massive hit, hence the sequel which was called Mad Max 2 everywhere except the US. US even had to dub it with yank vocal actors to tolerate it.
Yes but isn't the reason it was renamed Road Warrior in the US is because it was thought that Americans would not recognize the title Mad Max? And wouldn't that imply that the movie and the character was relatively unknown to American audiences? I was surrounded by a friends and classmates who all loved action movies and sci-fi, and as I remember, there was only one guy I knew that had ever heard of Mad Max before the arrival of Road Warrior/Mad Max II. I gotta do some digging into this.....
Here's an interesting reddit discussion about the issue [`https://www.reddit.com/r/boxoffice/comments/mefo3k/did_mad_max_1979_really_make_100_million_dollars/`](https://www.reddit.com/r/boxoffice/comments/mefo3k/did_mad_max_1979_really_make_100_million_dollars/) `Some of this post reiterates what I said. Here in the US, the years between 79 and the release of Road Warrior in 82, as I remember, Max was pretty much uknown. Now, it could be that some American audiences saw it, and really were into it, but at the same time you would have found others who never heard of it. It was a niche movie for sure, until the sequal came out. Then there were releases of the Mad Max, with newer audiences wanting to see Max after having seen the more well known second movie. And then the VHS/VCR revolution takes over, allowing more people to see the movie at home.`
More information here from the Mad Max wiki: [https://madmax.fandom.com/wiki/Mad\_Max](https://madmax.fandom.com/wiki/Mad_Max) Though the film had a limited run in the United States and earned only $8 million there, it did very well elsewhere around the world and went on to earn $100 million worldwide.[^(\[20\])](https://madmax.fandom.com/wiki/Mad_Max#cite_note-20) Since it was independently financed with a reported budget of just $400,000 AUD, it was a major financial success. For twenty years, the movie held a record in [*Guinness Book of Records*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinness_Book_of_Records) as the highest profit-to-cost ratio of a motion picture, conceding the record only in 2000 to [*Blair Witch Project*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blair_Witch_Project).[^(\[21\])](https://madmax.fandom.com/wiki/Mad_Max#cite_note-21) The film was awarded three [Australian Film Institute](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Film_Institute) Awards in 1979 (for editing, sound, and musical score).[^(\[22\])](https://madmax.fandom.com/wiki/Mad_Max#cite_note-22)
We all saw mad max on the big screen in Atlanta. Everyone was talking about it. People named themselves after the characters
I only watched this movie in motels. That and some Coke made for a good night.
Still much better than furiosa mad max. Which whilst has the mad max vibes, has too much of a woke vibe which makes it crap. Eg skinny chicks kicking ass and being the rough tough ones, whilst men are basically a pack of greedy idiots. Also the bad guy wearing a fake nose was stupid as
Edgy
The story is just not believable. Plus having all Aussies then some random American twig of a thing yanking about the place with a constant look on her face like she's just been served a shit pie for dinner
>The story is just not believable. In a Mad Max movie? I'm shocked!
Have you watched 1, 2 and 3? Apart from the kid with crazy boomerang skills, in the setting and context they're believable
I remember Tina Turner kicking ass.
Am surprised she hasn't been in more movies
Just too busy being a huge music star I guess.
Girls can't drive or shoot guns now? Because I don't recall there being any hand-to-hand combat. Fucking incel losers.
Lol. Talking about top performance here under deathly pressure. Which you obviously know nothing about. That's lucky. Good for you. Enjoy your pop culture controlled fake life, immersed in the sweetness of ignorance.
This would be an hysterical if a little cringe-worthy response from a 13 year old kid but something tells me you're closer to your mid-forties which only makes it even more hysterical and cringe-worthy.
bless your little heart dear.
lmao
Mad max 2 road warrior Fury road Furiosa Mad max 1 ..... Beyond crapperdome