Review of Mad Max (1979) by Mick S — 13 May 2015

Friday May 29, 1981. I was six years old and sorry ass school had just ended. I asked my mom and dad if I could stay up to watch the late night movie, they agreed so long as I watched basic cable. I didn't know what was going to come on, all I knew is that I went through a school year of hell and wanted to enjoy staying up past my bedtime. The late movie that came on was Mad Max (1979) and my life took a specific course thanks to this movie.

Our dystopian movie starts and I am hooked from the beginning. The action starts almost immediately with the first four characters Charlie (John Ley) and Roop (Steve Millichamp) called in to assist Sarse (Stephen Clark) and his partner Scuttle (George Novak) who are chasing a psychotic cop killer that's trying to get away in a stolen police pursuit special. These cops were so cool. I couldn't get over their cool uniform. Black leather jackets, black leather pants, and black boots. They epitomized cool. The police cars were also the coolest ever. Everyone worships Max's supercharged V-8 Pursuit Special but I love those yellow Interceptors. Motorcycle cop Goose (Steve Bisley) gets into the chase. Right away this guy with his upbeat personality, smile, and dark sense of humor becomes a favorite. Then the mysterious policeman that is working on his Interceptor comes on screen. The others having trouble catching The Nightrider (Vincent Gil) call Max (Mel Gibson) our protagonist for assistance. Max pursues and forces The Nightrider to crash and burn. That scene of Max walking out of his car to look at the burning mess will forever be one of the coolest scenes I have ever witnessed in a movie.

Watching this movie as a kid, I was truly afraid of the world this took place in. Especially since it was written in the beginning of the movie that this was to take place 'A FEW YEARS FROM NOW..." The goofy kid I was, I believed it. Max Rockatansky's world was scary. It felt like those were the end days of humanity and society and that was scary. George Miller did an amazing job creating this lawless and chaotic future where these few brave police officers were all there was to save us from the gangs and murderers of the wastelands. The antagonist and his gang were scary as hell, too. The Toecutter (Hugh Keays-Byrne), Johnny the Boy (Tim Burns), Bubba Zanetti (Geoff Parry), and the rest of the biker gang all had their own distinct personalities and look that I loved! In this movie I find myself cheering for both the good guys and the bad. Max and the other officers are so cool and you want to cheer them on but the motorcycle gang are so cool too, I always find myself watching the scenes they are in where they are doing their evil deeds and I can't help but have a smile on my face. George Miller definitely created characters that I love.

As the main antagonist and his gang seek out to punish Max for The Nightrider's death by murdering Max's family. I felt Max's pain and felt his need for vengeance and as "Fifi" Macaffee (Roger Ward) said to Max early on, "Okay, so long as the paperwork is clean, you boys can do what you like out there." Max takes out each member of Toecutters motorcycle gang one by one. Each kill taking away a piece of humanity from Max. By the time he kills the last, The Toecutter, Max is an empty shell of his former self with no humanity left in him as he drives into the darkening wasteland as the film ends leaving me with the then unanswered question of what is to happen to Max and what was his world going to be after this? This was an amazing movie and it left me with a weird empty feeling because in most movies, the hero kills the bad guy but does so to ensure Justice has been served and remains the good guy with his humanity intact. Here, Max was brought down to the level of gangs and murderers. Max has become one of the many scavengers and wanderers of the wasteland he once fought against, yet I still love what Max Rockatansky became. An anti-hero.