Review of Mad Max (1979) by Ola G — 09 Jun 2013

In a dystopic future Australia, after the Earth's oil supplies were nearly exhausted, law and order has begun to break down due to energy shortages. On the deserted roads of the Australian desert, motorcycle gangs have been settling, disrupting the remaining population and looting and stealing fuel, so a Main Force Patrol (MFP) has been created to take control of the highways. The MFP officer Max Rockatansky (Mel Gibson) is the golden boy of the force with several arrests and deaths on his hands. After his interception and killing of the motorcycle gang member, Crawford Montizano called "The Nightrider", Max is feeling tired of the life on the road and so is his wife Jessie (Joanne Samuel). Some time later, Nightrider's motorcycle gang, called the Zed Runners, led by Toecutter (Hugh Keays-Byrne) and Bubba Zanetti (Geoff Parry), create havoc when arriving in a small town to pick up the remains of "The Nightrider" which ends up with Max and his MFP colleague Goose (Steve Bisley) arresting Johnny The Boy from the gang. When the surviving girlfriend is a no show, with no witnesses appearing, the courts throw the case out and Johnny is released. An angry Goose is restrained while he and Johnny exchange violent threats. After Bubba Zanetti drags Johnny away, MFP Captain Fred "Fifi" Macaffee tells his officers to do whatever it takes to apprehend the gangs, "so long as the paperwork's clean."A short time later, Johnny sabotages Goose's motorcycle to lock up at high speed and toss its rider off. Though Goose is unharmed, he borrows a ute to haul his damaged bike back. However, Johnny and Toecutter are waiting in ambush with the former throwing a brake drum at Goose's windscreen. After it crashes, with Goose unable to get out of it and being pressured by Toecutter, Johnny throws a match into the gasoline leaking from the wrecked ute. Though he survived with massive disfiguring burns, Goose eventually died from his wounds at the hospital. After seeing Goose's charred body, Max becomes disillusioned with the MFP and the fear of losing his sanity convinces him to resign, but Fifi talks Max into taking a holiday before making his final decision about the resignation. Max also reports this to Jessie, his wife, at the remote farm where they live, who is happy with his decision so they could take care of their young baby son, and Max eventually decides to quit the force and relocate up north, away from the gangs. However, Max and Jessie will encounter Toecutter and his gang once again leaving Max on the road to vengeance and oblivion... "Mad Max" is based on the traditional western genre, telling a story of breakdown of society, love and revenge. It became a top-grossing Australian film, holding the Guinness record for most profitable film for decades and has been credited for further opening up the global market to Australian New Wave films. It was also the first Australian film to be shot with a widescreen anamorphic lens. The first film in the series, "Mad Max" spawned sequels "Mad Max 2 - The Road Warrior" in 1981 and "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome" in 1985. A fourth installment, "Mad Max: Fury Road" starring Tom Hardy will premiere by the end of this year. "Mad Max" was shot in 12 weeks, on a meager $350,000 budget, in and around Melbourne. Both New Zealand and Sweden initially banned the film, the former due to the scene where Goose is burned alive inside his vehicle. It mirrored an incident with a real gang shortly before the film's release. It was later shown in New Zealand in 1983 after the success of the sequel, with an 18 certificate. The ban in Sweden was removed in 2005 and it has been shown on TV and is also available in video stores. Before the film was released in the United States, distributor American International Pictures overdubbed the actors' speaking voices. The 2002 special edition DVD release was the first US DVD to feature the original Australian language track. George Miller believed that audiences would find his violent story to be more believable if it was set in a bleak, dystopic future. Screenplay writer James McCausland drew heavily from his observations of the 1973 oil crisis' effects on Australian motorists: "Yet there were further signs of the desperate measures individuals would take to ensure mobility. A couple of oil strikes that hit many pumps revealed the ferocity with which Australians would defend their right to fill a tank. Long queues formed at the stations with petrol - and anyone who tried to sneak ahead in the queue met raw violence. ... George and I wrote the [Mad Max] script based on the thesis that people would do almost anything to keep vehicles moving and the assumption that nations would not consider the huge costs of providing infrastructure for alternative energy until it was too late." - James McCausland, writing on peak oil in The Courier-Mail, 2006. "Mad" Max Rockatansky is actually named after the 19th-century pathologist Carl von Rokitansky, originator of the Rokitansky procedure, the most common method for removal of the internal organs in an autopsy.

I remember being 10 years old and "Mad Max 2 - The Road Warrior" had arrived to the cinema. I wasn´t old enough to see it, but I could read about it and look at the stills outside the theatre. I was mezmerised... By that time the first "Mad Max" was banned in Sweden. However, a schoolfriend of mine managed to get hold of both movies on VHS and the first time I saw specifically "Mad Max" I was blown away to see this apocalyptic movie set in a futuristic Australia, with the extremely cool Ford Falcon XB GTs roaring down the highways. Since then I have seen it so many times I can´t remember and it carries a special place in my movieheart. I just love specifically the MFP, their Pursuit and Interceptor cars (for sure the most good looking and cool police cars I have ever seen), their leather outfits and the whole vibe "Mad Max" carries. This is partly what makes "Mad Max" so unique as a movie. It´s tense, violent.

And exciting with very well made action secquences, great camera work for being a low budget movie and a thrilling soundtrack by Brian May. Mel Gibson shows already here what a solid actor he is and Hugh Keays-Byrne gives us a great performance as the Toecutter. George Miller shows as well that you can make movie magic from nothing. "Mad Max" is an alltime classic in my eyes.