Mad Max review by Henry Hartono

Peary, Danny. "Directing Mad Max and The Road Warrior: An Interview with George Miller." Omni's Screen Flights/Screen Fantasies: The Future According to Science Fiction Cinema. Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1984

Details of the Films On-line Presence in the Web Literature

The film is quite popular on the web, as I found a magnitude amount of reviews. But Interviews relating to the film were really hard to find, I guess the cause of that was the age of the film and the internet wasn't even made commercial back then. There's even an official website (MGM, 2001) for the film that contains a lot of specifications for the DVD version of the movie, video clips and stills, biographies of some of the actors, and even a trivia challenge for fans of the movies.

My Method of Collecting Information for Mad Max

I basically started to gather information about the movie after watching the film extensively. Then I browsed the internet thoroughly for information about the film on several search engines typing in keywords such as 'mad max', 'mel gibson mad max' 'mad max interviews' and combinations of those. I especially used imdb.com to find a lot of information about the cast & crew, their other works, box office, release dates, reviews and others. I tried to find interviews relating to the film on various sources such as magazines and newspapers, but it proved futile, as I found nothing

CRITICAL REVIEW AND ITS LITERATURE

Critical Review

This movie had a part in popularizing car chases in films throughout the 80's and 90's (Miller, 1979). It still has one of the best car chase scenes ever. In my view, that first chase scene would still stand up to most recent movies involving car chases. Mad Max is the first part of the mad Max trilogy, the others being Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981) and Mad Max 3: Beyond Thunderdome (1985). The film starts with a car chase between 2 cop cars and a criminal called nightrider. When the cops crash out of the chase after a spectacular crash involving a caravan, several cars and a toddler, we meet the eponymous character, the cop Max Rockatansky (played by a young Mel Gibson); as he continues the pursuit of the Nightrider (Vince Gill). After the Nightrider dies after the chase with Max, his motorcycle gang mates don't like it very much; particularly the head of the gang, the towering Toecutter (Hugh Keays-Byrne) and his motley crew of motorcycle loving crazies takes revenge on Max and the MFP (Main Force Police). We first meet the gang as they visit a small town to collect their deceased friend's body. They chase down a couple in their car for no reason and violently obliterate their car. When the cops reach the scene of the crime, they find the couple disoriented. They also find one of the gang members called Johnny the Boy (Tim Burns) there and bring him down to the police station for questioning. When they couldn't find any evidence of to put Johnny the Boy away for good, the cops hesitantly releases him. As he leaves the station, Johnny the Boy taunts the cops by saying "we know who you are". The motorcycle gang holds true to their word of vengeance for their friend, by sadistically brutalising Jim Goose (Steve Bisley); a fellow member of the MFP, by burning him alive in a car. When Max sees the burned body of Goose, he decides to tell his boss Fifi Macaffee (Roger Ward) that he wants to retire from the police force. While he's holidaying with his wife Jessie, played by Joanne Samuel and his son in a place near the beach, the gang manages to track them down. They repeatedly stalk Jessie, first while shopping for groceries and secondly at the place she's staying at. As she tries to escape with her son from the maniacal gang, they kill them by running them over with their motorbikes. The scene is so gut wrenchingly disturbing. We are not shown the actual impact, but we are shown only the aftermath; a scene of a small shoe and a toy flying through the air, After Max discovers the dead bodies of his wife and son, he goes maniacal and tracks down and kills the gang members responsible for their deaths.

There's a saturation of the Hollywood style in the way Max gets readies for the showdown with the gang. He changes into leather suits and pants, gets out his shotgun, and finally rides of in his supercharged, futuristic black sports car. Throughout this scene an ominous musical score plays in the background.

Toecutter's motorcycle gang is portrayed as a bunch of dumb, crazy, sadistic animals. Their behavior is so nihilistic and callous that they kill or harass ordinary citizens for fun. But there is one redeeming quality to their personality; they care about each other, especially their need to avenge for their dead friends.

The movie deals with the problem of society decaying (the outlaw gangs are ruining the town) because of lack of natural resources such as petrol and all the corruption of the local and it's up to the police force to bring order to the town. (Emmet Winn, 2002) In that aspect, this movie follows the plots of a western film. Max also resembles a typical western hero. He's a man of repose and only becomes angered when a situation dear to him occurs. While on duty he drives alone in his police car, and rarely does he interact with his fellow workmates.

Mel Gibson always plays the same type of psychotic, on the edge, ready to blow characters in films like the Lethal Weapons series (1987, 1989, 1992, 1998) and Ransom (1996) among others. And he does it here again as a man with vengeance for his wife and son. When Max retires from the police force after watching his partner Goose burned to the crisp, he says to Fifi that he has to retire from the force or go crazy like the motorcycle gang. But in view he does become somewhat disillusioned and crazy like the criminals themselves, when he goes on a killing spree to avenge his wife and kid. There's one scene that really shows that he is "mad Max", and that scene is occurs at the end of the film. It shows Max handcuffing Johnny the Boy's leg to a leaking car that's set to blow up. He gives Johnny a rusty saw and gives him a choice of cutting his own leg off the handcuffs or explode with it.

The style of the film is quite kinetic and jarring in the editing of the action sequences. One scene in particular is the way the sequence when Toecutter crashes into a big truck is edited. The editing was fast paced, from a shot of close up of Toecutter's face looking horrified, then a shot of the truck front on, next was an extreme close up of the bulging eyeballs of Toecutter, then an extreme close up of the truck, back to the eyeball shot, and finally, multiple shots of the impact of the crash with Toecutter being dragged under the truck. Miller's style of direction is also quite distinct in his own unique way.

The acting of the leads are quite decent; Mel Gibson gives a performance not quite up to the standards of his other recent performances, but still reasonable. Bisley acts as a fun, wacked out cop who meets an untimely demise. While Ward looks apart as the bald boss of Max trying to keep the force under control. But I think the best performance comes from Hugh Keays-Byrne. He gives quite a frightful performance as Toecutter. His personality goes from soft spoken to pure rage; a great acting range from a renowned actor. I thought he thoroughly justified his AFI best supporting nomination for the portrayal of Toecutter. But I think most of the gang members are overacting and forced. They act as crazy, malevolent drones of Toecutter. It shows that they may be amateurs.

Overall, the film is adequate enough to warrant a place in the history of Australian cinema, in part due to the well crafted action sequences; but as a standalone film without the car chases, it feels like a B grade movie trying to be an A grade movie. There's no plot to tell, some of the acting is ridiculously bad, and in some parts the film lacks in continuity. Other than that, it's still a great addition to the history of Australian films.

Other Works Done by the Cast and Crew

Mel Gibson has become one of the most successful director/actor/producers in the world. He won Oscars for directing and also producing Braveheart (1995) and has starred in countless films such as the other 2 mad max films, Gallipoli (1981), Ransom (1996) and Signs (2002). He also directed/produced the recent The Passion of the Christ (2004). (IMDB, 2004)

George Miller directed all three Mad Max movies successfully. He has also directed popular movies such as; Babe: Pig in the City (1998), The Witches of Eatswick (1987), and produced Dead Calm (1989), and Flirting (1991). (IMDB, 2004)

Brian May has composed scores for countless movies, but mainly Australian. One trivial fact is he did the score for Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare aka A Nightmare on Elm Street 6 (1996). (IMDB, 2004)

Hugh Keays-Byrne has acted in mostly Australian movies; his credits include Mad Dog Morgan (1976), Stone (1974), and Strikebound (1984). (IMDB, 2004)

Roger Ward has also done mostly Australian films like; Young Einstein (1988) and many TV show guest appearances like A Country Practice (1986) and Water Rats (1996). (IMDB, 2004)

Byron Kennedy produced the sequel to Mad Max (1979) Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981) and The last of the Knucklemen (1979). (IMDB, 2004)

Steve Bisley has worked in a lot of motion pictures, but is probably better known in Australia for his work in critical TV shows such as Police Rescue (1990), Frontline (1994), and Water Rats (1996). (IMDB, 2004)

Critical Uptake of the Film Both at the Time of its Release and Subsequently

Mad Max was a huge hit locally and deservedly was nominated for 7 AFI awards back in 1979 and they were: Best Film, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting actor, Best Original Music Score, best achievement in Sound, and Best Achievement in Editing. It only won in 3 of the categories for best score, editing, and sound. The film was also critically sound here and abroad, Most of the reviews praise the innovative effects of the car chases and how they made a movie looks so good despite of the small budget, as you can see from the list of interviews I've wrote. Strangely the first time the film was released, it wasn't critically praised and bombed, and that's why the second Mad Max movie was called just The Road Warrior instead of Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior in the States, as only a few have even heard of Mad Max 1 there. (IMDB, 2004)

The Circumstances of its Production and Release and its Box-Office

The film only had a budget of $350,000, which is a tiny amount compared to Hollywood films at the time. The film was released in the summer of 1980 in America to a small audience and understandably was re-released 3 years later to a better commercial success in the box office. The American version of the film is re dubbed from an Australian to an American accent to make it more understandable for the American audience. The film is placed in the Guinness book of records for having the highest cost-to-profit ratio for a feature film in any country. It grossed over a hundred million dollars and only had a budget of about three hundred fifty thousand dollars (IMDB, 2004)

Genre Placement

Mad Max first and foremost belongs in the action genre because of the countless car chase scenes and violence; it also would fit in the crime genre. The film also could be called a kind of a road movie, as the whole movie is set in a stretch of a deserted road in the outback and the characters does spend a lot of time in cars. The movie does follow the plot of a typical western film in how the "good guys" (the cops) tries to restore balance in the town, by getting rid of the scum (the motorcycle gang). I think Australian films are a unique genre on its own merit.

Estimation of the films uptake and current place on contemporary critical and market horizons to tell the general position of Australian film and its value

Mad Max has been most successful critically and commercially and has paved the way for lots of great Australian movies worldwide. Babe (1995), Muriel's Wedding (1994), Shine (1996), The Piano (1993), Moulin Rouge (2001) are some of the most successful Australian movies ever released and with that in mind the Australian film business is booming rapidly. I think Australia will become a powerhouse film nation in upcoming years to rival even Hollywood if this trend continues. Mad Max has garnered quite a following through the years and it surely does stand up to other more recognized Australian movies.

Biliography:

1. IMDB, 2004, Mad Max (1979), URL: http://imdb.com/title/tt0079501/

2. IMDB, 2004, Full cast and Crew for Mad Max (1979),

URL: http://imdb.com/title/tt0079501/fullcredits

3. IMDB, 2004, External reviews for
Mad Max (1979), URL: http://imdb.com/title/tt0079501/externalreviews

4. IMDB, 2004, Release Dates for Mad Max (1979),

URL: http://imdb.com/title/tt0079501/releaseinfo

5. IMDB, 2004, Business Data for Mad Max (1979),

URL: http://imdb.com/title/tt0079501/business

6. IMDB, 2004, Trivia for Mad Max (1979),

URL: http://imdb.com/title/tt0079501/trivia

7. IMDB, 2004, Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981), URL: http://imdb.com/title/tt0082694/

8. Miller, G (director), 1979, Mad Max, Miller, G & Kennedy, B (writer), 93 min

9. MGM, 2001, Mad Max, URL: http://www.madmaxthemovie.com/

10. Winn, J. E, 2002, Mad Max, Reaganism and The Road Warrior

URL: http://www.kinema.uwaterloo.ca/winn972.htm,