MAD MAX (1979)

DIRECTED  by George Miller

SCREENPLAY by James McCausland & George Miller from a story by George Miller & Byron Kennedy.

STARRING  - Mel Gibson as Max Rockatansky,  Joanne Samuel as Jessie Rockatansky,  Hugh Keays-Byrne as Toecutter,  Steve Bisley as Jim "Goose" Rains,  Tim Burns as Johhny the Boy,  Geoff Parry as Bubba Zanetti,  Vincent Gill as The Night Rider,  Roger Ward as Fifi.

PLOT -  It is the future - the 1980's. A war is raging in the Persian Gulf and the oil fields are burning. All over the world, the vital black fuel is running out and society is crumbling, breaking down.

The situation is no different in Australia - frightened citizens are fleeing the towns and cities heading into the countryside, unfortunately they are being picked off by savage gangs of scavengers - stealing thier vital fuel and other belongings. The roads have become a white line nightmare. The only force for order on the highways is the M.F.P. (Main Force Patrol) and its valient officers, fighting to keep people safe, but the M.F.P. is underfunded and overwhelmed  - close to collapse.

Max Rockatansky is a young M.F.P. officer and rising star in the force, he is dedicated to his job and lives happily with his wife and child, the only two people who keep him sane and safe in the increasingly hostile situations in which he finds himself, but Max's world is about to be shattered beyond all recognition...

A member of a local biker gang - a man known as The Night Rider - escapes from custody and go's on a road rampage. Max gives pursuit and takes him down, killing him in the process. The Night Rider's gangmates - led by the sadistic Toecutter - swear vengeance upon Max and his colleagues in the M.F.P.

The gang initially targets Max's best friend - Goose - burning him to death in his overturned patrol car. Max is broken by Goose's death and takes time off from his job to contemplate his place in the crumbling world and spend time with his family.

However, fate has other plans in store for Max. The Toecutter and his gang are coming for Max and his wife and baby son, and very soon there will be another mad man roaming the wastelands...a mad man driven by vengeance...a mad man called Max.

DIALOUGE  - The Night Rider - " I AM THE NIGHT RIDER,  I'M A FUEL INJECTED SUCICDE MACHINE !!!  I AM THE ROCKER, I AM THE ROLLER, I AM THE OUT OF CONTROLLER !!!!"

Max - " I'm scared Fifi, Y'know why ? It's that rat circus out there...I'm beginning to enjoy it."

Toecutter - "Take your hat off !" Station Master - "Anything you say..." Toecutter - "Anything I say. What a wonderful philosophy you have..."

Toecutter  - "Cundalini wants his hand back !"

PERFORMANCES  - There isn't a single bad performance in this film. Mel Gibson is excellent in this - the role that made him a star - by turns a loving family man who is passionate about his job, we see Max's character break as the world crumbles around him. Piece by piece, the things that keep him safe and stable are taken away from him and piece by piece you see the man who he is, was and should be slowly die, to be reborn as an empty, hollow man with only cold eyed vengeance in his heart. Its a massively heartfelt performance - Max is no wisecracking badass, spitting out one liners as he dispenses justice...he's just a normal man, struggling in a world gone mad, who loses everything and has to fight back. Gibson embodies this brilliantly and its easy to see why he became a major star in this films wake, its just a pity he was to blow it so very badly in later years.

Hugh Keays-Byrne is fantastic as The Toecutter. Sadistic, brutal, feral but clearly also highly intelligent. He struts around like a king in the broken outback towns and highways, his control over his band of scavengers absolute - he's a man with nothing who thinks he has everything - a man who wants to terrorise the world around him and shape it into his own image. He also has a gleeful streak, a twisted sense of humour that revels in his own sheer evilness. You can never take your eyes off him when he's onscreen and he remains one of my favourite movie villains of all time.

The supporting actors are all great too. Joanne Samuel as Max's wife - Jessie - has great chemistry with Gibson - they make a believable and sweet couple, which of course only serves to heighten the sense of tragedy when The Toecutter and Co. decide to break that all apart. Geoff Parry as Bubba Zanetti - Toecutter's right hand man - exudes a sense of slightly camp camp menace but also gives the impression of him being a man you do not want to cross. Tim Burns as Johhny the Boy - a hanger-on to Toecutter's gang is great also - a sleazy jumped up, cowardly little nobody who brownnoses his way into Toecutter's attention. You REALLY want to see this guy get it and when he does its a glorious moment. Hmm...Tim Burns...that's quite an apt surname considering what happens to Johhny...

SFX - Mad Max is not an effects heavy movie. Most of the action that takes place is in the form of vehicular combat, which is portrayed via some amazingly choreographed stunt performances. Vehicles explode, bikers are knocked flying off thier bikes and whole caravans are smashed in half by oncoming, speeding vehicles. In fact the main practical special effect is this...

On at least two occasions you see a character's eyes virtually pop out of thier sockets when they are about to be killed in a hideous road collision. It's great - it's like something out of a Road Runner cartoon - some people may say it detracts from the serious, gritty feel of the rest of the film, but I don't care. I love it.

SEX & VIOLENCE  - Beatings, burnings, shootings and lootings. And lots and lots of BIG explosions - Max Rockatansky inhabits a highly combustable world.

RATING - This is a truly amazing film. I've loved it from the moment I first saw it about 25 years ago, and I love it still. It's by far the best film in the entire series - the other films are all good too but this is where it all started. It has the best characters, the best character motivation and the best performances. It's a much more scaled down story than the later films and has more heart and soul to it. You feel for Max as his life crumbles and you cheer for him as he fights back, Max is a real three dimensional character and its this which draws you into the brutal world he is forced to inhabit.

A quick word about that world. Don't go into this movie thinking that this is going to be set in some post apocalyptic irradiated hellscape like the later films are. In this film the apocalypse has yet to happen. The world is only just starting to break down. You can still see signs of the world that is about to pass struggling gamely to continue - people going to cafes and bars, small businesses like junkyards and stores still operating. It's this aspect that I love the most about the entire series - the way that world evolves as civilisation ends. In the first film it's all just starting, by the second film it's got worse, between the second and third films the nuclear war happens, in the third film everywhere is irradiated and devastated and this continues into the fourth film. Its just all so well realised - Max breaks and the world breaks with him. This film sets that up perfectly and serves well not just as Max's origin story but also as the springboard for everything that follows.

Mad Max is one of the best action movies ever made, it is one of the best dystopian science fiction movies ever made, Its one of the best biker movies ever made and its also one of the best revenge movies ever made. Its one of the best movies ever made full stop.

5 avenging traffic cops out of 5 - if you haven't seen this film already then you simply MUST !!!