Mad Max (1979) Movie Review, Trailer, Film Still and Poster

Australia 1979
Director: George Miller
Cast: Mel Gibson, Steve Bisley, Joanne Samuel, Tim Burns, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Geoff Parry
Rating: Australia (TV-MA)
Release Date: 12 April 1979
Running Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

The Movie Review

Mad Max film still 1


MAD MAX
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Mad Max is quite old, a product of the late 70s, but man does it have high impact or what?! Some fellow moviegoers might think Mad Max is another product from Hollywood, especially if one notices this movie stars young Mel Gibson. But guess where it came from (why should you guess, it's written above lol) Yup, it's from Australia. By now, Mad Max have been played over and over on many TV Stations and Mad Max is one of the proud products of Australian New Wave Films, the place where I often look to find surprise :)

In this dystopian world of Mad Max where the community is often terrorized by savage bikers, Mad Max Rockatansky is the only hope for the innocents to defend them. Max (Mel Gibson) is an officer of MFP (Main Force Patrol) who works together with his vigorous partner Jim Goose (Steve Bisley). Having a calm but deadly attitude, Max is also Captain Fifi's (Roger Ward) --his superior-- golden boy in exterminating crime. This time, Max is gonna face a brutal gang of bikers lead by an enigmatically-rather-psychotic man named Toecutter (Hugh Keays-Byrne). After Max kills Night Rider --one of the members of Toecutter's gang-- Toecutter shows his serious intention in payback by terrorizing a small town and brutally torture the innocents.

Goose and Max show up a little late, and they find a girl in terrible shock after got raped and pretty much other despicable things, Goose would be the one who's so angry about it. Max and Goose also find one of the bikers gang's new member, Johnny the Boy (Tim Burns), on the site of crime and proceed to take him to their station or better known as Halls of Justice, but the presence of some money-making lawyers and fear from the witnesses resulting in the free of Johnny! Max, Goose and the rest of the force are now given the full support to do street justice! It sounds fair enough but unfortunately, the bikers also already know about Goose' personal life! What will happen to Goose and Max? Will street justice prevail?

After the release of Mad Max there are numerous other movies with similar premise and storyline (and scenes) influenced by this Aussie action film, although the movie itself might have borrowed several things from the past in terms of cars-appearance, motorcycle gang, and/or revenge content. And let's face it Mad Max hasn't aged well, and it's perhaps still entertaining for one thing only... Emotional aspect! In terms of because the driving concept of the movie is not the scrupulous interpretation of dystopian concept or world in chaos, but a simple revenge flick! It's emotional to see how Max's loved and closed ones are hurt and he tries to deliver some painful payback. Mel Gibson was a total unknown back then and honestly speaking, if he had kept on acting like that (or also the entire cast) neither of them would've been well-known..., the acting is almost forgettable. The cars look dated and silly and the costumes are standard, but those all due to the nature of a low-budget movie. Produced with only AUS $400,000, this legendary movie however have garnered $100,000,000 worldwide. And if you want to enjoy the movie perfectly, buy the DVD with two audio tracks: Original Australian dialogues by the real actors (but rather awful quality); And American Dubbed audio (but clear and understandable).

Mad Max can be said as a pioneer and even though modern viewers might find it hard to love the movie (unlike the movie buffs in the 80s), but the shock elements of Mad Max still sells. Banned in Sweden and neighboring country, New Zealand, Mad Max is all about violence and payback. The interesting part is, the story is not that linear, some minor twists will keep the story roling without plunging into clichés. Mad Max belongs to many categories: Bikersploitation, Carsploitation, or Vigilanteploitation and of course Ozploitation, whatever you choose it, the bottom line is Mad Max is an exploitation film with brief nude scenes, many violent scenes (not graphical though) and with a good amount of emotion to keep you glued to your seat and figure out what would Max do to avenge it. And talking about exploitation flick, there is a crazily stupid trashy exploitation flick (and hard to find!) from Spain --and bears striking resemblances with Mad Max-- titled Mad Foxes (1981).

Mad Max spawns two sequels already: Mad Max 2 (1981) and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985). Another sequel was planned to be released under the title Mad Max 4: Fury Road, and hopefully that latest sequel would match many movies which have been inspired by the original Mad Max, and would also satiate the taste of modern viewers. I won't suggest you to look for this movie if this is not your cup of tea, but even so the ending is saucy!