Mad Max (1979)

Director:

George Miller

Writers:

George Miller (story) and
Byron Kennedy (story) ...

Release Date:

12 April 1979 (Australia)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

The Maximum Force of the Future.

Plot:

In a dystopic future Australia, a vicious biker gang murder a cop's family and make his fight with them personal.

Plot Keywords:

Chosen One | Good Versus Evil | Burned To Death | Hack Saw | Sawed Off Shotgun

Awards:

4 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Mel Gibson	...	'Mad' Max Rockatansky
Joanne Samuel	...	Jessie Rockatansky
Hugh Keays-Byrne	...	Toecutter
Steve Bisley	...	Jim Goose, Main Force Patrol Officer
Tim Burns	...	Johnny the Boy
Roger Ward	...	Fifi Macaffee
Lisa Aldenhoven	...	Nurse
David Bracks	...	Mudguts
Bertrand Cadart	...	Clunk
David Cameron	...	Barry, MFP Garage Mechanic
Robina Chaffey	...	Singer at Sugartown Nightclub
Stephen Clark	...	Sarse
Mathew Constantine	...	Toddler
Jerry Day	...	Ziggy
Reg Evans	...	Station Master

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

Australia

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Netherlands:16 | Singapore:NC-16 | UK:X (theatrical rating) | Argentina:18 | Australia:MA (TVrating) | Ireland:18 | UK:18 (cut) (1986) | Brazil:16 | Australia:R | Canada:18+ (Quebec) | Canada:18A (special edition) | Canada:R | France:-16 (re-rating) | France:X (original rating) | New Zealand:(Banned) (original rating) | New Zealand:R18 (re-rating) | Norway:18 | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:(Banned) | UK:18 | USA:R | West Germany:18 | Finland:K-18

Filming Locations:

Anakie Rd, Geelong, Victoria, Australia

Company:

Kennedy Miller Productions

Trivia:

Some of the things Nightrider says over the radio are lyrics from the AC/DC song "Rocker."

Goofs:

Continuity: During an early chase sequence the yellow police car can be seen upside down in two shots before it crashes.

Quotes:

[the Kid is handcuffed to a car that's about to explode]
Max: The chain in those handcuffs is high-tensile steel. It'd take you ten minutes to hack through it with this. Now, if you're lucky, you could hack through your ankle in five minutes. Go.
[the hacksaw is dropped next to The Kid, and Max limps off]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Frères Pétard, Les (1986)

A sadistically fun movie

Mel Gibson is Mad Max in, well, "Mad Max!" This is the film that made Mel an international superstar. In his starring debut, Mel plays Max, a leather-clad cop in the near future who fights to control security on the road from vicious bikers and road thugs. When the thugs lead by the psychotic Toecutter kill Max's wife and baby, our hero is livid with vengeance. Armed with his armor-plated muscle car and a sawed-off shotgun, Max wreaks turbo-powered revenge on the murderous punks.

Though a bit dated compared with the action films we have today, "Mad Max" still stands out as a very impressive movie. For one thing, this film had a tiny budget. Well, as proven in "El Mariachi," a movie doesn't need a $1 million budget if you have a creative story and imagination. "Mad Max" stands out as a classic low-budget flick that made it big without the intense u