FAQ

After a high speed car chase which a psychotic criminal called Nightrider is killed, Max Rockatansky, a police officer and loving husband and father learns that Nightrider's motorcycle gang, now led by the evil Toecutter, are out and are bent on vengeance upon the man responsible for Night Rider's death. However, after the Toecutter and his gang brutally rape a couple and Max's partner Jim Goose arrests one of the gangs member Johnny the Boy whom is released due to lack of witnesses, Toecutter and the gang ambush Jim Goose and set him on fire. Distraught, Max decides to turn in his badge and resigns. However, whilst Max is on holiday with his wife Jesse and their son Sprog, tragedy befalls as Toecutter and the gang murder Sprog and leave Jesse comatose. Max snaps. Succumbing to madness, Max puts on his uniform, loads up his sawed-off shotgun and drives off in a police car without authorization to go after Toecutter and the gang for his revenge.

The original negatives are definitely lost. All transfers of the film to DVD and 1080p Blu-ray Disc have been taken from later-generation sources. The absence of reel change markings suggests a generation earlier than theatre prints.

The original DVD release used a combination of American picture elements and the original Australian audio. This is because all existing prints or interpositives of the film in Australia had deteriorated too far to be transferable.

Whether materials exist that are of sufficient quality to make a UHD, 2160p transfer remains to be seen. It is a possibility, given that UHD is approximately one quarter of the resolution of 35mm film.

1974 Ford Falcon XB GT outfitted with a 351 cubic-inch V8 engine 380 lb-ft of torque and 300 hp.

Yes, and no, respectively.

New evidence found around the time of Mad Max: Fury Road's release suggests a budget closer to a quarter of a million Australian dollars. Whilst this is still a minuscule amount compared with Hollywood productions of films with similar stories, it does change the profit to cost ratio quite a lot. Given how much money the film made at Australian and American box offices, however, the ratio is still quite high, especially in comparison to modern films.

Principal photography took place in 1977 when Mel Gibson was just 21 years old. Mad Max 2 aka The Road Warrior was filmed in the winter of 1981, so contrary to popular belief, even though Mad Max is always listed as a 1979 film, Gibson was actually nearly 4 years older in the sequel not 2 years older.

The main filming for this took place over six weeks from November to December. The unit reconvened in May 1978 for two weeks to do second unit work and re-stage some stunts. Editing the film took four months. The film was released in most countries in 1979. It wasn't released in the US until 1980 with American accents dubbed over the original Australian track.

Basically no, but there is one version with two audio differences; the first being the original Australian accented soundtrack and the second being the American dubbed soundtrack.

Apart from dubbing the entire movie because Americans might find Australian accents difficult to understand, "Mad Max" in North America was completely the same cut. The original Australian dialogue soundtrack was released for the North American DVD premiere in 2000.

The movie opens with "A FEW YEARS FROM NOW...". The specific year is never mentioned but there's a couple of clues to the time period. First, on the wall of the Halls Of Justice entrance that's shown at the beginning of the film, is a sign, and although the words aren't actually visible, the prop used for the film said Main Force Patrol Est.1983. And on the Highway Sector sign shown shortly afterwards, it says "high fatality road deaths this year", and just next to the word year, on the right, is some graffiti carved into the sign that's visible on Blu Ray and 4K restoration, and it says Cass was here 6/12/1984. So the film is set roughly in the mid-1980's, and society has started breaking down. One of the reasons for the anarchy, although not stated in the actual film, was influenced by the fuel shortages that happened in Australia in the mid-1970s due to the 1973 OPEC Oil Crisis, which led to several violent incidents throughout the country.

No. It's an original story by director George Miller and his writing team. However, it's believed Miller did base it on riots that took place in 1970s Australia over fuel shortages and the muscle car culture that was popular back then.

The UK theatrical version was cut in one scene. This version was used for the old VHS by Warner from 1986. All other VHS and DVD releases are uncut. Approx. 50 seconds are missing in this version.