What to Watch to Gear Up for 'Furiosa'
From classic Ozploitation to my favorite Nicolas Cage movie, here are 5 picks I feel exist in a similar world as the one George Miller first brought to life 45 years ago. I’m Arno, and I’ve been on the Editorial team at IMDb a while now. These days I’m most likely to watch sci-fi series, screwball comedies from any era, fan-made edits of vintage MTV broadcasts on YouTube, and pretty much anything rated over a 7.5 on IMDb.
List activity
291K views
• 22 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
5 titles
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsDennis WeaverJacqueline ScottEddie FirestoneA business commuter is pursued and terrorized by the malevolent driver of a massive tractor-trailer.In 1971, at the tail end of his time as a TV director, Steven Spielberg borrowed a camera car — used to brilliant effect on 'Bullitt' — gave a stunt driver a co-starring role, and pretty much patented the open-road thriller genre that George Miller would repave at the end of the decade with 'Mad Max.' You won't believe the tractor-trailer in the movie is only going 30 MPH.
- DirectorTed KotcheffStarsDonald PleasenceGary BondChips RaffertyAfter a bad gambling bet, a schoolteacher is marooned in a town full of crazy, drunk, violent men who threaten to make him just as crazy, drunk, and violent.Often ranked at the top of Ozploitation charts over the first two 'Mad Max' movies is Ted Kotcheff's parched statement on unhinged masculinity that drew international attention to the emerging Australian New Wave in the early 1970s. The negatives for this movie went missing for nearly a decade, and in the years since it has enjoyed several restorations and introductions to new audiences. Definitely worth seeking out (and enduring ads on streaming if you must).
- DirectorPaul BartelStarsDavid CarradineSylvester StalloneSimone GriffethIn a dystopian future, a cross country automobile race requires contestants to run down innocent pedestrians to gain points that are tallied based on each kill's brutality.I'm happy original screenwriter Roger Corman handed over his version of the movie — a serious-minded affair even he called "kind of vile" — to new writers who made this still-kind-of-vile movie into a dark comedy you can watch as a pure fantasy. Did you know David Carradine hated the first version of his black leather outfit so much he ripped it to pieces in front of its designer? Now somewhat iconic, the movie is also a reminder of how campy the Mad Max saga is through 'Thunderdome'.
- DirectorDavid MichôdStarsGuy PearceRobert PattinsonScoot McNairy10 years after a global economic collapse, a hardened loner pursues the men who stole his only possession, his car. Along the way, he captures one of the thieves' brother, and the duo form an uneasy bond during the dangerous journey.Writer-director David Michôd has made forms of present-day Ozploitation with this nihilistic road movie that reminds you just how quickly Robert Pattinson shook off Edward Cullen and started taking character-driven roles in smaller films. Michôd's 'Animal Kingdom' is the superior work, but 'The Rover' fits this theme, so I recommend watching both movies.
- DirectorPanos CosmatosStarsNicolas CageAndrea RiseboroughLinus RoacheThe enchanted lives of a couple in a secluded forest are brutally shattered by a nightmarish hippie cult and their demon-biker henchmen, propelling a man into a spiraling, surreal rampage of vengeance.Red Miller from 'Mandy' and Max Rockatansky from 'Mad Max' are cut from the same leather: They are blue collar types whose masculinity is detoxified by how devoted they are to the people they love. They’re romantics. So that, for me, is the reason I can watch, and continuously rewatch, as they seek out revenge on the rogue lowlifes who take their happiness away from them. It’s psychotic break cinema.
