Mad Max is a 1979
Australian dystopic action film, and it was Mel Gibson’s breakthrough movie,
directed by George Miller. Before this, Mel had only acted in three other
films. One of them, Tim, won him an Australian Film Institute Award for Best
Actor in a Leading Role. His acting here is actually not that bad, and so were that of his supporting cast members.
Mad Max was based on
the traditional western genre, telling the story of a broken-down society. It
became a top-grossing Australian film.
The filmmaker George
Miller, a medical doctor, met amateur filmmaker Byron Kennedy in 1971 at a
summer film camp. They worked together to produce Mad Max eight years later.
Miller and Kennedy scrambled for the budget, and due to the film’s low cost,
they could only afford to give Gibson a real leather jacket and pants.
The plot is based
around love and revenge. In a dystopic Australia, after the Earth's oil
supplies were nearly exhausted, the world started to break down due to energy
shortages, and people began doing whatever they liked.
A motorcycle gang
member named Crawford “Nightrider” Montizano escapes police custody and tries
to outrun the Main Force Patrol (MFP). He successfully eludes his initial
pursuers, but the call goes out to the MFP's top pursuit man, Max Rockatansky
(Mel Gibson), who chases him down. Nightrider crashes and dies during the
high-speed chase.
His gang members
return to town, led by Toecutter (Hugh Keays-Byrne) and Bubba Zanetti (Geoff
Parry). While looking for who was involved in Nightrider’s death, they
vandalise property, steal fuel, and chase down a couple who they rape. One of
their members, Johnny (Tim Burns), is too drunk to ride and gets left behind.
Max and Goose (Steve Bisley) show up and arrest him, but he’s later released
due to lack of evidence.
Now bent on revenge,
the gang targets Goose and Max, leading to death on various levels.
The acting and
cinematography of Mad Max is something Miller and Kennedy pulled off well,
considering the budget. But the special effects were not so good, and the story looked very, very half-baked. The movie to me is fun because of the idea it presents. When you are viewing the idea, it can make you either cringe or appreciate. Miller later went on to make great movies like Babe, Happy
Feet, and the sequels to both films.
Mad Max is fun, captivating, and worth watching, but as I warn you it is a very low budget movie, with a very half-baked story, so watch with some low expectations.
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