Review #901: 'Mad Max' (1979)

Taking inspiration from the 1973 oil crisis, which saw an oil embargo set by the OAPEC - sky-rocketing oil prices and causing a public panic for fuel conservation in the process - George Miller's Mad Max, the most profitable film in history until The Blair Witch Project (1999) came along, mixes social commentary with exhilarating action, set in a near dystopian future where the last remnants of civilised society are terrorised by deadly motorcycle gangs seeking fuel and debauchery. This idea of dusty wastelands patrolled by leather-jacketed psycho's with crazy haircuts has now been copied and paid homage to so often that it has become almost cliché, but Mad Max is where it all started, and it still remains the greatest of its ilk 35 years on.

Although this is an origin movie, Max (Mel Gibson) himself is kept very much in the background for the first half of the film. After taking out notorious criminal Nightrider (Vincent Gil) in a violent opening sequence, Max, a member of MFP (Main Force Patrol) - a band of cops trying to maintain order in an increasingly hostile world - is relegated to the sidelines as Miller explores the world he inhabits. Seeking revenge for his friend, Toecutter (Hugh Keays-Byrne), the leader of a gang who looks like a member of Kiss but rules with the iron fist of Hitler, arrives in town and immediately starts to kill, rape and rob every law-abiding citizen in sight. When Max's partner is maimed in particularly brutal fashion, he flees with his wife Jessie (Joanne Samuel) and child, only to find that this bleak world is not quite done with him.

Through keeping Max's screen-time limited in the first half, we actually get a better understanding of him. Violence breeds violence - and every time Max finds himself facing down one of his foes, he finds that he's actually starting to enjoy it. By witnessing the exploits of Toecutter and his crew - one particularly disturbing scene sees a couple chased down, beaten and raped - and the growing futility of the efforts of the MFP (Captain 'Fifi' McAffee - Turkey Shoot's Roger Ward - longs to bring heroes back into society), we can sympathise with Max's growing disillusionment and impatience with the system that is failing them. This is, of course, how Max became 'mad', so it begins with him embodying the fresh-faced voice of reason, but by the end he is serving his own kind of justice.

Made during Australia's exploitation boom (dubbed 'ozploitation') for a meagre $400,000, Mad Max holds up phenomenally well. Miller demonstrated a real flair for action set-pieces as his career progressed, and the adrenaline-fuelled smashes and explosions here are edited with such precision that it makes you wonder how such carnage was staged without serious casualties to the actors (makers of the Taken and Fast and Furious franchises such take extensive notes on how to stage an exciting, coherent action scene). Mel Gibson says little but demonstrates the charisma that would later make him a world star, but the real star here is the world George Miller created. Civilisation would get even more sparse and brutal as the films progressed, but the original is what would inspire generations of film-makers. Despite a narrative dip in its third-quarter, Mad Max is pure action cinema, frequently imitated but never bettered.


Directed by: George Miller
Starring: Mel Gibson, Joanne Samuel, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Steve Bisley, Roger Ward
Country: Australia

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie