Mad Max is a thrilling low-budget action movie, with great car chases, explosions, and intense violent sequences. It is somewhat comic book like with the way some of the characters speak. The young 23 year old Mel Gibson plays the brooding anti-hero role quite well. Mad Max Rockatansky, I consider Mel Gibson’s greatest role and it’s sad that he didn’t do another sequel after “The Beyond Thunderdome” movie. Instead he did more of the tiresome Lethal Weapon movies and later went crazy for whatever reason.
The biker gang led by the charismatic acting by Hugh Keays-Byrne as “Toecutter” are real scum, much like “The Droogs” featured in A Clockwork Orange. When watching the film you will be disgusted how they go around stealing, beating up people, killing people, and raping women. Hugh Keays-Byrne did a really great job with his character.
The Mad Max movie isn’t without some humor as some of you might find the scene where “The Goose is in a club drinking and he is getting turned on by this rather creepy, ugly, and somewhat alien looking singer played by Robina Chaffey. I would assume in such a society shown in Mad Max, you don’t have much to choose from and can’t be picky. Either that or “The Goose” was just too drunk to know any better. I do give her points for her singing ability.
The score for the film is well done also. I love the hero theme that plays whenever Max rises to the challenge. The camera work is some of the best in this film as it follows the cars and zooms in on the high-speed action. I did find it weird they added this effect whenever someone met their end onto a coming vehicle crash that their eyeballs would pop out all cartoony like. The pursuit special car that Max drives in the movie, which is a black limited GT351 version of a 1973 Ford XB Falcon Hardtop is badass. The MFP police force black leather uniforms are cool too.
I have just reviewed my special edition DVD of Mad Max, which has the original Australian dialogue track instead of the dubbed American. The DVD 5.1 Dolby Digital sound is very good with its booming clear dialogue and action scenes. The Mad Max movie is a classic entertaining action movie that gets better in “The Road Warrior”. Mad Max Rockatansky becomes a hero with a message in The Road Warrior and the following “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome”.