Mad Max

For this month, I was thinking of talking about one of the franchises that depicts an apocalyptic future, “The Mad Max Series.” I’m really excited to look at this, so let’s jump right in.

In 1979, the cinematic world was right in the middle of revival of Australian films, a time period that was dubbed “Australian New Wave.” Coming in on the peak of this movement was “Mad Max,” the debut of director George Miller’s leather-wearing, blacktop-melting road epic that started Mel Gibson’s career as an international film actor. Budgeted at less than $500,000, “Mad Max” had grossed $100 million worldwide and started a franchise that is still going to this day with “Mad Max: Fury Road,” which will be the final film I look at.

Actually, it’s safe to say that 1979 would have been that this film would just crash and burn. Dave Trumbore stated in his review, “First-time feature director Miller was, up until this point, an emergency room doctor exposed to all sorts of violent injuries and deaths. It was through his interest in film that Miller met up with amateur filmmaker Byron Kennedy at a summer film school, where they formed a partnership that would lead to massive success with Mad Max.” Pairing up with first-time screenwriter James McCausland, Miller and Kenney then went to casting the movie with new and upcoming actors completely innovative to being in movies. With all of these newbies both behind and in front of the camera, “Mad Max” had every reason to bomb. How did it become the most profitable film these many years later?

Trumbore mentioned that, “The films of Australian New Wave were characterized by a few traits: a relatively fresh vitality that was absent in films before this era, a penchant for capturing vast open spaces within the frame, the suddenness of violence, scenes of intimacy, and a straight-ahead narrative style of storytelling.” “Mad Max” had all of these. Trumbore said, “Organic energy infuses both the law-enforcing members of the Main Force Patrol and the chaotic agents of the scavenging Acolytes, unfettered by stilted dialogue or claustrophobic sets. Miller’s vision and cinematographer David Eggby’s camerawork captured the vast, arid landscape of the Australian highways, a setting that proved perfect for the post-apocalyptic dystopian story. While the scenes of tender loving are outnumbered by those that are voyeuristic or downright violent, it’s the portrayal of the world’s worst instances of road rage that really set Mad Max apart.”

The film itself gives about no exposition for audiences, choosing instead to start us off with only this sentence: “A few years from now…” After that, audiences are basically pondering what could follow on their own. Trumbore said, “Personally, I rather enjoy this slow-burn approach to storytelling which allows the plot to play out in its own time.” What that out of the way, modern audiences might find the pacing too slow and the film not having exposition confusing. Trumbore said, “The details of the post-apocalyptic world of Mad Max may be lost on those who only view the first film in the series, but I like to think that the classic tale of a lawman out for vengeance against those who murdered his friends and family is easily grasped by viewers, no matter the year they view it.”

Before we even meet the protagonist, we are introduced to the film’s two fighting groups: the policemen of the Main Force Patrol and the criminal members of the Acolytes. The main antagonist, nicknamed the Nightrider, played by Vincent Gil, has killed a novice officer while escaping police custody. He also steals the officer’s Pursuit Vehicle, and with his girlfriend, played by Lulu Pinkus, they are chased by cops on a high-speed chase. Things are looking bad for the MFP until they call in their top cop, Max Rockatansky, played by Gibson. The fast-paced chase soon ends in a fireball that kills the Nightrider and his girlfriend. This is not only a great start to the world of “Mad Max,” it also serves as a substance for the conflict that slowly progresses between the MFP and Acolytes for the next 90 minutes of high-speed action.

However, “Mad Max” does not lack a sense of humor, a twisted and often black humor obviously, but humor nonetheless. There are strange spontaneous moments spread throughout the film: Max’s wife Jessie (Joanne Samuel) randomly playing the saxophone, their only son Sprog (Brendan Heath) playing with Max’s revolver, Charlie’s (John Ley) mechanical voice box, and the Acolytes’ spur-of-the-moment dancing to name a few. Without these moments of humor and absolute eccentricity, the film easily could have transferred into a miserable and hopeless drag. However, many critics at that time received it this way, and not without good reason.

Much of the film follows the MFP using their limited resources to luck up the Acolytes, but a small amount of courage on the part of the victims allow the villains to get away clean, even when the law has them firmly in grasp. When the last leftovers of justice eventually fail the MFP, Captain “Fifi” Maccafee, played by Roger Ward (who likely gave as the stylistic predecessor of the rest of the series’ leather fathers and S&M setups) tells his officers to do whatever they can to kill this gang, as long as the paperwork is clean. However, when Max’s partner, played by Steve Bisley, gets burned alive, the MFP’s best driver retires before he meets a similar doing.

Max may have put some distance between himself and the violent of the MFP’s responsibilities in order to spend more time with his family, but the roads have become significantly uncontrolled, the same violence spreading out across the country. The Acolytes manage to find Max by a saddened twist of fate, an accident that ends with the motorcycle gang riding down Jessie and Sprog, permanently disfiguring and disabling Jessie, and killing Sprog. It’s this heart-breaking moment that pushes Max way too far. His drive for vengeance takes him over, costing him a damaged leg and a broken arm, but Max soon disassembles the Acolytes and looks over the deaths of Toecutter (Hugh Keays-Byrne) and Johnny the Boy (Tim Burns).

However, to what end? What are we to take from the conclusion of “Mad Max” except that unruliness is the avoidance nature of mankind? If tragedy is able to decrease the most honorable of us to our most deadly state, then what hope is there for rebuilding civilization after the defeat? While it’s easy to criticize “Mad Max” for this miserable outlook supported by the film’s final act, it’s must more encouraging to know that following films explore this dual nature of man. Is Max broken beyond the part of redemption, or is he still able to make meaningful relationships and become one again?

All of this will be told next week in the second entry of “Mad Max Month.” In the meantime, if you haven’t seen this film, do so. You will love it, I promise you. It’s really heavy and emotional, but it’s still riveting and engaging, making it a joy ride from beginning to end.