Mad Max

It was 1979 when the world was first introduced to Mad Max Rockatansky and director George Miller's wild, world gone mad that he inhabits. It was such a unique vision for a possible future, one where human civilization seems to be self destruction with only a few dedicated police officers, which Max is a member of, to try and hold it together.

Max (played by Mel Gibson) is a young husband and father and works as a police officer for the MFP (Main Force Patrol), who monitor the highways and try to rein in a world going more and more crazy. Things escalate further as a motorcycle gang led by the insane Toecutter (played by Hugh Keays-Byrne) and Bubba (played by Geoff Parry), things are taken up several notches as the gang unleashes a rein of terror on the town and in particular the MFP officers, including Max and fellow officer Jim "Goose" Rains (played by Steve Bisley. After one of the gang members manages to dodge a conviction due to a technicality, Max's captain instructs his officers to do whatever it takes to combat the gang as long as the paperwork is clean. This results in an all out war between the MFP and the motorcycle gang that also winds up putting Max's wife Jessie (played by Joanne Samuel) and young son Sprog (played by Brendan Heath) in jeopardy. 

It's interesting to watch the original Mad Max again after knowing everything that comes after it. Watching it again, I had a similar experience as I did watching the first Fast and the Furious movie in that I remarked how small and intimate the first film was compared to all the epic scope and massive action spectacle that was to come in later installments. This one is much more focused on it's characters, especially the character of Max. He starts out the film as a relatively happy fellow, grinning a lot and generally not much to complain about. But the end though, he's a burned out shell of a man, destroyed inside and out by all the violence and mayhem he's been through. It's a hell of a character arc and still pacts a punch all these years later. 

For a film series that is known as being a post-apocalyptic series of films, I wonder how many people forget that it actually hadn't happened yet in the first film. It's pretty clear it's coming from the state of the world that is depicted throughout the film, but there still is some semblance of society functioning in the background. Part of this may be that the film was filmed on a shoestring budget for roughly $350,000. Still, they clearly spent every penny well and crafted a good story to go with it as it doesn't feel super low budget. It may just be the tip of what was to come with the future installments of The Road Warrior, Beyond Thunderdome, and Fury Road, but it remains a potent and impressive debut for George Miller and Max Rockatansky. It's just that the sequels managed to take what was here and build on it so masterfully it can't help but seem smaller in their shadows. But despite that, it remains an auspicious start to a memorable film series.