A_Different_Drummer Review of Mad Max

Mad Max (1979)

possibly the template for 1000 films that followed...

[8/10 · 28 April 2014]

The year was 1979. And out of Australia, of all places, comes this post-doomsday yarn about a world gone bad, starring a completely unknown Aussie hunk named Mel Gibson (this would be decades before he became Hollywood's "bete noire" and tried to share his novel views on racial differences with the world) and a hitherto unknown director named George Miller. Well, to call the film historical is like saying that John Wayne used to do westerns. Gibson ultimately became, well, for lack a better term, himself. Miller went on to not only sequels but also a number of astonishing films and would eventually pick up an Oscar; and the whole notion of end-of-the-world shoot em ups just took hold and would over time evolve into the fascination with all things zombie at the turn of the 21st century. Was this a great film? Only insofar as it is pure, the source, if you will, of what came later.