Mad Max

Ah, the Mad Max movies. Did you know that until Blair Witch Project, the first Mad Max flick had the highest profit-to-cost ratio in cinema history? They shot it for 400K, and it made them over 100 million. The crazy part is that (at least initially) most of this came from non-U.S. markets; this might have had more than a little to do with the fact that the U.S. got a version in which Mel (and everybody else’s) voices had been dubbed over by Yanks.  Something about how the U.S. public wouldn’t have known what to do with a movie in which Australians were yammering on the entire time.  In fact, it was only with the release of the Mad Max DVD a few years back that we watch the movie without it sounding like a bad Hong Kong martial arts flick.

At any rate, we open with has to be one of the greatest auto chases in cinema history—“I am a fuel injected suicide machine!”—in which we see Max go head to head with the Night Rider, in a move that presaged the ending of Road Warrior where he collides full-on with the Humungous’ vehicle.  I love the way throughout most of the chase sequence Max just SITS THERE, listening on the radio as the chaos draws closer and the good guys get run off the road. #$# genius.   Spruce up your Monday by reliving the magic:

Tags: ,

7 Responses to “Mad Max”

  1. David J. Williams » Blog Archive » Mad Max As One More Reason Why the NYT is Going Bankrupt Says:

    […] « Mad Max […]

  2. jW Says:

    Ah, Blair Witch…that overrated student film whose success helped entrench the accursed “shaky cam” for years to come. I’ll take Mad Max any day.

    Btw, that’s LORD Humungus to you.

  3. David Williams Says:

    The ayatollah of rock and rollah!!!

    I’m sorry, my lord! I will lick your boots for a thousand years!

    –Toadie

  4. David J. Williams » Blog Archive » The Road Warrior Says:

    […] that combination got them out of film school and into the big time.  In the wake of the success of MAD MAX, the pressure was on, and they rose to it with one of the best sequels ever made.  Now that they […]

  5. Ben J Says:

    My memory is a bit hazy on this but Mad Max was perceived by some in the Australian film industry to be a failure before it was released. I also remember that Japan was one of the first countries to make it a box office hit. It was the success of The Road Warrior that brought some overdue respect to Mad Max. Back in the 1980’s I collected movie novelisations and Mad Max was one of the real finds to make.

    Over the years I’ve seen the first two Mad Max(s) on the big screen and the final chase in the Road Warrior still holds up as one of the great car chases. Nearly a decade ago I took a couple of mates to see them on the big screen and they couldn’t stop raving about them.

    Cheers

    P.S. – As a big fan I’m dreading the proposed 4th film – I prefer old school car chases, not CGI rubbish car chases.

  6. miyataMovie Says:

    This has been a awesome read ! Thank you!

  7. Joanna Rebuck Says:

    Ask you to ever considered placing even more video clips to a writings content that will help keep on the viewers a lot more interested? This just mean I only look over with the entire page created by yours also this was certainly great but considering I