Mad Max (1979)-"R"

Run Time:88 minutes

3 and 1/2 stars out of 4

George Miller's Mad Max (1979) is a fascinating film of a bleak future world, ravaged by road gangs and lacking a large enough police force to keep order. The starts out with a high speed police pursuit of "The Nightrider" (Vince Gil), a brutal and psychotic motorcycle-gang leader. He finally spins out of control and crashes out after pursuit from a hero policeman, Max Rocketansky (Mel Gibson), our main charcacter for the rest of the story. Nightrider's gang, lead by the viscious Toecutter (Hugh Keays-Byrne), is comprised of violent punks, homosexuals, rapists, and murderers. They seek revenge for their leaders death and kill a good friend and co-worker of Max's, Jim Goose (Steve Bisley), while he's driving home from a crash in a towtruck. Max realizes that the gang will probably target him and his wife and son next, and tells his boss, Fifi Macaffee (Roger Ward) of his retirement. The boss pleads with him to stay, and talks him into taking a vacation until things cool down. While on vacation with his wife and kids, Max is pursued by the viscious and merciless gang, and the results of their clashes are disturbing and memorable. I do not want to say too much more about the plot, for fear of giving the end away, but the ending does inspire Mad Max to fight villains for two more sequels (Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior and Mad Max 3:Beyond Thunderdome). This movie shows a grim and scary future world, and portrays it excellently. Gibson is fantastic as Mad Max, as is Keays-Byrne as the Toecutter, and both of their characters are memorable and intriguing. I was unfortunate enough to see this movie as the dubbed American version, I guess because the Australian accents were too thick, but it really takes away from the film's reality and I'm sure some of the characters would have been more intersting with their original voices. Despite that, this film is still highly original, interesting, and memorable. This is a definite must see for fans of Mel Gibson and/or the rest of the Mad Max movies.