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Mad Max (1979)
37 Plays9 months ago
This week on the Everything Actioncast, Zach and Chris head into the post-apocalypse (?) of 1979's Max Max to celebrate the 45th anniversary of George Miller's classic. Miller's debut film, Mad Max is set in a dystopian Australia on the brink of societal collapse. Mel Gibson stars as Max Rockatansky, one of the few remaining police officers trying to maintain law and order. A sadistic motorcycle gang led by Toecutter (Hugh Keays-Byrne) becomes a thorn in Max's side when they first target his partner Goose (Steve Bisley) and then Max and his family.
The guys talk about how things seem OK for a world on the brink of collapse, how Goose becomes the main character for a large section of the movie, if Max and his wife Jessie (Joanne Samuel) are bad parents, the memorable climax where Max finally gets Mad and more.
You can watch Mad Max on Prime Video, Tubi, and PlutoTV. Next week we're talking about the 90s spin on Most Dangerous Game, Surviving the Game for its 30th anniversary.
We want to hear your comments and feedback. Send them all to contact@everythingaction.com. Also, let us know your suggestions for movies for us to discuss.
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Transcript
Introduction and Host Intros
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome to the Everything Action Cast, the official podcast of EverythingAction.com. Hello and welcome to the Everything Action Cast, the podcast for the week of April 8th, 2024. I'm your host Zach. I'm your co-host Chris.
Mad Max 45th Anniversary Discussion
00:00:27
Speaker
And yeah, this week we are climbing into our police interceptors and heading back to 1979 to celebrate
00:00:33
Speaker
The 45th anniversary of Mad Max, the original Mad Max, it debuted in its native Australia on April 12th, 1979. Actually, if you're hearing this today, it goes out. Today is the 40th anniversary of Mad Max. It also kind of lines up along with another post-apocalyptic thing that happened this week. It's the Fallout TV show debuted.
George Miller's Career Highlights
00:00:54
Speaker
It's kind of a double dose of post-apocalyptic goodness happening.
00:00:59
Speaker
Though I would argue that the Mad Max movie isn't so much about post-apocalyptic people.
00:01:18
Speaker
George, obviously George Miller directed it. I don't know if it was his first movie, but oh yeah, it was his first movie. So this is like his director debut.
Evolution of Mad Max Film Style
00:01:26
Speaker
And then next three movies were the next three, the next two Mad Max movies. So it's like Mad Max, Road Warrior, Thunderdome were all his first three movies. And then he started branching out into other stuff like Babe and Happy Feet. Yeah, he had a counterbalance.
00:01:46
Speaker
insane Australian sci-fi lore. And then jump right back into it with Fury Road and the upcoming Furiosa. But yeah, the first Mad Max, yeah, it's definitely going, if you're going back to it, like where we are now in the Mad Max franchise with like, you know, the hyper stylized, hyper crazy, like, you know, almost neon, like hyper colored, like Fury Road, Furiosa style.
00:02:16
Speaker
The first set of Max is a very quaint, very small scale.
Setting and World of Original Mad Max
00:02:25
Speaker
It doesn't seem like that bad of things. Apparently, it's something bad you're having in the background, but it doesn't really feel like it. Everyone's going about their normal lives, it seems like, mostly. Yeah.
00:02:42
Speaker
It just seems like a roving biker gang is terrorizing just the countryside. Yeah. Like the country side of like Australia, wherever that, whatever, wherever in Australia this takes place. Just Perth. Perth. Yeah. So, and, and compared to the other things where there are warlords and like orphans at stake and like dwindling resources, none of that is brought into here. No.
00:03:13
Speaker
And the movie is supposed to be sometime in the future. So.
Character Dynamics in Mad Max
00:03:17
Speaker
It could be in the 90s, it could be 2000s. And when this movie I think I think I think it specifically says when it started, it says like a few years from now. So the 80s, a few years from 1979. So I know the technology has definitely advanced, so I'm not going to fault it on that. Yeah. It's so enjoyable for a like.
00:03:43
Speaker
I guess like a vignette in this crazy universe. It's not supposed to go into so much detail because as soon as you start questioning it, it just starts unraveling.
00:03:55
Speaker
especially when there's a lot more scenes just out of context than I remember like the police force that just made up of like I don't like an after-school program of like yeah which wasn't what's the weird thing about the first one is that there there's still cops
00:04:15
Speaker
There's just a place for it max max max is a cop still it has been there still is or they're so like is lawyers yes and the lawyers and lawyers and the lawyers are still like the bait of like police existence cuz like like The one of the guys they arrest is like well he like there was no witnesses. He didn't like don't she in the court He's let him go Yeah, it's just they want to prevent kangaroo court. Yeah, I guess
00:04:40
Speaker
Um, there's still are like services in the area. Like there are, well, there's, yeah, there's still, there's still like auto, like auto repair shops and diners and TV news
Tone and Surrealism in Mad Max
00:04:53
Speaker
broadcasts and radio stations. It's a, it's not like, yeah, it's not like the, like the very next movie where society has absolutely collapsed the anarchy and there's warlords and barely like gas is like the most precious resource in the world. And like, there's like these little like
00:05:09
Speaker
communities have sprung up that are trying to survive the wasteland. So the first thing that you notice, it kind of goes against the grain for post-apocalyptic things is you have communication. You need to cut off good source of communication in order for the post-apocalyptic thing to kind of always happen. But I get it. It's 1979. There hasn't been a lot of material to explain wasteland structure.
00:05:39
Speaker
It really depends on how you view the Max Max movies, you know, these series of movies. So my first Mad Max was number two. And I didn't really watch number one a lot. So going back, it really is jarring because this movie does not feel like a Mad Max movie. Like it doesn't even feel like Mad Max is the main hero. Oh, no, like Max disappears for like
00:06:05
Speaker
Especially in the beginning, like he just disappears for like huge chunks. Like, because we're following the other, like his partner, Goose. Which, before Top Gun, there was, we had the Bad Maxis Goose. Explained by Steve Bisley, who is, yeah, he has his own storyline for like, the first half of the movie. And Max is just nowhere to be seen.
00:06:32
Speaker
see not only is goose the secondary character he's also a lot he's the character featured on the poster yeah i believe yeah yeah because like the post the like the like original iconic poster is like this guy with like a motorcycle police motorcycle helmet like leather police outfit with a gun but max doesn't look at that at all at any point in the movie so it's obviously it's obviously goose or someone else like modeled after goose it's goose it's the old one that has that attire yeah
00:07:03
Speaker
And the movie starts just like as misdirections. I don't know if that's intentional or just cobbled together. Like it starts with like the two bumbling cops. Yeah. I mean, not even that it starts with just like them. But then one cop is watching a couple make love in the field.
World-building and Motivations in Mad Max
00:07:24
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. In the field. And that's how like the movie just starts. So I don't know if it kind of has that like
00:07:35
Speaker
I don't know, but like New Zealand slash Australian comedy tone. It's something like something that I recognize as like a Peter Jackson thing, too, and his other works that aren't Lord of the Rings. It's it plays around just like being goofy and then surreal, where like, you know, it's like it's not a comedy, but it has comedy beats. Mm hmm. That happens a lot. Like just the two bumbling cops talking to each other, the
00:08:02
Speaker
The Knight Rider, just making fun of things. Yeah. I thought it was interesting. So this guy who calls himself the Knight Rider, I think he killed a cop and stole his car. So yeah. And he and his girlfriend are driving around in one of the police interceptor cars. I thought it was interesting, because Hugh Keysburn plays Toe Cutter. He's the main motorcycle gang leader.
00:08:31
Speaker
And then later on, Fury Road, which was his last movie, he played Immortan Joe. And I thought it was funny where, like, Knight Rider is like, he's like, Toecutter's going to notice me! Toecutter, notice me! Like, it was kind of like this weird, like, they brought that back later for, like, the Witness Me stuff and, like, Fury Road.
00:08:49
Speaker
I think what happens is because people are so weird for villains that they idolize who can out villain the next guy. That's why the police chief wanted to make Max the hero. He was looking to design a cop that basically will clean up the land.
00:09:10
Speaker
And he didn't know how, but he knew just give him enough time in this world. I guess the evidence that I guess society is kind of collapsing is that the police station is like a shithole. It's almost like an abandoned building that they're still operating out of, but it's all crumbling and barely livable. That could just be Australia. That could be Australia. Yeah. The Hall of Justice. Yeah. Which every time I see that, I just think not the right Hall of Justice. Yeah.
00:09:41
Speaker
Uh, yeah, that's another thing about the movie is that the Knight Rider part, it plays a big role because if you, if you're like me, who I think the first time I've seen this movie, I missed the first 20 minutes or so. So I didn't know who the hell the Knight Rider was. Yeah. It's a one scene long car chase. It's a long car chase about the guy. He's not writing in the night.
00:10:06
Speaker
He doesn't have a helmet or something crazy. I feel like everyone's names don't match. Toecutter never cuts someone's toes off. Why is he called Toecutter? I don't know. Johnny the Boy? He's not a boy. I also think there's a guy named Luigi.
00:10:29
Speaker
Yep. Like, like Tokyo is like second, like is like, like, like the executive gang guys, like Bubba Sinetti. Oh, I forgot that was his name. Yeah. Cut Kundalini. Like Kundalini. Yeah. He has like the mustache. I think he's supposed to be Italian. I don't know. We don't really hear from him.
Impact of Low-budget Production Techniques
00:10:53
Speaker
Uh, yeah, like they're all just like missed mosh of
00:10:58
Speaker
just looks like to me like Dexter in the midnight train like they all were like those oh like uh Dexi's midnight oil like the like come on Eileen guys is it a midnight oil though the midnight train midnight midnight oil or like i think midnight oil i think there's like they're too good to suit up like australian bands really yeah oh yeah yeah midnight oil they did like beds are burning then sorry Dexi's midnight runner
00:11:27
Speaker
who like who I did like come on Lee and they were like overalls yep yep yep but they were from the UK either way it's something to do on the other side of the world but yes but yeah but yeah they don't see like like compared to like the very next movie where we get like Lord Humongous
00:11:46
Speaker
Oh yeah, no, where basically they are start getting more ripped. Yeah. And they're like literally like the road warriors from like WWE. They literally are, I don't know, more outdoorsy. Barbarians. Yeah, the true like scavengers who basically look like they have to stay fit in order to like, kill a lot more often.
00:12:12
Speaker
Yeah. These guys, this posse of bikers are just assholes. A lot of the time, everyone's afraid because no one wants to do anything. But, and usually like a one on one confrontation, they get like punched a lot. Like toe cutter gets like, in the, in the beginning toe cutter almost gets hit by the car that's fleeing the town. Yeah.
00:12:37
Speaker
Okay. Toe cutter also gets like an ice cream smooshed in his face and like kicked in the groin. Yeah. Toe cutter also is, um, just like tricked into his demise. And that's, he's the leader of the band of the biker gang. Everyone else dies in like dumber ways.
00:12:59
Speaker
They really, they reminded me a lot of, um, a little bit of like the, uh, like the droogs and like Alex and the droogs from like classic orange is like, I don't know. We're just gonna like, like, you know, wander around, just cause random violence and just like assault people and just do whatever we want. Right. So the Druze, at least in that, they were supposed to be like 16, 17. Yeah. Maybe 18.
00:13:21
Speaker
These look like all grown every year old Australian men. Yeah. They should be like the wild hogs. Yeah. Yeah. There are some parts where you do feel like they are organized. When they attack the car and they're all just bashing it and decide to rip it strategically.
00:13:44
Speaker
And then other times they're just like guys of no plan like when one of them loses an arm our hand and they're just yelling and
00:13:55
Speaker
I don't know like that the one guy makes like like bird calls or like he meows like a cat or something Yes, they all look like Oh, there's also I think I think it's just like because they film it in Australia and like they didn't like the like the budget was so small I feel like they couldn't like edit out or like get rid of like there's like just like I think it's like random like sheep calls or like bird calls in the background constantly I
00:14:19
Speaker
I couldn't tell if there was like a guy, like one of the guys in the group just like making weird animal calls or just like there's just like random animals off screen that they couldn't like get rid of. Just near an active farm. Yeah.
00:14:32
Speaker
So Mad Max also is one of those movies that is famous
Max's Family and Plot Progression
00:14:37
Speaker
for being a guerilla film at times. Like George Miller did not secure enough funding to have permits and like close sets and I don't know like safety coordinators. I was watching Mr. Sunday Movies review of this Mad Max also and they bring up an important fact that
00:15:01
Speaker
A lot of these stunts were done by like a handful of professionals and the rest were just like, you want to see some cool shit? Like we'll die. Yeah. And that's why there's like a good, there's a cool grittiness. Once you understand that, like, I feel like Mad Max is appreciated by film bumps, right? Yeah. I don't know if before Fury road.
00:15:25
Speaker
And maybe before Beyond Thunderdome, people really into Mad Max besides a very niche group of people that saw this in the theaters as like a, like a road, like a brine house movie. Well, it's also, it's got, it's got, it's really similar to like, like duel, like the scenes of a movie that came out like two years before this. It's got that kind of vibe where it's just like,
00:15:49
Speaker
We got a kind of empty stretch of road. We got some vehicles. And then that's our movie. We're just going to have these car chases that are like, we don't really have the budget to make these elaborate ones. But it's going to be like guys in the actual cars smashing each other. So I've never seen you. Is that inspirational to this?
00:16:15
Speaker
It was a TV movie, so I don't know if George Miller was in somewhere where he could see it. It's become a cult classic and very influential. It definitely inspired Quentin Tarantino to do Death Proof.
00:16:39
Speaker
But yeah, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know if George Miller. Yes. Or maybe maybe just it was kind of like that. That was the vibe of like the 70s. Yeah. This movie is mostly car chases and and mostly like really road warrior stuff except except when it's like running, just running, running right through the woods. Yes. So that's like a whole different scene from another movie. It becomes a heart like there are times where it becomes like the hills have eyes or something. Yeah.
00:17:11
Speaker
Which, can we talk about Max's family? Sure. Which, it's a weird thing, like, yeah, he has a family. And what they said to me is that Max and his wife, Jesse, are like the worst parents in the world. No! Well, I mean, the first scene we see, his son is playing, like, his little son Sprog is playing with his fucking gun.
00:17:35
Speaker
Okay, well and then yeah, I feel just like yeah Yeah, hope it's a loaded, but like there's not even a mention like oh, hey That's not toy kiddo or whatever like that. I'm like a joke. It's like back just leaves a day. It's like It's just I'm still playing with your gun
00:17:51
Speaker
And then when they go on their family trip later, I feel like there's scenes where they're off themselves and it's like, where's Sprog? Where's the kid? Max jumps in that lake or whatever, and they have that emotional, like, Max is talking about his father. It's like, well, where's your son, Max? You're a terrible father.
00:18:13
Speaker
I assumed he was there and there is no big setup for that. It's just sort of, uh, like we'll get into that vacation scene, but yeah, like they're not the worst. There's a lot of love, but I understand where, yeah, don't give a kid a gun.
00:18:32
Speaker
Maybe like just like very neglectful or like very forgetful Because it feels like the kid like Sproggins is like left by himself constantly Well, Max and Jesse just go off and like romantic like like interlude somewhere So he's fired the car He's fine. He's fine with it with this doll. We just purchased from a random guy in the street around the road Did they buy a random dog?
00:19:01
Speaker
Yeah, I think they just ran to a guy on the road, and he's like, hey, can we buy one of your dogs? And he's like, all right, sure, you're stuck. I totally missed that. Also, OK, I'm going to be honest. A lot of Mad Max you don't need to pay attention to. All the small details, it's not a subtle movie. It's actually at some points a lot of downtime. Staring and having moments or watching his wife play the freaking saxophone.
00:19:29
Speaker
Oh my god, yes. Totally random.
Max's Character Development
00:19:32
Speaker
And yeah, you see more about the countryside of this area. Which again, seems perfectly fine. You can walk by yourself to the beach. Max has an elderly friend that they go and spend time with. They're just driving around in a family, like a station wagon, just having a great old time. It's not a battle station wagon.
00:19:59
Speaker
Yeah. And the water seems clean that you could swim in it. It's not like that's so precious. There's a lot of greenery happening.
00:20:09
Speaker
And yeah, Max is wearing like clean clothes. Like at one point he's just wearing like slacks and like a button down lewd white shirt, like a striped shirt. Like it looks just like fine. Like there are cages of people being like hung upside down, like in the road or there's like a roving gang of
00:20:34
Speaker
You know, uh, motorcade people with like skulls, like that doesn't happen yet. And that's only three years after this. Well, the only thing I can think of is because the road that like, like, I think it's in the road in the beginning, the road, the end is like, it's like, uh, it's just sort of like unauthorized zone or something.
00:20:53
Speaker
And if you read the Wikipedia subscriptions, that section is already a wasteland kind of dystopian. And then I guess that spreads out for the rest of Australia and then the rest of the world, I guess. I think that's where Toe Cutter and them come from, is this forbidden zone.
00:21:22
Speaker
like stay out of this area zone and then everything there's crazy already that makes more sense only because like i don't know where these people are like where was toe cutter's goal was to click the body of the night rider actually before we get too far into that
00:21:42
Speaker
Let's talk about the Knight Rider scene. So a guy breaks out of jail, meets Max, doesn't even trick him. They just drive along the countryside. But the Knight Rider gets scared of Max because he realizes he encountered a guy who is just as fearless as him. Because they play chicken. Max wins because they're not very flinched, I guess.
00:22:09
Speaker
But then Knight Rider has like a mental breakdown. It's never really explained. I think it's supposed to be interpreted that he is afraid. And that's what causes him to drive recklessly into like an oil fireworks factory.
00:22:29
Speaker
That's then plus that model. The car is the same intercept model. I think Max then drive. So not only is that car only is like everyone, that car died and the shell of that car is fine. Like then they're able to rebuild that car into Max's intercept. I don't know. I don't know if they build that car in the intercept. I think they're like, they were, I think they were working on like the actual intercept, like the other, like, cause like,
00:22:51
Speaker
the one that actually like the black air center that max drives to the end is like it's like it's like it's what it hasn't existed before it's like no one else had like no one else it wasn't out there in like the like the you know the police force yeah I don't and maybe though I haven't really seen anything that says like oh like they turned to that card like
00:23:14
Speaker
But maybe not. It's supposed to imply because even that mechanic in the police shop says that it's bits of here and there. They're able to scrap. Yeah. But it's it's it's a crazy suit. It's like a crazy like a V8, like giant engine in it. And then and that's like the captain's like bribe. Basically, it's like, hey, Max, we're going to give you this we're going to give you this like awesome fucking car. And then if you stand as like a police say on the police, you drive this car, you drive this cool car fighting cool Australian crime.
Narrative Structure and Future Setups
00:23:48
Speaker
But then they don't, like, it's like, here, that's your car, but then he doesn't drive that car until the end. But okay, so.
00:23:56
Speaker
Is it implied that Max drove all the way back to the city, like got back and then drove all the way back to the countryside? Oh, at the end? Yeah. Yeah. I don't. Yeah. I didn't end like a day. Yeah. Cause like he doesn't have like, I guess, yeah, they're, they're, they're like, uh, station wagons broken. Like it, like it's fan belt broke, whatever. So like, it's yeah, it seems like he walked all like, or like, I guess it made an ambulance came and then he got to like the hospital and then wherever the hospital is in relation to like the police station.
00:24:26
Speaker
Which also, another thing, yeah, there's also still hospitals in the first of my backs. Yeah. They don't seem very good, but there's still hospitals. They work, but not all the time, because the doctors just kind of gave up. I suppose the doctor was smoking a cigarette in the room, just being like, yeah, she's going to die. Don't forget, it's also still like the 70s doctors. Yeah. Barely any better yet.
00:24:58
Speaker
So yeah, then toe cutter and his friends are like, Hey, we witnessed Knight Rider. Cause like everyone in the news is talking about how crazy the crime was. And this guy did it. And then they want to collect his body. I don't know why. I don't know what they're doing. The body besides collecting it. Well, what, why does it end up in that like weird small town on the train? I think so. The train is the station to pick up the bot. Yeah. But yeah, I put it, I put a train and yeah, I put a train just left at the station and then they show up and like come to collect it.
00:25:28
Speaker
right they collected it then they bother this couple who is afraid of toe cutter like it doesn't imply I don't think that couple that runs away knows toe cutter personally I think they were just like no they didn't they just see they see all these guys doing like crazy shit in town there's like we gotta get out of here like but then toe cutters like we want to try to go after those guys yeah no one leaves without saying like that's the point
00:25:58
Speaker
Is that toe cutter just didn't like them leaving? Maybe, or like you said earlier, they almost ran him over, so. Yeah, well, I don't know if it was a personal thing. That's another thing in this movie, too, because that couple has a really fancy hot rod, souped up car. And that's like, later on, later in the Mad Max movies, we got these cars with skulls on them, very apocalyptic. And then this movie, it's more like,
00:26:25
Speaker
like hot rods and like custom, custom cars. Like there's like a scene where like goose is just like admiring these, this couple has like a crazy like custom motorcycle.
00:26:37
Speaker
And he's just like, cool, cool bike guys. Later. And he's recording with the girl? Yeah. I don't know if in this... It's just so weird. This could just be the countryside of Australia. People just have super customized cars and motorcycles. Yeah. And then eventually it turns like the Doof Warriors amplifier truck.
00:27:07
Speaker
So that's the thing, I don't know if during this timeframe everyone in the future ManMax installments are here at the same time. Max is like, Max is what, 30 maybe? Maybe 28? And yeah, like he is younger than Immortal Joe. So Immortal Joe has to be like,
00:27:35
Speaker
you know like in the sense of like he would have to be like 40 something in terms of like how to scale this correctly later on in the series I know like timeline doesn't make any sense but immortal Joe could just be like a gas station guy maybe yeah running like a sandwich shop he's making some he's just making some like witness me
00:28:03
Speaker
Put mayo on your sub. He hasn't gotten that yet, but it's getting there. That should be like the, that should be like the Furiosa, like prequel. It's just like important. Jonah's like walks past like a hardware store and sees like silver, sorry, but he just like, that gives me an idea. Yeah, essentially that's what's happening during this time. There was a Mad Max prequel comic series that came out a few years ago or during the time of the first movie.
00:28:31
Speaker
I mean, not the first movie, but during Theory Road, that sort of explains the warring factions, but it doesn't really explain this ever.
Analysis of Key Mad Max Scenes
00:28:42
Speaker
Because again, it's hard to show this world and then not question where the hell were all these people doing. And how apparently just absolutely quickly, within a couple of years after this movie, just turned into this road warrior, where it's like a
00:29:00
Speaker
giant like just a desert the entire like environment collapsed and everything collapsed yeah like where everyone is basically working out and then uh like making their own leather okay so um yeah they want let's talk about goose who basically sets him off by was it like the young member
00:29:29
Speaker
Johnny, Johnny the boy. Johnny the boy. Well, I think I'm more like, I mean, toe cutter has like a thing with, I think they have like, uh, they'll tell gang is like very homo. Yes. Which I don't mind. No. Yeah. You know, thing. It just, though, John, the boy is supposed to be like a couple of things. It was like maybe the newest member. He is the most wild. He's the most he's he's on drugs somehow.
00:30:02
Speaker
and then He's also like the catalyst. Mm-hmm. They find him Shrung out like a goose and max fine John the boy strung on heroin like Watching a girl in a car that they vandalized like it's such a weird placement I thought it was like a trap and you realize it's not it's like they just don't have a plan
00:30:28
Speaker
Yeah, that's that's not for sure. That's not like where Max learned about Bates. Yeah, it's just like this dumb guy fell asleep and they left the biker gang just left them. Mm hmm. But yeah, but yeah, they arrest him. And then apparently when they went to when they went to court and no one showed up like the girl they got that they like assaulted didn't show up like nobody from town showed up.
00:30:55
Speaker
I mean, Goose and Max didn't show up, which it's on them, but it's like... Why didn't they show up? Yeah, but yeah, basically, but then the lawyer, like Johnny the Boy's lawyer showed up and says like, well, no one showed up, so like, and he's also like, he's too crazy to stand trial, so he gets to go free. That's how the law works. Yeah, and then Goose flips out and like almost beats him, like, or like, he's just kind of trying to beat him and then it's like, like he's, they stop him and then he breaks free and like,
00:31:24
Speaker
beats up to try the boy for a little bit, and then you catch him again, and they like, he breaks free, just beating on him again. But yeah, but eventually the game takes it back, but then they're like, well, we gotta, you know, we gotta get revenge on these two guys. Or at least, it's more on Goose, because Goose is the one that was like, trying to beat the shit out of him. And then- The boy also knew the system. Yeah. They've been doing this for a while. They know how to play the odds, I guess.
00:31:53
Speaker
But then when Goose is at a cabaret show, it's like going on somewhere in the city, they take like the, they loosen something and they take something off his bike.
00:32:10
Speaker
Yeah, so they sabotage his bike and then he goes like he's like, he's like, you know, he's flying the road on his bike and he crashes and say it's this crazy spectacular crash and he just gets up. He's fine. Like he's just like, he's just like, wow, that was a crazy crash. Like, so I, since for those who've seen this movie before or know what happens, you think that's the main incident. You think that.
00:32:33
Speaker
it was gonna be it but it just keeps escalating because it's like the next day. Yeah. How long happens? But yeah so he crashes his bike he should be dead from that crash he's not he's fine he calls like a like a someone like buddy who has a truck and he puts his bike in the back of the truck and he's driving his truck and that's when they attack him finally
00:32:58
Speaker
Yeah, it basically seemed like the first incident is not related to the second one. I didn't like that expectation. Yeah, they somehow, like, they, Johnny the Boy was like stalking him and then like, I guess if the bike, they crash and they kill him and he had this backup plan of like, I'm gonna throw like a brake drum through like the truck windshield. Yeah, that wasn't really much a plan. That just seemed like a spur of the moment. But then the next part of the like, let's also burn him to see. Yeah. Even Johnny wasn't even about that.
00:33:26
Speaker
Yeah. Well, because I was it was Johnny or like or like Toker was like one of the I think Johnny was like yelling about like we got these bronzes man. Like he was like yelling about the cops like we had to start taking on the cops then. And then Toker is like, do it then like show me. But then, yeah, Johnny was like, I didn't want no, not like this. I'm not ready for this. Yeah. He's a resist, but it's too late at that point. Like you're part of this crazy ass gang.
00:33:56
Speaker
Yeah, and then the goose has turned to like a chard, like a charcoal briquette. I guess he's still alive, but then he's in the hospital and Max goes in there and he's horrified by it, which I think, they should show his hand, but then Max pulls out his faces and he's horrified by it.
00:34:16
Speaker
Yeah, I do like that it's not as graphic as it could be. It tries to show more reactionary, and then I guess. They probably also didn't have the budget for crazy bird makeup. It probably would have looked terrible. It would have looked like just a bunch of watercolor fans. It would have looked like Harvey Dent, too, in Dark Knight. It would have been some sort of weird face paint or something.
00:34:46
Speaker
Maybe some oatmeal put into it or something. But then Max is like, instead of, I'm going to seek revenge for my friend. It's like, I need to leave. I need to put the police force. And then his captain is like, well, why don't you go on vacation instead? And then you can think about it. Then if you still want to quit, you could quit after your qualification.
00:35:12
Speaker
because i guess the police chief is still hedging his bets and i don't know what okay when that happens you see like the police chief just watering his plants without a shirt on yeah no shirt like a like a he kind of has like an ascot on like a like a scarf for like a like sort of like a like a tie but no shirt so again as a kid when i watched first watches confused i was just like what is happening is it just
00:35:38
Speaker
This is Australia. This is just Australia. Because I did not know that in the original Mad Max, you know, if you miss the blurb that it's set in the future, you just think this is Australia.
Climactic Revenge and Resolution
00:35:48
Speaker
Yeah. Zany Australian culture. But yeah, then Mad Max goes on vacation, becomes like a large part of the movie, too. Yeah, just like a fun road trip. Like they're like, you know, they're traveling across Australia, they get a dog.
00:36:06
Speaker
They're like swing holes. They're also stopping by like ice cube shops and gas store, you know, like it does not seem very post-apocalyptic. So the gas station part was interesting where they are stopping for like ice cream and and trying to repair a spare tire.
00:36:34
Speaker
So, yeah, something happens, they have to get like a new tire, like redo something on their tire. And then, but yeah, but then they don't need the car there, like they just need the tire there. And because like, you know, Jesse like drives off with like, we're gonna get some ice cream. And then like, Max is allowed to take like the repair shop with the guy.
00:36:57
Speaker
But then that's where they run into, like, Tokodoro's gang. I don't know if they were following them, or they're just randomly at this, like, seaside town? Like... I think they were randomly there. I think it was... They gave up on the other town, and they're like, now we're like, we're traveling down the road to this town now? Yeah. So, essentially, I'm assuming it's all one highway road.
00:37:18
Speaker
they don't have like multiple paths. Cause Australia is just one giant circle. Yeah, it does. Like if you see the roads in this movie, it seems like it's just one long straight road that just goes, like you stay on that road and you never get off that road. Yeah. There's no main street that they show you. There's no alternate path. So eventually I think by the, it's not even like a lot of odds. You're just gonna meet the person. If they're just wanting to go to the beach, you go to every, you go to the one spot all the beaches are at.
00:37:49
Speaker
So yeah, just unfortunate that these biker gangs are just hanging around this ice cream shop harassing this woman. And there are some creepy one liners. There was a line.
00:38:03
Speaker
said by one of the henchmen that just says, oh, my favorite, a woman or something like that. Well, it's like, it's like he sees Jesse and Sprog and he's just like, oh, look, dinner and desserts. Yeah. And it's, it's my, it's my favorites. Woman, a woman. But yeah, but yeah, like you mentioned before, Jesse like smashed his ice cream and took out his face and these on the balls, gets away. And then the one guy, I think we mentioned like,
00:38:32
Speaker
Kundalini or Kundalini who I guess is like the Italian member or like like something It's not it's not really clear what anyone's like gimmick is there's all like kind of crazy like Biker guys, but he tries to like use a chain to like latch out of the car and then it rips his hand off I don't know what his plan was he really wrapped that chain around his hand and
00:38:57
Speaker
He was gonna stop the car. He was just gonna plant his feet and stop the car. But they get away and then they pick up Max and then they go to Max's friend's house? Like May? They don't say who that person was.
00:39:17
Speaker
Yeah, well Wikipedia says she's an old friend of Max from how he met her where like how like all the details we don't know it's just like they go to her like cot like cottage in the farm in the woods. And then she has like a giant like special needs son. It's just like wandering around. Yep.
00:39:44
Speaker
A lot of that was kind of missed. Like I kind of remember this scene differently in the movie. I always thought the sun and Max like they helped each other. I thought they did like a team up scene or something, but they literally are just secondary characters. They didn't even need to be in this movie and the movie still would have made sense. Yeah. It could have just been like a house they rented or a house they found. Um, the special needs son just sort of pops up as a misdirect to scare.
00:40:14
Speaker
But it's like, it's so weird because I think like we never see the sun again after that. No. I don't know if George Middle just knew someone in which movie will let us use your land and then we will put someone in your family in our movie.
00:40:36
Speaker
Yeah, but this this scene is where we get like the like it seemed seemingly endless like forest chase where like Jesse is just running for what seems like forever away from like the toe cutters gang and the gang through the woods. Yeah, then they're popping out like ninjas like yeah, you see them. They're all like scattering and running around and again, it's like are they they're very organized. Have they done this before?
00:41:06
Speaker
but then the funny thing is they so like they get all everyone everyone gets back to like this farm and then may manage to like like put like lock all the gang in the barn because she has she has a shotgun like a single like double barrel shotgun like like shoots it once and forces all the guys to the barn yeah they're like oh man we're defeated she has a gun i do like that for the whole gang they don't have guns yep
00:41:33
Speaker
There's no self-defense thing. No one has an arrow. No one has a knife they throw. They're just like, OK, well, shotgun beats this. This beats everyone. She can obviously take all of us out with the one shot left in her gun. But then the door to the barn is hilariously flimsy and it's smashed through it.
00:42:04
Speaker
Which, I mean, I guess just like, like, like, five or six guys smashing on it, but it's still, like, it kind of, it like collapses, like, cardboard, like, it's just like, or like, like, balsa wood, they just like, smash through it, then they get, they're back on, then they're back in the chase. Yep. Uh, the C, okay, let's get to the scene where the toe cutter gang really amps it up by running over Jesse. Oh, yeah. Uh,
00:42:29
Speaker
One of the things I always ask about running away from vehicles like that is, why would you follow the road? Why would you run parallel? I guess she was afraid. And she was hoping that they wouldn't just run into her. Yeah, it's like just betting that toe cutter is not insane enough to run over a baby. And he was. But he is, yeah. But again, it doesn't cut the toes off. Why is he called toe cutter? No idea.
00:43:00
Speaker
like he should have like a cigar like cutter and like it that's like you like you like to work like you kill someone like it's like I cut or like I have a necklace of toes or something like she like that guy in a what like a like like she like dark man like a Drake she's like all like just ears or whatever like right balls or whatever
00:43:28
Speaker
His wife makes it all the way back to some centralized hospital where I think she loses her arm She has no arm, no leg. They said it's like there's like massive internal injuries And then yeah, they're like I love all the doctors like Max is standing outside of the room and like doctors like tell them she'll be fine She's not but tell them
00:43:54
Speaker
Like lie to him. That's when he turns into Mad Max finally. The last 15 minutes of the movie.
00:44:09
Speaker
Again, I I knew that going in again as my rewatch that it's a very slow burn to where you see man This this whole movie I mean III very much appreciate it But this feels like it could have been like the first like 10 minutes of the road warrior or something like you can just get like this like opening seat like you step like everything's gonna be like cut down to like like the first act of like road warrior and then you're like, oh and then he's like end up in the apocalypse like
00:44:38
Speaker
Someone like this, like Madman ran over his wife and son and then he became like this like, like roaming police vigilante guy. Oh yeah, essentially that's what they did in Fairy Road. You don't even get like, you just get like tidbits. And if you happen to be watching these movies in order or aware of the whole series, it's rewarding to know. But that's all you need. Again, this was, it feels very
00:45:09
Speaker
like art house, college, amateur movie. Yeah, it's George Miller's first movie. So yeah, he's still work out the kinks.
00:45:21
Speaker
Yeah, it's fine. This movie now is a rewatch. It's definitely for movie buffs. Is it for everyone? No. It's hard to recommend watching the first Mad Max if someone's never interested in it, because you have to say, OK, you have to watch Road Warrior, and then maybe Beyond Thunderdome, and then Fury Road. But it didn't tell her to appreciate where it started. It's always rough trying to go back in time, reliving nostalgia, especially
00:45:51
Speaker
in a way that if you say post-apocalyptic, you're just like, they had ice cream. They had ambulances. They were very different. That being said again, it's still cool to watch Matt. The 15 minute montage of Max hunting down this gang is good because you spent such a long time watching Max sort of, you know,
Legacy and Impact of Mad Max
00:46:17
Speaker
give up
00:46:34
Speaker
like way back in the beginning. But then, but then here, then here, then here, yeah, he's, he's suited up. He's in these iconic Mad Max, like leather outfit. He gets his suit up, the VA like, interceptor, the black interceptor. He's got his like, sawed off shotgun. He's like fully a Mad Max now. Yeah, he pretty much just does things, no talking. He's mad as hell. Yeah. And I think he does this all in a day.
00:47:00
Speaker
Something yeah, it's it's it's short directory leaves the hospital and then suits up. He's just like yeah, he may just hunt them all down And then he like drives he's like drives most of them off the road like he's like kind of like runs up like Mostly getting off the road off of bridges and stuff Yeah, he kills most of them that way. Yeah, I mean are they dead? Are they dead though, or they just like kind of like this crashed. It's like oh, no our bikes ruined Falls into like a gigantic
00:47:32
Speaker
Yeah, they don't explode either it's just like oh I kind of I crashed off the side of the road But I mean he definitely he definitely gets toe-cutter because he managed like he managed to like get token of the crash or Drive into a truck on coming truck. It's like is like Graphically run over by the truck What did you think about the fake eyeball?
00:47:58
Speaker
I was just like, that's kind of jarring, which is like, wait, what? Because it's before it gets hit. I mean, after it gets hit, I can maybe see, like, oh, his eyeballs popped out. But it's just like, it's before it's like this cartoonish, like, boing, boing, like, upcoming truck. Very different. Like, it's like a whole different movie that scene. Feels like something out of a comedy. But yeah, that's a cool, satisfied death for Till Cutter.
00:48:29
Speaker
But then, uh, like the final scene, like, like he managed to track the, he kills everyone else. And then he, but like Johnny is the only one left and then he tracks him down. And Johnny is like doing his user Johnny thing of like, he's like trying to steal the boots off a dead guy that crashed inside of the road. And then there's a random crash, but then I loved it. Like Max basically puts him in like a saw trap.
00:48:58
Speaker
like it like pretty solid trap that yeah this is like James one had to see this be like oh yeah what if we made a whole movie like that because he it's essentially they keep crediting Mad Max for that idea of I put you in a trap you could do this or that yep and where do you stand do you think Johnny got out of it or he blew up
00:49:21
Speaker
I mean, I feel like it's way too slick. As soon as Max left, it was like the car blew up. I think Max told me he had options, but I think he decided to just kill him. I don't think he expected to saw his own leg off and get out. He told me in five minutes he probably had one minute.
00:49:42
Speaker
I don't know if basically if this was like it do you think this this scene it's still pretty powerful scene but do you think this scene would have been better if it was a callback to something earlier if they gave if they did the same thing to him you know as a oh like they're so messed up they tricked Max thinking that he ever had a choice or yeah a or or if you want to get even deeper about it and and potentially
00:50:13
Speaker
This is George Miller's simplicity, is that you know how the police chief was giving Max a choice to be the cop? It's like, this is Max's choice to say, no matter what, it's the illusion of choice. Is that the metaphor?
Conclusion and Anniversary Reflections
00:50:30
Speaker
I think it's just to show Max, the law is gone.
00:50:41
Speaker
It's his own law now. It's his own justice. He's just like, I'm doing whatever I can do to survive. And then someone crosses me, I'm just going to take them out. But then why give the guy the choice? Why not just do the same thing he's been doing to the rest of the gang? I think it was also just he wanted to do something, especially to Johnny, because
00:51:08
Speaker
Like, you know, he like, he burned goose alive or like, or like, or like, I don't know. Did Max know that? Or like, I think, I think, I think, I think he just kind of seemed like the whole gang did it, but. Or I think, I think maybe, um, like I think Johnny was like yelling stuff about like, Oh, I didn't like, I didn't like, I didn't kill the family or I, like, I, like, I wasn't involved anything. Yeah, but I wouldn't believe. No, yeah. He's like whack out of his mind.
00:51:43
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. I think it was just like, yeah, it was more like Max during the med max where it's just like, like he's just like, I'm not cop anymore. Like you're not getting arrested. I'm going to like, uh, you know, I'm killing you and like, like this like over top way now.
00:52:03
Speaker
You know, I I'm surprised he doesn't do that again in later movies. There's no more. Yeah, he doesn't. Yeah. Yeah. He just he just takes it. He just takes out like later on. There's no like elaborate elaborate like death traps anymore. Yeah, I would have liked
00:52:30
Speaker
like a gimmick for max if it's not just like beating people and uh just being mad i yeah i think the it's a i don't know if this would play over time well but him handcuffing people i know that sort of happens in fear road where he gets handcuffed to like a wild boy uh-huh but
00:52:57
Speaker
Yeah, I think it would have been a running gag in his movies of how he fights his enemies and he handcuffs them. Or he just happened to have a hacksaw, Andy. He's like, opens his letter jacket and he says like, a thing of hacksaws.
00:53:19
Speaker
Oh, so the max thing is his car is the main thing. It basically becomes his home, his interceptor, which is such a big deal, but it gets demolished in Fairie Road. But then they rebuilt it again in Fairie Road. Yeah.
00:53:46
Speaker
But overall, the first one, Max, it's definitely interesting to go back to. It's very interesting to see George Miller's starts.
00:54:00
Speaker
I kind of get paired maybe a little bit to like, Dr. No, where it's like, there's like, there's pieces of like, where Jason like, because Dr. No, it's like, there's a lot of weirdness for Jason Bond stuff. It's like, I like, oh, there's definitely Jason elements here. But like, a lot of it's not in place yet. And then like, next, it took Jason like two movies to get there. And then Mad Max, like next one was like, Oh, yeah, this is all the pieces are in place now. Road Warriors like fully for Mad Max. I will argue that.
00:54:30
Speaker
Dr. No, it's stylish and it has a tone. They just don't know how to invest in the right moment. It doesn't know what it wants to do for the first 20 minutes or so. Yeah. I mean, Dr. No is much more like the
00:54:54
Speaker
I don't know like the theme is set. Yeah, because it's just it's just it's just missing like some of the other elements like you know, there's no queue. There's no like some of the stuff like some of the stuff is missing. And then if gold fingers were all kind of like finally came together, like this is like an actual this is like a fully formed James Bond movie.
00:55:12
Speaker
Yeah, that then became like a formula. Yeah, found out its success of having these beats. Mad Max in the beginning, it's just all over the place. It's just like it's a comedy. It's an action movie. It's
00:55:26
Speaker
It's a criminal drama. A family vacation movie. A family vacation. It's a man who wants to give up the life of being a cop. And then it's a man who also is supporting his partner who loves being a cop because it's cool. Goose is great weird.
00:55:49
Speaker
He doesn't have a family. He's just going out to cabarets. He's having lunch during the day. I kind of wish there was more to that interceptor force, but we don't get any of that anymore.
00:56:08
Speaker
Yeah, it's four guys and the captain. That's the entire police force left of this, I guess, whatever area of Australia this is. Just keeping up that civilization in that one zone? Yeah. But yeah, it's a nice reminder of cinema. It's not like a great like, oh, hey, let's watch original Mad Max because it's so goddamn entertaining.
00:56:37
Speaker
The last 20 minutes for me always is great. That, I will say, always stays, where he's pissed and he's murdering the gangs and just in a car. If you just jump into Road Warrior, you get everything you need to know, but it's all the Mad Max stuff that you've heard about or are looking for.
00:57:05
Speaker
I say Roar Roar is better. It's one of the things where like a sequel is a faster beat. It's the same thing as like Evil Dead. People love Evil Dead, but then Evil Dead 2, is that like just improved? Yeah, that's probably a comparison to like, instead of like Dr. No, it's like Evil Dead Evil Dead 2, yeah.
00:57:25
Speaker
Even though one has his own place, it's just it's hard to recommend people if they are used to more modern horror and I guess you will army a darkness, you know, it's like, eh, don't don't make a whole day out of it. Like if we were trying to watch a Mad Max marathon, I don't know if I would throw this on first.
00:57:50
Speaker
the machete cut of the Mad Max series. We're going to watch Mad Max 2 and then we're going to go back to the first one. Then we're going to go to Thunderdome. I would argue you skip Thunderdome. You say 2, Fury Road, Mad Max 1, and Thunderdome.
00:58:09
Speaker
At some point we figure out where the Furiosa movie fits in. We gotta watch Furiosa before Furio Road. That's weird. You need to watch Furio Road to understand. Because there's gonna be some references like Furio Road. Who's like the character of Furio Road that you know? And then here's where they started from. Hey, it's my favorite character. The god maker. Or the bullet maker.
00:58:38
Speaker
Yeah, like the Gun King or whatever. And then whoever Chris has was like. But yeah, so I think I'll do it for our Mad Max. Happy 45th anniversary to Mad Max. And hopefully the series continues with Furiosa. And hopefully it's as awesome as Furio Road. We'll find out this summer.
00:59:10
Speaker
Any other in your final Mad Max Oscars? Yeah, like whatever happened to Goose after the movie, is there ever a chance you think that Goose will ever come back in another Mad Max movie? I mean, I mean, if the like society collapsed like so soon after this first one and he was like in
00:59:34
Speaker
like a bird unit in an already terrible hospital. I don't think he made it out. I don't think there's like a Rick Grimes style where they let him in the hospital and he wakes up after the apocalypse stumbles out. I don't know, maybe he secretly is a mortal Joe. Maybe, yeah. Although, more Joe's that bird. I mean, he just has a weird
01:00:02
Speaker
like lung condition or something he's like he's like breathe oxygen and Get and get so much milk
01:00:19
Speaker
But yeah, so that's it for this episode. Head over to the site. We've got all of our usual news, features, articles. I've got a review of Monkey Man. If you want to hear or read about that, that tells you Action Revenge Movie. We have our trip to PAX East. So you can read all about that on the site. We've got all the trailers, news, everything else up there. Head over to check all the stuff out.
01:00:46
Speaker
And yes, I'm Chris, I'm Zach, and we will see you next week.