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The mad gets sanitised! - Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome (1985)
23 Plays18 days ago
We are continuing through Mad Mayx with the third movie in the Mad Max Quadrilogy! Join Matthew and Mitch as they enter the Thunderdome!
Two men enter! One man leaves!
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Transcript
Opening Apology and Introduction
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello everyone, this is your Under Southern Screens spoiler warning. ah We were so keen to get into the film this week that we forgot to put one at the start of the what episode again. so if you haven't watched Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, first of all, why? Second of all, spoiler warning. But honestly, you could probably just listen to this um or go watch Fury Road instead.
00:00:26
Speaker
Anyway, see you in the episode.
00:00:33
Speaker
I am not ready. You're terrible Muriel. Talk to me. You gonna do that Pogo Pogo? You've been talking to the cops. Today is buy a brand new day. No, that's it. It's the vibe.
00:00:47
Speaker
Witness me, fellow Aussie film lovers, and welcome back to another episode of Under Southern Screens, the most thunderous Australian cinema podcast. I'm Mitch.
00:00:57
Speaker
He literally put his index finger up when he said thunderous. I need to know. like i just it were a where And he's Matthew. I'm Matthew as well. yeah Thanks for joining us for another episode of Mad Makes. Let's get into the intro, Mitch. The third episode. Third time running. Intro in three, Niamh! Quantis in this movie!
00:01:22
Speaker
Niamh! um but I did a plane because there's a plane in this one. Yeah, that there what there is a plane in this one. There's also a train and an automobile. so Planes, trains, and cars. The famous film, Cars by Pixar.
00:01:38
Speaker
Good movies. All good movies. No, no. Two good movies. Well, two okay movies. Are you saying Cars is bad? I think Cars is the ah weakest... franchise that we have has we have been over this privately and i didn't think it was gonna bubble into our australian cinema podcast it's it's entered i i can no longer keep it on a personal level it's i'm lettering it infest my business side that's it's no longer just business it's now it's pleasure don't know whatever you're talking about Mate, on our podcast, it's always pleasure, baby. Don't worry. It's true. It's true. Watching these films is a blast, even when I don't enjoy them. but Exactly. No, because it sucks, dude.
00:02:18
Speaker
oh Look, okay. There are a few things that will end podcasting partnership. This isn't one, but it's getting close.
Thunderdome: Real Place or Fiction?
00:02:29
Speaker
i was Also, Choppy's slow-mo is really good. Yeah, well, in that case, oh ah I'll break a window. I'll i blow up a car like what happens in this movie today. Like in Mad Max. That's it. What? Beyond the Dome. or Beyond the Dome? Is that what it's called? That's right. do you Have you ever seen those ads for Thunderdome? I can't say I have, but let me fill me in. So, go to a multitude of cinemas, and one of them is at Northland. And and around that area, there must be a place called the Thunderdome, which looks like some sort of ah arcade slash bowling alley slash like time zone meets strike meets...
00:03:14
Speaker
And they called it the Thunderdome. It's the Thunderdome. Yeah, I'm pretty sure. I going? I swear this is real. Well, name to name your children's play activity center. The Thunderdome. It's a miniature golf course in High Point. The golf is never the focus of the ad. It's always like karaoke and claw machines and arcade games and stuff. I didn't even know they had miniature golf there until just now. Oh, and there's apparently also a restaurant there. And is it the case that if when you enter, you enter with a date, one person leaves? If more one person enters, only one person can leave. If a duo per se were to enter, only one of them could leave the Thunderdome.
00:03:54
Speaker
That sounds sick. maybe Maybe we should go as a duo. Oh, you want to kill me? Or you want me to kill you? Well, Mad Max 3, be on Thunderdome.
Plot Overview: Max in Barter Town
00:04:04
Speaker
What are we thinking? didn't realize you liked cars that much.
00:04:08
Speaker
Today we are coming across a kooky town in the middle of nowhere and fighting to the death in a Cirque du Soleil style arena. oh like god This is 1985's Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, the kidified version of the franchise that built its whole identity off of brutal murders of insane people and family members alike and being as grimy and yucky as the Australian Outback would allow.
00:04:31
Speaker
He's not wrong. Mel Gibson is back as Max in his final reprisal of the film and man. Max is mad when the gyro pilot from the last movie forgets about their adventures together and steals his camels and caravan from him by hitting him in the head with the landing gear of a plane. Ignoring the fact that the velocity of the plane must have been flying would mean hitting anyone in the head with its landing gear and fly-by would kill them, Max gets back up and chases his stolen merchandise to Barter Town. A town run by a woman called Auntie, played by Tina Turner, who graced this movie's opening and closing credits with her dulcet tones and really hammered home that this is not your grandpappy's Mad Max. No, it's your little baby's Mad Max.
00:05:08
Speaker
yeah Max strikes a deal with Auntie in which he will get his stuff back if he kills a large man with a learning disability in the titular Thunderdome. Upon finding out that the man does have a learning disability though, Max does not kill him because he is both work and ableist. Well, that differs from the real life Mel Gibson. when Yeah, it's called fiction for a reason. That's true.
00:05:30
Speaker
for refusing to fulfill the deal max is sent to the gulag which is actually just banishment or exile and he is rescued from the desert by a bunch of kids called the tribe who stayed since they hung out around a plane that had crashed years before
00:05:48
Speaker
instead takes a contingent of kids to back to barter town where he then steals a train and then commandeers bruce spence who then flies the kids away and max hopped the plane to give them a chance to escape and can you tell i'm rushing through the back end of the movie the movie's budget yeah i mean i was on two point time i wasn't i watched this at more speed um the movie's budget was 10 million and it made 36 million worldwide it was dedicated to byron in reference to byron kennedy who passed away in a helicopter crash in 1983 who who was, we've previously discussed, the producer of these films and was a partner with George Miller on pretty much of these projects up until now, I think.
Reception and Tone Criticism
00:06:24
Speaker
Yeah, they They're a package of deal. Yeah. Due to this, George Ogilvie co-directed the film with George Miller just so they he could provide some support as the poor guy grieved his best friend. um The reaction to the film was mostly positive. However, there was a great amount of criticism towards the Peter Pan back half of the film.
00:06:42
Speaker
And many fans criticised the film's lighter tone, saying it had been Hollywoodised. Also, they finally confirmed the series was set in Australia by showing us the remains of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House in one shot. Yeah!
00:06:57
Speaker
This movie sucks!
00:07:01
Speaker
No, that's not true. It's definitely the weakest Mad Max, though. can we yeah Can we agree on that? I think that was a given. And that was crazy because I thought that Mad Max 1 was going to be the weakest, just given how movies grow and evolve and change. And also, I hadn't seen 3 before this. This was the only one that I hadn't seen. Actually, yeah. that's let's Let's actually start there. what ah What was it like to finally get to this? What had you heard beforehand? And what was your experience experiencing this for the first time?
00:07:33
Speaker
It's interesting. like Like I love the first two. i love Fury Road, obviously. Thunderdome had always been that elusive. Like everyone was said, it was like one of the best ones. It was like, like the the peak end of the trilogy. Like, you know, the, the culmination of this sort of this arc of Max's character, he learns to love again or whatever. That's what I heard at least. Yeah. Um,
00:07:57
Speaker
And then I knew literally half of the the aesthetics were from that one Rick and Morty episode where they go into to like the Mad Max world or whatever. And looking back, that was such a cringe episode. But anyway, um like yeah thats those were my preconceived ideas of what Beyond Thunderdome is. Also, sick title. I think that's a it is really, really cool title. I reckon it is...
00:08:22
Speaker
It's both the coolest title, but also like the most irrelevant title. Oh, yeah. like when you When you think of it in the context of the film, it's like, well yeah, duh.
World-building and Themes
00:08:31
Speaker
But as someone looking in it's like, what's Thunderdome? What is the Thunderdome? But like yeah, you know and I watched it and it was okay. like like Honestly, like this is probably the most indifferent to a movie that I've been on this podcast, aside from like the first ep we did.
00:08:47
Speaker
it was It was middling, you know what I mean? and I do know what you mean Yeah, it's a shame. But you know what? I had fun. I always have fun. This is a straight shot down the middle kind of movie for me. And the fact that it's just, I don't hate it and I don't like it. It's very just fine. This is a fine movie. I like a lot of the world building in this. I like the idea of Barter Town. I think what you can see in this is you can see where a good Mad Max movie is. And then yeah you can see exactly where the Looney Tunes crap enters and just kind of ruins it.
00:09:16
Speaker
Where the whimsical, like like, George Miller coping with the depression of of all the violence and loss in his life, you know. I respect that that is what occurred. And I respect maybe not wanting to go in, because I'm sure making these movies normally is fine. But if you've just gone through a tragedy, you don't want to go to the dark place that these movies can take. These movies are dark. Exactly. They're violent and and they're they're mean and they effectively showcase the the worst of society, even if it is like a heightened form of it. Well, it's like yeah the breakdown of society. What ah what do what do people like when society isn't around anymore? Yeah. Which is almost actually interesting how this movie is about a remade society then. And it's almost hopeful in that sense, even though that society the society sucks and it's run by pigs.
00:10:03
Speaker
Hey, just my kind of town, mate. Lots of bacon, lots of pork sausage. You don't let her kill the pigs. that that guy was um That guy was branded and forced to work through servitude. Also, he escapes, but not with his kids at the end of the movie. He just leaves.
00:10:18
Speaker
Kind of weird. Yeah. weird Clearly, were they dead? Actually, that's kind of dark. Maybe they were killed. oh that Maybe this film does have a darker side and i'm amongst all the kids and stuff. I think the biggest issue is that one guy with the doll's head um attached to him. That guy is a Looney Tunes villain. He's thrown... like Max does all the normal Mad Max stuff to this guy, but he like survives all of it by these cartoonish, wacky misadventures. And yeah he's going, whoa!
00:10:50
Speaker
so the whole time and there's that part where he's on a vehicle that actually is exploded by the um front of a train yeah and he's still alive and he's just on the front he's like on the front of the cattle um what's it called it's like a cattle yeah it's a cow catcher cow catcher thank you yeah he's on the front of the cow catcher and he's going oh and he's like all ashy or whatever it's like yeah he's doing blackface it's crazy yeah but yeah Oh, there's Leapbacks. he's in Blackface.
00:11:18
Speaker
Max is doing Max stuff, you know? He's like, oh, I'm gonna kill you, and I'm gonna, you know, be the most badass guy in the room. But then also he gets grabbed by the throat, and he's like, and the guy's like, do want to put your my foot in your face? He's like, nuh-uh, I don't want you to do that. Don't do that. It's like...
00:11:33
Speaker
This isn't Max. It doesn't feel like Max because yeah he has Max doesn't work in a kidified version of this. So they had to change the character. it' well Yeah. And I don't even know if it's like intentionally meant to be sanitized and kidified so that the kids can enjoy it. I think it is just that, you know, I think it kind of is deliberate though. Well, um ah maybe that's an interpretation. Because I think the inclusion of the kids kind of proves that.
00:12:01
Speaker
Yeah, true. I don't know. Yeah. Like the Bond series did this as well, where the longer you go down the track, you become a parody of yourself. You become a pastiche of what you represent. So I think a little bit of it is that but then yeah like you're right they do bring in the in the whole kid city and stuff and i agree like the the law building and the world building is really really sick i think the whole captain walker subplot is fascinating to me it's like a good idea but i don't enjoy watching it there's me that's going this is interesting but also i don't want to watch a tribe of children Yeah, it feels like it's in a bit of a different movie. like The aesthetic of the whole film changes but because they're in like those green they're in the green place from Furiosa, basically. I like the idea of the plane and I like the idea of the ones who stayed behind because they're these kids who were left behind as the adults went off to find stuff and they the Badger's never came back, but these kids have deified that event. George Miller really thinks through his world building in a way that like it's like...
00:13:05
Speaker
He doesn't explain any of it, but yeah he definitely has thought about it. And so therefore, while you don't know why something has occurred, you're not looking at and going, oh, this is illogical. You're going, no, I just would like to know the order of events that happened here, but it makes perfect sense in this world. So he's brought that same level of attention to this film. It's just dumb. Yeah. Do you know what mean? like it's It's more literal than the other movies, which means that you're not able to infer as much. like yeah
00:13:37
Speaker
with With Road Warrior, the second one, you you get the what the the sides of the factions, they the good and the evil are. Because one is wearing white. The leather. Very subtle like that. Yeah. But...
00:13:51
Speaker
you You were able to infer the history yourself in that movie. Here, it's all laid out literally. And then also, it's a bit confusing as well because then in the barter town, they have the conflicting sides of that.
00:14:04
Speaker
Yeah. Like, how did that happen? You know? Yeah. There's ah there's a few more moving parts to this these dynamics. And... Not only does that mean that you don't yeah aren't able to infer as much, you aren't able to come to your own conclusions and and be more active in the viewing experience. it's It's just a little bit confusing, I think, because it's just too much to focus on it for a two-hour
Tone Shift: Tina Turner's Influence
00:14:29
Speaker
movie.
00:14:29
Speaker
I think the tone is ruined by the Tina Turner songs. Yeah.
00:14:36
Speaker
which actually that that one, she won awards for this and got nominated for other awards for it. And like, it's not even bad music. I'm not going to say that because I don't think it is. I just don't think pop songs suit Mad Max. It's just, man, is it out of place. As soon as the movie started with that, like 80s synth, I was like, what movie am I watching? Yes. Like, like what is happening? Like, look, I'm all for like changing the vibe but of a movie, like midway through your series or whatever. Like, like, Do whatever the the hell you want with your movie. But it was just so weird, man. I am going to judge it if it's bad. Yeah. two feel doesn't feel like a movie from the 80s. Like it could be like a 60s exploitation movie or like a 70s exploitation. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's it.
00:15:22
Speaker
uh thunderdome feels like an 80s action pastiche like a like an action kids film designed to sell toys type thing like yeah but that was every that was every action movie yeah but mad max beforehand wasn't like that like yeah i know they they did the road warrior thing where they pretended that it wasn't a sequel to make money and i can't respect that and I get that but in this it actively feels like it wasn't even like a marketing thing they changed they actually changed the DNA of the film to go towards a group of people a group of kids who would never have seen the first two because yeah they at least shouldn't have because those are very dark films yeah it's just yeah it's it's a weird one it's a weird weird movie it's almost the literal black sheep of the franchise it's weird and out of place
00:16:10
Speaker
And of course, like, I mean, not only that, but it is like the culmination of a trilogy as well. And those are notoriously hard to stick the landing to. it feels like the Godfather 3 of Mad Max. It's just, if this was the last Mad Max movie, I feel like this franchise would have like, it's gone out with a whimper. And like, thank God we got Fury Road and Furiosa after this. It pitted out. And that's the interesting thing. We'll talk about it more in Fury Road, but like,
00:16:34
Speaker
how they were able to resurrect it because for the longest time this was the final part yeah this is like for like 30 years this was the last movie exactly and so would this have warped people's expectations like ah is this is mad max just a remnant of the 80s or whatever because it is so 80s coded i mean let's talk about tina turner just as a performance in this really sure she's handing it up she's having a good time It's not a bad performance, but it is so eighty s in my opinion. It's very like... The hair, the yeah style. Yeah, it's crazy, dude.
00:17:10
Speaker
The fact just that like we don't see this anymore, it getting like famous pop stars to not play themselves in a movie, but to play a heightened character... That's like high genre and very like very out there. I don't know. I i liked it a lot, but it's like I couldn't see this happening in any other Mad Max movie. I couldn't see them bringing in Johnny Farnham to play Goose's mate or whatever or Jimmy Barnes to play ah ah Lord Humongous's mate. It's odd that it's called Beyond Thunderdome.
00:17:42
Speaker
Like we mentioned this before, but the Thunderdome appears for maybe 10 minutes max in the whole... And the the the town's not called Thunderdome. It's called Barter Town. The Thunderdome's just a small part of the legal system or maybe a big part of the legal system in Barter Town. He's not wrong. Like most of the movie is beyond Thunderdome. Like he's outside of it for most of the movie. it It's just a specific part of this town. It's like saying beyond Mad Max's house in the first movie. That's like what they called
Visual Aesthetics and Filming Locations
00:18:10
Speaker
it. It's like, don't know, Jurassic Park. And then it goes beyond that dig that they are at the start of the movie. Or back to the future, but beyond that restaurant that they hang out in for like three scenes. yeah Or beyond the petrol station that they go to a couple of times. yes Yeah, legit.
00:18:28
Speaker
It's... Yeah, it's weird, but again, cool title. I can't knock it. but I'm going to say a bunch of positives. at Firstly, I think that this is the the most polished looking Mad Max movie so far.
00:18:39
Speaker
I mean, Fury Road exists, but like like out of the ones we've seen so far, the cinematography is the most cleanly shot, which I guess might not be to everyone's taste given and how the scrappiness is is, you know. The same guy who worked on Road Warrior also worked on this, I think. Dean Semler was the cinematographer and he said, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome proved far more challenging than Mad Max 2. were dealing with more varied environments than before and it was essential that each of the worlds created for the film have a distinctly different look. Yeah, also the most expensive Australian film at the time, which is not hard to beat, honestly, because we don't make a lot of very expensive movies here. Yeah. And, you know, 36 million is a good return for that, yeah I think. And and they made a decent amount rentals as well, like just like Road Warrior.
00:19:25
Speaker
They got all the kids on side with the Happy Meal toys and the, you know. Tell you what it was. They were probably, they were like, all right, we're going to make a kidified version of Mad Max so that in 20 years we're going to do a legacy sequel and everyone's going to love it. This is the second of now three Mad Max movies that are centered around a big chase with like one bigger vehicle and other smaller vehicles chasing around it. At at this point, it's a given. It's ah yeah just that kind of series. It's good.
00:19:55
Speaker
It's a good setup. I like the fact that this one was a train, though. That was pretty cool. A train! But it was a car train. It was a car train. I... I think this one, to go on adding more good stuff that I actually do like about this movie, this is the one where the cars really begin to be weird because auntie's car has like a jet engine on the back of hers. I remember that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Which I didn't really notice until the end. I was like, wait, is that jet engine? But my one question is, where Mad Max car?
00:20:24
Speaker
Where Mad Max car? It got blown up in the last movie. Yeah, but I want it back. I think also, is it maybe implied that the one he's writing on is like the remnants of the Mad Max that blew up in last one? but just, want Mad Max. Yeah, no, I get it. But like, it got blown up in the last movie. Which does that mean- it's back in the next one. So like, what are we doing here? It back, and it also gets blown up the movie.
00:20:45
Speaker
it's I'm just destined to be hurt by this car, but I that V8 Interceptor. I actually kind of love how this car, it's like a it's an icon, right? like It's iconic.
00:20:56
Speaker
Indiana Jones' hat, continuously like beautiful, always maintained, he always gets his back, everything like that. Other such things, I can't think of anything right now. But Mad Max's car, get glory or the DeLorean does get blown up, but it's kind of like a really poignant moment in it. like It's like, oh, no, the DeLorean got blown up, all that. you know And we'll have you go into the lore, but anyway. But like how with Mad Max in the same way, because it's kind of a subversive series if you really think about it. yeah What you expect to happen is never really what occurs.
00:21:24
Speaker
His iconic like piece of kit is just continuously getting ruined and he nevering and he doesn't get a moment at the end where it comes back or anything. or it's not he doesn't He doesn't get to sacrifice it in like a a moment. He doesn't get to put the car underneath other people's stuff. He just loses it continuously. It's just of metal. yeah which honestly it speaks to the franchise it's it's just a it the franchise nothing is sacred and max just has to like deal with the hand he's given good good franchise yeah you're saying just just glad that like it doesn't follow that the the you know the classic you know iconic item reference trend but we again we'll get into that in fury and i'm so excited to talk about fury oh my goodness it's We're once again doing these back to back and so we're right after we're chomping at the bit to get to the next recording to talk about Fury Road. but that look lot let's Let's keep on Thunderdome for now. Yeah, we've a few more minutes on this one. and i yeah There's more to say. There's more to say. um yeah
00:22:23
Speaker
I just realized Barter Town is one word. I was doing it as two. ah yeah what what What was the sign that on the front of Barter Town? It was like ah making the world a better place or something like that. Something like that, which is very like Fury Road-esque. like Yeah, yeah it's like like you can still see remnants of humanity and stuff. The exterior shots of the just like the Desno staff took place primarily in a mining town called Coober Petty. Oh, Coober Petty. Coober Petty, is that what it was pronounced? Oh, I'm an idiot. That's just north of Adelaide. um Yeah.
00:22:57
Speaker
On the Stuart Highway. The set of Barrow Town was built at an old brickworks at Homebush Bay in Sydney's western suburbs. That's it. Yes, I know where that is. Hello, hello. Easy train You can go shoot your own bar to town. And the children's camp was in the Blue Mountains. Yeah, which is very lovely place. So it was mostly in your area.
00:23:20
Speaker
What's called? NSW. Sydney. Well, I meant New South Wales more, but they also went to South Australia, which is interesting because they moved away from Victoria to do this one. I know. Well, I mean, the last one was sort of, they were already moving away. They were in Broken Hill and Silverton. precursor to them just disappearing from Australia altogether. Yeah, they were from the whole country altogether.
00:23:40
Speaker
it was Maybe it was just too cold in Victoria. It gets a little chilly in the state. mean, it does get chilly and there is definitely better bush outside of Victoria. I'll tell you what they don't have. What? They don't have acme.
00:23:52
Speaker
They have screen worlds in in New South Wales, oh so in South Australia. harm What's he talking about? i don't know. I'm just talking about the benefits of Victoria. They don't have broken heels. That's right. It's a weird one, man. It's such a weird movie. As mentioned, it is such a ah black sheep of this film. yeah of this film of this franchise and it's not horrendous yeah um yeah that's i just want to stress that it's not bad like it's like not a bad movie in my opinion it's not bad i just feel like i can point to a lot of things and be like that would have not gone the way it would have gone if it was a different mad max movie like this can i can actively see where they've changed what would what the outcome of certain actions are to be more nice you know mean And it almost feels a bit disappointing. Not disappointing, but you just kind of don't get the same catharsis as when you watch the other Mad Max movies. Not to sound like a depraved lunatic, but you're watching it for the violence and then the crazy people. But these guys, the craziness isn't actually that crazy. I was actually watching it for the tender love scenes between Max and his wife, at least for the first one. That's awkward for you. You had nothing to watch for the past two movies. I've been kind of unfulfilled. But there's drowning. Oh, yeah.
00:25:08
Speaker
Dehydrating? You have no water. A bit of both. They don't have water either in this one. I like that scene. i like the scene when the um when he's going through. The radiation? The guy tries to barter him water or whatever and he put pulls out his radiation thing and it's just the scale. and but but Not only that, but then the guy's like, he the guy immediately is just like, ah, almost got you. I got you. i got you. Yeah, I like that. He's not like, oh, no, don't hurt me. he's just yeah he He just kind of goes like, ah. It's just a little banter. Even when the movies are middling, George Miller, master of like, like dialogue-less world building, I think. It's just like, that tells you everything you need to know. ah Yeah. Oh, also, another child died. um i Wasn't murdered, but they did drown in a sand pit. Honestly, kind of a traumatizing moment for me. It's a very never-ending story, isn't it? Yeah, I haven't seen Never Story. I know how, like, cursed it is. and like But it was the 80s, man. Like, for some reason, the 80s, like, films in the 80s were the most whimsical, but then also they had some of the most, like, depraved Orwellian, like like, nightmare fuel ever. They love drowning people in swamps slash quicksand.
00:26:18
Speaker
Yeah. It's munted. And no wonder why I was terrified. of that occurring to me. Do you think that this movie would have been different if Byron Kennedy hadn't passed away? Absolutely. yeah Absolutely this movie would have been different if Byron Kennedy hadn't passed away. i Obviously, look, I don't know that for sure, but I believe that fully in my heart that this movie would... I think you were right before about how ah George Miller probably just didn't want to have to go hard. He didn't want to have to your make disturbing crap. His friends had just died in...
00:26:48
Speaker
vehicle-based accident he wouldn't want to go helicopter accident yeah which yeah which like you know there's no helicopters in this one but a vehicle crash is a vehicle crash you know like it's still trauma and so i don't i don't blame him for this it's like and i even if that wasn't the case and he had just tried something wrong like not wrong sorry Ted tried something new. His friend hadn't died and all of that. I can respect the attempt at this. And there is stuff to like in this.
Influence of Byron Kennedy's Death
00:27:16
Speaker
I think the reason why I i am so aggressively anti this movie, even though I think it's fine, is it's just, it's the rest of the franchise is just so good. And see. riding on such a high with Road Warrior. We were. And then, and I can see the kernels of greatness in this film as well. I can see where that classic Mad Max kookiness slash darkness,
00:27:39
Speaker
yeah could have really been like played up and done well and been good um yeah and it's just it's just disappointing to see it turn away from that at every opportunity basically yeah oh well well well he made millions he made he millions and he got to go make happy feet and happy feet too um and then he made the movie we're going talking about next uh week that is um but but The illusion has been broken, brother. Do not worry. Yeah, whatever. oh we record We use Zencaster to record this. don't tell them that. tape this at 7pm on Tuesday nights.
00:28:15
Speaker
No, the religion really is broken. We both have a long day at work. We've complained about the work part That's true. That's very, very true. But the most Australian thing to me in this film is bunch of- In Mad Backfield Thunderdome. In Mad Backfield Thunderdome. a bunch of people getting really upset with the outcome of a sports event. Yeah. Aww. And then calling for exile.
00:28:42
Speaker
Yeah, well that's a good quarterback. Oh, also I really need to point that out. what Why is it called Gulag? like it does i I've seen this movie before and I know he got put on a horse and sent out. But I was like, oh wait, but why is he going to, it when is he going to the Gulag? I don't remember that. Turns out it's like that it's the same thing.
00:29:01
Speaker
It's like when you say a word and you don't really know what it means, but you just commit to it in like proper... Yeah. It's like They tried. He knew that it was a punishment of some sort, but he didn't know what it was. George Miller. Just go for it, yeah.
00:29:17
Speaker
You know, I mean, 50% of the blame is on um the other guy. What's his name? Mr. Other Director, George. George. george or The two Georges. George Miller and George Ogilvie. I'm pronouncing that name wrong. I'm so bad at pronouncing stuff, dude. I can't pronounce crap. Do you reckon on set when the crew members asked for George, both of them turned around at the same time and said, who me?
00:29:38
Speaker
Like every time. Yeah, like a comedy routine. Do you reckon that was the case? I'm sure George Miller, who was at that point in time grieving over his very dead friend, was in the mood to do a comedy bit every single time on set. Yeah, it just turned into a massive sitcom thing. They were going on double dates with other people because they got mistaken for each other.
00:30:00
Speaker
Oh, yeah. And then at the premiere, they were like, so who directed this movie? Me. They both say me. and it Yeah. It's good. I like this. We should make that a movie. The Georges. Oh my gosh. Can we actually? Let's do it.
00:30:13
Speaker
Let's log it in. Okay. Let's do it. We won't get sued. It's fine. Definitely not. Oh, they weren't noticed. We're talking about them. That story, Beyond Thunderdome. Fine film. It's fine. It's literally fine. there We've watched some fine films on USS so far, but like this is like the most aggressively fine. So apologies if you like really like this film. Yeah, sorry guys. But tell us why you really like it yeah in the comments and stuff because I mean, you know, everyone's allowed to like things. You might have grown up with this film. Yeah. the other two You might not have had the other two growing up because there are a lot of misfortunate people in the world, you know, that only grow up with Beyond Thunderdome. Tell us about your misfortune at undersouthernscreenspod at gmail.com. If you want to send us an email or you can talk to us on TikTok, Instagram, and threads at undersouthernscreenspod.
00:31:03
Speaker
Give us a good old trauma dump, mate, on our socials. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, give us a trauma dump. We will possibly ignore you, but, um like but you know, you'll be safe in knowledge that we probably read it.
Listener Engagement and Social Media Call
00:31:16
Speaker
Yeah.
00:31:17
Speaker
uh also also give us a rating please please a five but rating five you can't you can't leave that opportunity open give us a rating yeah give us a good rating please we we already know what happened after we tried to get to the magic number of followers someone was a bit of a comedian unfollowed us and now we're back to 68 followers and set up we see you guys it's rough fine It was very funny whoever did that. Yeah, very Australian you Very Aussie of you. very very Very, very good. Very good. um Also, if you could leave us a review, it just helps us get on like sourced around on the streaming services and we would love to reach more people and they can hear our dog shit takes. Our non-opinions on Mad Max 3 of us have been like, yeah, was you know it was all right. yeah Let's get to Fury Road now. let's go to yeah as we As we sprint our way to Fury Road. That's At full speed, high octane, brother.
00:32:13
Speaker
Yeah. All right. Well, thank you, everyone. And Matthew, do you have something to tell them? um Next week, we're watching Fury Road. No, that's not what I meant. They already know that. They do. Why are we here? What?
00:32:27
Speaker
And keep driving towards those on southern screens. Oh, no, on just southern screens. Thanks for listening to another episode of Under Southern Screens. We'll be back next week to talk more films down under.
00:32:40
Speaker
We just want to attribute that our opening title is Heavy Duty by Zoo and our closing title is Heavy Weight by Fell Creek. Thanks so much for listening and Mitch and I will see you in the next episode.
00:32:51
Speaker
See you next time.
00:32:55
Speaker
Under Southern Screens would like to acknowledge the stolen lands on which this podcast is recorded and produced and pay tribute to the Wurundjeri and Woiwurrung people of the Kulin Nation and Kamaragal people of the Eora Nation.
00:33:08
Speaker
Sovereignty was never ceded and we pay respect to all Indigenous Elders past, present and emerging. Always was, always will be Aboriginal land.