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Home , Apocalypto, Bruce Davey, Byron Kennedy, David Eggby, Get the Gringo, Jonathan Hardy

24 March 2015 (Series 30:8) George Miller, (1979, 88 minutes)

Directed by George Miller Written by James McCausland, George Miller, and Produced by Byron Kennedy and Bill Miller Music by Brian May Cinematography by David Eggby Film Editing by Cliff Hayes and Tony Paterson Art Direction by Jon Dowding Costume Design by Clare Griffin Stunts by Chris Anderson, Dale Bensch, David Bracks, Phil Brock, Michael Daniels, Gerry Gauslaa, Terry Gibson, George Novak, and Grant Page

Mel Gibson ... Max Joanne Samuel ... Jessie Hugh Keays-Byrne ... Toecutter ... Jim Goose Tim Burns ... Johnny the Boy Roger Ward ... Fifi Brendan Heath ... Sprog Lisa Aldenhoven ... Nurse Paul Johnstone ... Cundalini David Bracks ... Mudguts Nick Lathouris ... Grease Rat Bertrand Cadart ... Clunk John Ley ... Charlie David Cameron ... Underground Mechanic Steve Millichamp ... Roop Robina Chaffey ... Singer Phil Motherwell ... Junior Doctor Stephen Clark ... Sarse George Novak ... Scuttle Mathew Constantine ... Toddler Geoff Parry ... Bubba Zanetti Jerry Day ... Ziggy Lulu Pinkus ... Nightrider's Girl Reg Evans ... Station Master Neil Thompson ... TV Newsreader Howard Eynon ... Diabando Billy Tisdall ... Midge Max Fairchild ... Benno Gil Tucker ... People's Observer John Farndale ... Grinner Kim Sullivan ... Girl in Chevvy Peter Felmingham ... Senior Doctor John Arnold Sheila Florance ... May Swaisey Tom Broadbridge Nic Gazzana ... Starbuck Peter Culpan Hunter Gibb ... Lair Peter Ford Vincent Gil ... Nightrider Clive Hearne Andrew Gilmore ... Silvertongue Telford Jackson Jonathan Hardy ... Labatouche Christine Kaman

Miller—MAD MAX—2

Joan Letch Warrior, 1981 Road Games, 1979 Mad Max, 1978 Patrick, and Kerry Miller 1975 Dick Down Under. Janine Ogden Di Trelour Vernon Weaver David Eggby (cinematographer) (b. 1950 in London, England) Paul Young has been the cinematographer for 43 films and television shows, Brendan Young including 2013 Riddick, 2006 The Marine, 2003 Horseplay, 2002 Scooby-Doo, 1999 Virus, 1996 , 1994 , 1993 Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, 1991 Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man, 1990 , 1989 Warlock, 1985 The Naked Country, 1982 Early Frost, 1980 Dead Man's Float, and 1979 Mad Max.

Cliff Hayes (editor) (b. 1951 in , , ) edited 13 films and television shows, some of which are 2015 I Am Evangeline, 1989 “Grim Pickings” (TV Mini-Series), 1982 We of the Never Never, 1980 Dead Man's Float, 1979 Mad Max, 1977 “Young Ramsay” (TV Series), 1976 “” (TV Series), and 1973 “Ryan” (TV Series).

Tony Paterson (editor) (b. 1948 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia) edited 28 films and television shows, including 2009 Personality Plus, 2001 Four Jacks, 1985 The Naked Country, 1983 Phar Lap, 1981 The Survivor, 1979 Mad Max, 1976 World of Sexual Fantasy, 1975 The Firm Man, 1973 Come Out Fighting, 1973 “Ryan” (TV Series), and 1964 “Homicide” (TV Series).

Mel Gibson ... Max (b. Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson, January 3, 1956 in Peekskill, New York) won 2 1996 for (1995): Best Director, and Best Picture, the latter of which he shared with Alan Ladd Jr. and . He has George Miller (director) (b. George Miliotis, March 3, 1945 in appeared in 54 films and television shows, among them 2014 The Chinchilla, Queensland, Australia) won the 2007 Academy Expendables 3, 2012 , 2010 , Award for Best Animated Feature Film of the Year for Happy 2003 , 2002 , 2000 The Feet (2006). He wrote 14 films and television shows including Patriot, 1998 4, 1997 Conspiracy Theory, 1997 2015 Mad Max: Fury Road, 2006 , 1998 Babe: Pig in Fathers' Day, 1996 Ransom, 1995 Braveheart, 1994 Maverick, the City, 1997 “40,000 Years of Dreaming” (TV Movie 1992 Forever Young, 1992 , 1990 , 1990 documentary), 1995 Babe, 1992 Lorenzo's Oil, 1985 Mad Max Air America, 1990 Bird on a Wire, 1989 , 1988 Beyond Thunderdome, 1984 “Bodyline” (TV Mini-Series, 7 Tequila Sunrise, 1987 Lethal Weapon, 1985 Mad Max Beyond episodes), 1983 “The Dismissal” (TV Mini-Series), 1981 Mad Thunderdome, 1984 Mrs. Soffel, 1984 The River, 1984 The Max 2: The Road Warrior, and 1979 Mad Max. He also directed Bounty, 1982 The Year of Living Dangerously, 1981 : 16 films and television shows, among them 2015 Mad Max: Fury The Road Warrior, 1981 Gallipoli, 1980 The Chain Reaction, Road, 2011 , 2006 Happy Feet, 1998 Babe: Pig 1979 Tim, 1979 Mad Max, 1977 Summer City, and 1976 “The in the City, 1992 Lorenzo's Oil, 1987 The Witches of Eastwick, Sullivans” (TV Series). He has also produced 18 films and 1985 Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, 1983 Twilight Zone: The television shows, including 2014 , 2012 Get Movie, 1981 Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior, 1979 Mad Max, the Gringo, 2008 “Another Day in Paradise” (TV Movie 1971 Violence in the Cinema, Part 1 (Short), and 1971 St. documentary), 2008 “Carrier” (TV Series documentary, 10 Vincent's Revue Film. episodes), 2006 , 2005 : I'm Your Man, 2004-2005 “Complete Savages” (TV Series, 15 episodes), Brian May (music) (b. July 28, 1934 in , South 2004 Paparazzi, 2004 The Passion of the Christ, 2003 The Australia, Australia—d. April 25, 1997 (age 62) in Melbourne, Singing Detective, and 1995 Braveheart. He also directed 7 films Victoria, Australia) composed music for 27 films and television and TV shows, including 2006 Apocalypto, 2004 “Complete shows, among them 2011 Mad Max Renegade (Short), 1992 Savages” (TV Series), 2004 The Passion of the Christ, 1995 Dead Sleep, 1991 Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare, 1987 Braveheart, 1993 , and 1991 “Mel Steel Dawn, 1987 Death Before Dishonor, 1986 Sky Pirates, Gibson Goes Back to School” (TV Movie documentary). In 1986 “Return to Eden” (TV Series, 22 episodes), 1984 Cloak & addition, he wrote 5 films and television shows, which are 2012 Dagger, 1983 A Slice of Life, 1981 Mad Max 2: The Road Get the Gringo, 2011 The Brain Storm (Short), 2006 Apocalypto, Miller—MAD MAX—3

2004 “Complete Savages” (TV Series), and 2004 The Passion of Lunch, 1995-2001 “Neighbours” (TV Series, 6 episodes), 2001 the Christ. The Bank, 1998 Terra Nova, 1993 Body Melt, 1988 A Cry in the Dark, 1988 Ghosts... of the Civil Dead, 1981-1986 “Prisoner: Joanne Samuel ... Jessie (b. 1957 in Camperdown, New South Cell Block H” (TV Series, 17 episodes), 1979 One More Minute, Wales, Australia) has appeared in 25 films and television shows, 1979 Mad Max, 1977-1979 “Chopper Squad” (TV Series), 1978 among them 2014 “Rake” (TV Series), 2001 “All Saints” (TV Solo, 1966-1976 “Homicide” (TV Series, 12 episodes), 1971- Series), 1997 “Fallen Angels” (TV Series), 1988-1990 “Hey 1974 “Matlock Police” (TV Series), 1974 Stone, 1969-1972 Dad..!” (TV Series, 7 episodes), 1985 “The Long Way Home” “Division 4” (TV Series, 7 episodes), 1969 You Can't See 'round (TV Movie), 1981 “Ratbags” (TV Series, 12 episodes), 1979 Corners, and 1965 “The Swagman” (TV Movie). Mad Max, 1979 “Skyways” (TV Series, 108 episodes), 1976- 1979 “” (TV Series, 14 episodes), 1978 Douglas Gomery, in Film Reference: “Case for the Defence” (TV Series), 1974 “Homicide” (TV Along with contemporaries , , and Series), and 1973 “Certain Women” (TV Series). , George Miller helped to bring Australian film to the international forefront by the mid- with his brilliant Hugh Keays-Byrne ... Toecutter (b. May 18, 1947 in Srinagar, trilogy of Mad Max, Mad Max II ( The Road Warrior in the Kashmir, India) has appeared in 46 films and television shows, United States), and Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome. In a some of which are 2011 Sleeping Beauty, 1999 “Journey to the desolate Australian space, sometime in the future, the police have Center of the Earth” (TV Mini-Series), 1998 “Moby Dick” (TV their hands full trying to keep the roads safe from suicidal, Mini-Series), 1988 “Badlands 2005” (TV Movie), 1984 Lorca maniacal gangs. Cop Mel Gibson quits, but then seeks revenge and the Outlaws, 1983 Going when his wife and child are Down, 1980 The Chain murdered. Mad Max was almost Reaction, 1979 Mad Max, 1978 lost when it was released in the Blue Fin, 1976 The late , but with the success Trespassers, 1976 Mad Dog of the sequel, the style and Morgan, 1975 “Polly My bleak outlook were seen to Love” (TV Movie), 1974 represent a tour de force of “Essington” (TV Movie), 1974 genre filmmaking. We have Stone, 1967 “Boy Meets Girl” little doubt what will happen; (TV Series), and 1967 but the way the story unspools “Bellbird” (TV Series). is what attracted audiences around the world. George Steve Bisley ... Jim Goose (b. Miller made Mad Max and December 26, 1951 in Lake made fellow countryman Mel Munmorah, , Gibson an international star. Australia) has appeared in 60 The greatness of the Mad Max films and television shows, among them 2014 “Plonk” (TV films come from the images of burnt out men and women in a Series), 2013 The Great Gatsby, 2010 The Wedding Party, 2010 post-apocalyptic world of desolate highways. Characters are I Love You Too, 2003 “The Man from Snowy River: Arena dressed in what was left after the "end of the world," including Spectacular” (TV Movie), 1998-2001 “Water Rats” (TV Series, football uniform parts from American-style teams and other 97 episodes), 1999 In the Red, 1997 “Breaking News” (TV assorted bits and pieces of clothing. Miller seems to have Series, 13 episodes), 1995-1996 “G.P.” (TV Series, 52 episodes), patterned his hero after a Japanese samurai, but more insight can 1995 Sanctuary, 1992-1995 “Police Rescue” (TV Series, 26 be gained by comparing these three films with the westerns of episodes), 1986 “Call Me Mister” (TV Series, 10 episodes), 1984 , such as Once upon a Time in the West. The Fast Talking, 1981 “A Town Like Alice” (TV Mini-Series), 1980 director's inventions make mundane stories into something The Chain Reaction, 1979 The Last of the Knucklemen, 1979 altogether new and fresh. Mad Max, 1978 Newsfront, and 1977 Summer City. For audiences the trilogy was Dirty Harry thrown into a desert of madness. Miller's style of directing has been called Tim Burns ... Johnny the Boy (b. 1953 in Canberra, Australian mathematical in nature, building a movie in the same manner Capital Territory, Australia) has appeared in 20 films and prescribed by the early Sergei Eisenstein and utilized by the television shows, including 1994 Resistance, 1988 Midnight mature Hitchcock. Many argued that Miller, an Australian, Dancer, 1986 Cassandra, 1985 The Boy Who Had Everything, outdid , the wunderkind. And in the 1983 Going Down, 1983 Now and Forever, 1982 Monkey Grip, early 1980s Mad Max became a pop cult craze. 1980 The Chain Reaction, 1979 Mad Max, 1977-1979 “Glenview With the third installment Miller moved into High” (TV Series, 9 episodes), and 1978 The Night, the Prowler. mainstream Hollywood. Thus while it had the usual cast of unknown character actors and actresses placed in the sweeping, Vincent Gil ... Nightrider (b. 1939 in , New South endless desert of the Australian outback, was cast as Wales, Australia) has appeared in 54 films and television shows, the ruler of Bartertown, a primitive community in the bleak some of which are 2015 “The Doctor Blake Mysteries” (TV futuristic post-Atomic world. Mel Gibson, again as Max, battled Series), 2011 “City Homicide” (TV Series), 2003 The Long to the death in the Roman-style arena of Thunderdome. Miller Miller—MAD MAX—4

proved he could continue the Mad Max appeal even though his at this festival with the movie “Turbo Kid,” humorously saluted), partner of the first two, Byron Kennedy, died in 1983. but not quite duplicated. It is arguably the most discussed in the And although Miller was chosen by Spielberg for a franchise by critics and audiences, with its blistering airy segment of Twilight Zone: The Movie , he continued to work in landscapes, sparse dialogue, inventive camerawork and amplified Australia, on mini-series such as "The Dismissal." In the late action. At the screening, the first audience member to ask a 1980s Miller changed courses and directed the hit The Witches of question was the director Robert Rodriguez. He kept his inquiry Eastwick for Warner Bros. With Jack Nicholson and Cher, The simple: “How the hell did you do it?” Witches of East-wick offered a lively, colorful fantasy set in a Mr. Miller also introduced some footage from “Mad Max: Fury New England town. This was a popular film, far from the Road,” giving the audience a taste of the continuation of his visceral violence of Mad Max. Miller's segment for Twilight franchise with a new lead actor (). The new film is Zone: The Movie , "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet," was the ultimate scheduled to open nationwide on May 15. white-knucklers' airplane paranoid fantasy, with a computer In an interview at the Four Seasons hotel on Tuesday, Mr. Miller technician staring out the window seeing a gremlin sabotaging discussed the franchise and what to expect from “Fury Road.” the engines. John Lithgow turned in a bravura performance in a Here are edited excerpts of that conversation. role originally played by William Shatner. The Miller segment, Q. What first got you interested in telling the “Mad Max” story of the four, was the one most often praised in a movie now most — and a postapocalyptic tale in general? associated with the grim tragedy of the filming of the John A. The essential thing on the very first “Mad Max” was Landis episode. something very mundane. We didn’t have the budget to set it in In 1992 Miller directed the acclaimed film Lorenzo's real streets. So I decided to set it a few years from now, which Oil, a tear-jerker starring Susan Sarandon as a mother fighting to meant we could shoot in isolated streets with decayed buildings. save her terminally ill son. Praised at the time, this film seemed It allowed the story to be more hyperbolic. tired and too formulaic a decade later. Then Miller did a course When it got seen around the world, the French were the first to change again in 1998 with the comedic Babe: Pig in the City. call it a “ on wheels.” After that, the second one was This sequel was stunning visually but disappointing at the box much more consciously a postapocalyptic story. office. It has become a cult favorite, but seemed only to indicate Q. There’s so little dialogue in these films, particularly from the that the 50-something Miller may have lost his direction. main character. Could you talk about the decision to tell these Miller took a strange path to directorial success, but stories more visually? once one sees and analyzes the Mad Max trilogy, it makes sense. A. I was very influenced by a book written by the critic Kevin After graduating with a degree in medicine from the University Brownlow called “The Parade’s Gone By.” He said the main part of New South Wales in 1970, this "self-confessed movie freak" of the parade has gone by the advent of sound in cinema. This spent eighteen months in the emergency room of a large city new language that we called cinema had mostly evolved in the hospital dealing with auto accident victims. Perhaps this is where silent era. What differentiated it from theater were the action he developed his strange view of the world. It worked for Mad pieces, the chase pieces. And I really got interested in that. Max , but thereafter Miller seemed to drop into the "almost Hitchcock had this wonderful saying: “I try to make films where forgotten" category of promising movie makers who never could they don’t have to read the subtitles in Japan.” And that was what develop a unified, long term body of creative output. Finally, no I tried to do in “Mad Max 1,” and I’m still trying to do that three essay should end without noting that this George Miller is not the decades later with “Fury Road.” same George Miller, also an Australian, who made a reputation Q. What compelled you to return to this world? as the director of The Man from Snowy River (1982). A. I didn’t intend to. I was making family films, because they were the only movies I got to watch with my kids. When my kids grew up, I started watching more grown-up films again. The idea occurred to me to make the film out of the blue, and no matter what I did to push it away it kept coming back. We set about to do it in 2001, and it’s taken all this time to do it because things kept getting in the way. The American dollar dropped 25 percent 11 weeks before we were to shoot it with Mel Gibson after 9/11. I went on to do “Happy Feet,” which took three and a half years. We regrouped to do “Mad Max,” casting Tom Hardy and . Then our location in the center of Australia, Broken Hill — there were unprecedented rains. It hadn’t rained for 15 years, and suddenly what was vast, red, flat Mekado Murphy: SXSW 2015: George Miller on the earth was now a flower garden. The great salt lakes were now Evolution of ‘Mad Max’ (NY Times 18 March 2015) full of pelicans and frogs. We had to take all our equipment and ship it across the Indian Ocean to Namibia. So we shot it on the AUSTIN, Tex. — When the director George Miller was western coast of Africa, where it never rains. announced and came onstage to introduce a 35mm screening of Q. Where does “Fury Road” sit in the timeline of the “Mad Max” “Mad Max: The Road Warrior” here on Monday, the crowd rose films? instantly to their (happy) feet. Mr. Miller’s 1981 film built a A. In terms of chronology, it’s a bit complicated. The first film grungy, postapocalyptic world that has often been imitated (and was a few years from now. “Road Warrior” was maybe 15 years Miller—MAD MAX—5

later. This film is 45 years from now. This one happens in a more The result is a film that has lost none of its dreadful, reduced landscape, where it’s now treeless. visceral power in over three decades. Q. Could you tell me about some of the technological changes Mad Max opens, both symbolically and literally, on that allowed for a different way of shooting on this film? Anarchie (Anarchy) Road, as leather-clad members of the under- A. Our biggest thing was safety. We could wire or harness our staffed MFP (Main Force Patrol) pursue a dangerous "terminal cast safely in the most dangerous positions. There was no way psychotic" called Nightrider. we could do that in the past, because we had no way of digitally Nightrider believes himself a "fuel-injected suicide erasing the wires. Second thing, we could put a camera machine," and survives all attempts at pursuit and restraint. At anywhere. And then we had this incredible thing called the edge least that is, until Max (Gibson) — the best — joins the chase. arm, a car with a crane on it. Three guys with toggle switches Finally, Nightrider is killed in a high-speed wreck. could literally go in amongst these big car battles and film Unfortunately, his "friends," led by the gang leader Toecutter, anywhere. They could put the camera inches off the ground or desire vengeance. One of Toecutter's minions, Johnny, is high up over the big trucks. apprehended by Max's friend, Officer Goose (Steve Bisley), but then released by effete, officious lawyers. Next, it is Goose who becomes a target for Toecutter's mad revenge. After Goose is burned and maimed on the road by Toecutter, Max resigns from the force. With his wife Jesse (Joanne Samuel) and young son in tow, he heads out on a vacation from his responsibilities. Unfortunately, Max's family almost immediately crosses paths with Johnny, Toecutter and the others, and pays the ultimate price. Max's wife and son are run down on the open road, and left dying. Enraged, and with no legal recourse, Max takes command of a souped-up police interceptor, and engages his John Kenneth Muir's Reflections on Cult Movies and enemies on the open highway, outside the bounds and restrictions Classic TV of the law. Despite multitudinous descriptions to the contrary, As is the case with all works of art, this film arises from George Miller and Byron Kennedy's Mad Max (1979) is a very specific context. not actually a post-apocalyptic film. In particular, Mad Max emerges from the era of "Oz- Rather, it's pre-apocalyptic. But the handwriting is ploitation" or the so-called , which certainly on the wall...and on the open roads. included such works as Peter Weir's Picnic at Hanging Rock. This celebrated might more accurately be But more specifically, Mad Max is very deliberately a reflection described as dystopian in conception because the filmmakers of the events, trends and fads of the early 1970s. imagine a world, "a few years from now," in which As co-writer James McCausland has acknowledged, widespread lawlessness has taken hold, and the authorities -- much of the film's anarchic energy is fueled by the 1973 Oil increasingly more fascist in tone, powers, and demeanor -- are Crisis, in which OPEC reduced oil production and quickly sent helpless to prevent a culture-wide death spiral into anarchy and world economies into a tailspin. As gas supplies were rationed, chaos. McCausland apparently saw reports of violent outbreaks at gas Dominated by a caustic aesthetic of anticipatory stations, where drivers acted decisively (and aggressively...) to anxiety, a sense of psychic uneasiness that suffuses every frame, assure that they weren't caught short at the pump. Mad Max is literally a movie about mankind speeding -- Also critical to the formation of Mad Max's underlying foot pressed hard against the pedal -- towards moral and structure, no doubt, was "The Super-Car Scare" of 1972 - 1973, spiritual annihilation. which occurred at the height of muscle car culture in Australia. Often, I compare Miller's Mad Max to the There were talks at that time, indeed, of new vehicles that could early cinematic endeavors of Wes Craven (Last House on the travel 160 miles an hour, as well as news story accounts of Left) and Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) young, out-of-control drivers in muscle cars (small cars with big, because there's a genuine feeling while watching Mad Max, that powerful engines...) racing through small communities and you, yourself, are in peril. As is the case with Craven or causing civil and traffic disturbances. Hooper, the audience feels jeopardized in Miller's hands, If you also acknowledge a bit of punk here -- as though it might end up seeing something that could truly do courtesy of the nihilistic music movement on blazing ascent, the psyche harm. circa 1974 -1976 -- you can easily detect how all the creative At one point in the film, our hero -- police officer and ingredients for Mad Max fall into place. Suddenly, we have punk family man Max (Mel Gibson) -- admits that he's "scared," and criminals prowling the highways of Australia in souped-up super the audience wholly shares that trepidation. Max's vicious world vehicles, vying for both the remaining oil supply and day-by-day, is one without a safety net, in which the laws of the jungle moment-to-moment domination. One scene in the film dominate. Miller enthusiastically takes the film beyond the explicitly joins all contexts: Toecutter and his gang hijack a gas bounds of movie decorum and good taste right from the start -- trunk on the road, and siphon precious gas from the storage tank. from the opening sequence -- and leaves viewers wondering just The underlying message is of a corrupt but rising youth how far he will tread into taboo territory. movement leeching off and destroying a dying establishment. Miller—MAD MAX—6

If "No Future" was the unofficial credo and soundtrack brilliantly diagrams one man's disillusionment about society, and of punk music in those days of the disco decade, Mad his final, knowing, unfortunate break from it. Many see the film Max remains the most potent visualization of living for the as being fascist in viewpoint because the criminals attempt to moment, on impulse, and argue that they are merely entirely for self. This is what "sick" (and thus to be treated the law of the jungle is, as with compassion), but I disagree dramatized by Toecutter and with that assessment. Max gets his gang. He is a man with no revenge, but at what price? respect for life, law, family, or The price is the community. All he cares about very eventuality that Max so is getting what he wants when dramatically fears all along. He he wants it. "Anything I say? knows, even starting out, that What a wonderful philosophy there is very little difference you have," he quips to a between the cops and the cowering victim. "terminal psychotics" who vie The world has gone to for control of the roadways. Hell in a hand basket in Mad When Max's family and friends Max, and those who still play by the old rules of law try to die, that line is blurred entirely. Max realizes, contra Fifi, that understand what has happened, and struggle to play catch-up there can no longer be any heroes. Heroes only work in context "Here I am, trying to put sense to it, when I know there isn't any," of a functioning civilization and support system. Max notes, importantly, after the death of Goose. He's dealing As critic Keith Phipps astutely intimated, Mad Max is here with a world that no longer makes sense to him. almost a character piece, a tale of a man trying to figure Accordingly, Max progressively loses his faith that out where he belongs under the rules of the New World society's decaying infrastructure (as represented by the (Dis)Order: ramshackle local police center or "halls of justice") can stop the "Only Mel Gibson, given the best entrance since Clint world from spiraling towards destruction. It's clear Max's loss Eastwood in A Fistful Of Dollars, has the ability to stand in the of faith arises for a reason, and is not some personal, solitary way, and from the start Miller links that ability to an appetite for angst. His boss, Fifi (Roger Ward) keeps mentioning the need self-destruction. It takes a while for that appetite to manifest for heroes, and the culture's absence of heroes. itself fully, however. Miller places his hero at the center of a But what heroes, honestly, could possibly inhabit a three-way tug of war between the violent anarchy of the outlaw, blighted, decrepit police station like his? the barely suppressed fascism of the authorities, and the domestic The nihilism of the world, of "the terminal psychotics" comforts of his wife and child." seems to have bled the life out of public institutions in Mad Max, I often write here about how deeply and thoroughly I leaving them as rotting monuments to a previous golden age. disapprove of movies that utilize revenge as the primary Max realizes, appropriately, that Fifi's comments are "crap." motivation for heroes or superheroes. I think that's just What his world needs is not cowboy heroes, but a functioning pandering to an ugly, ignoble impulse in human beings. In this infrastructure; one that funds the police, trains the police, and case, however, I would argue that Mad Max does not glamorize supports the police in the battle against crime. revenge and, on the contrary, sends its wayward hero off into Although the lawyers a form of societal banishment for and judicial officers gliimpsed his transgression. Max ends up in Mad Max are portrayed as in the wilderness/wasteland, effete, intellectual egg-heads seeking redemption for his with their heads-up-their- voluntary break from the mores asses, the police are not of an (admittedly crumbling) viewed in terms much more society (see: The Road friendly. In the film's first Warrior). It takes him two more scene, we catch a young MFP films, essentially, to reconnect officer ogling a couple making with his more noble human love, and then indulging in a high speed chase which endangers nature. other officers, and civilians. He looks like he could be a gang So yes, Max gets his bloody vengeance in this film, but member himself...except he's wearing a leather cop uniform. his ultimate fear is realized too. In breaking the laws of Similarly, Fifi is interested only in results, not the letter of civilization, the only difference between him and the Toecutter's the law. He just wants the paperwork to be "clean" so he doesn't minions remains that he possesses a bronze badge. What would get in trouble with superiors. Again, the impression is of an old, his wife and son think of him now? once noble institution that has given way to corruption and The final shot of Mad Max consists, not decrepitude. coincidentally, of an open and empty road. We race down it Again and again in the film, Max sees evil triumph over going ever faster, but never actually arriving at a destination. the (flawed) forces of order, and so must make a fateful decision There is no love and no companionship on this long road. Max about his own place and role in the world. Mad Max thus now lives for no one but himself. He can look forward to Miller—MAD MAX—7

isolation, mistrust, and confrontation...but nothing else; at least in search of personal satisfaction, and Miller's shot deliberately nothing good or positive. evokes an earlier one in the film, set on a lovely beach. While carefully noting what he believed was Mad There, Toecutter and his gang have similarly ignored Max's sense of amorality, Chicago Reader film critic Dave Kehr signs and warnings about transgression, and headed off also accurately described the film as some "of the most knowingly into forbidden territory. The point of the nearly determinedly formalist filmmaking this side of Michael Snow." identical staging seems to be that Max -- in taking the law into What that description means, in lay terms, is that Mad his own hands -- is following the very nihilistic path he fears. Max isn't about dispassionately recording or realistically Mad Max is actually a moral film, I submit, because it chronicling the details of its sparse, almost Western-styled concerns that threshold moment in each of us too. Vengeance narrative. Rather, it's about making the audience feel strong might be sated. But after the vengeance? As Last House on the emotions. Namely fear, rage Left observed, post-violence, "the and even, briefly, bloodlust. road leads to nowhere, and the The reasons behind castle stays the same." In other Mad Max's passionate, words, there's a very singular approach to big difference between portraying filmmaking are actually, I violence and approving of believe, entirely moral. violence. I would argue Mad As the film's villain, Max (brilliantly) portrays Toecutter (Hugh Keays- violence, while never, even for a Byrne) notes to an underling moment, glamorizing it or named Johnny (Tim Burns), approving of it. an act of brutal murder can be Instead, Mad Max asks: considered a "threshold what comes with moral moment" in terms of the transgression? How does a human soul. That's his crossing of the "threshold philosophy of life. There's no future. There's no common good. moment" affect a good person? And if good people can willingly There's just the shattering of boundaries, until everything -- and cross the threshold to barbarism, what becomes of civilization, a everyone -- is wrecked. social concept erected on the foundation of the common good, Now, a threshold is widely defined as the point at which not personal retribution? a physiological or psychological effect begins to be produced, Mad Max gazes at all these ideas, but does so while and that seems to be precisely what Toecutter is fostering in both moving at 150 miles-an-hour. his friends and his enemies. He is sponsoring and encouraging The film -- heightened immeasurably by Brian May's madness, psychosis and violence. Indeed, there seems to be a superb score and George Miller's orchestration of the high-speed plague of madness and nihilism sweeping the world in this film, stunts -- conveys a powerful sense not just of speed, but of and Toecutter fosters it in his cohorts (such as Nightrider) and his speeding out of control. Mad Max also reveals a world falling protege (Johnny). apart at the seams, but doesn't offer pat explanations for the In the film's climax, the audience's surrogate -- Max breakdown, or easy answers about the solution. We can try to himself -- endures a similar "threshold moment," treading "put sense" to the madness of this world, but there is quite literally and metaphorically into morally "prohibited" territory definitively no sense behind the human impulse towards self- (as a street sign indicates) just as he is about to cross-the-line of destruction. legality. The fearsome legend on the sign literally warns him to If Mad Max is right, the world itself is terminally stop (lest he become like Toecutter), but Max ignores it. psychotic. This particular bit of clever framing (pictured above) is not an accident. Max crosses a moral and geographical boundary

The online PDF files of these handouts have color images

Coming up in the Spring 2015 Buffalo Film Seminars Mar 31 Karel Reisz, The French Lieutenant’s Woman, 1981 Apr 7 Gregory Nava, El Norte, 1983 Apr 14 Bryan Singer, The Usual Suspects, 1995 Apr 21 Bela Tarr, Werkmeister Harmonies, 2000 Apr 28 Sylvain Chomet, The Triplets of Belleville, 2003 May 5 Joel and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men, 2007

Miller—MAD MAX—8

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