The Brilliance of . . . . "The Road Warrior"

"Greetings from The Humungus! The Lord Humungus! The Warrior of the Wasteland! The Ayatollah of Rock n' Rolla!!!"

Jay here.

With Mad Max: Fury Road just a little over a month away I thought it would be a good time to catch up with one of the greatest action/stunt movies ever made . . . . George Miller's masterpiece of post-apocalyptic mayhem, The Road Warrior.

 

When I was a kid, growing up in the 1980's the Mad Max movies held a special place alongside some other well-known franchises like Star Wars, Aliens, Indiana Jones and other movies about quiet loners kicking ass (see Harry Callahan and I'm talking to you Snake Pliskin). They were darker, though, and much more adult. Now, you may be asking yourself, "Mad Max? Really??" What makes those movies so great? Wasn't Tina Turner in that? Well, yeah? But that was the third movie, Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, and, well, let's just say it is not as good as its predecessors. Although, it does have Master/Blaster . . . . . yeah . . . . . Master/Blaster . . . . .

But, hey, I'm here to write about why the second film in this series, The Road Warrior, is one of the most underappreciated action movies of all time. It really is an amazing movie in several ways, and with this being one of our "Brilliance" columns here at The Culture Cave, I am going to share with you the reasons why . . . . .

1.) George Miller, Max Rockatansky and the "Toecutter "

I won't make any bold statements and proclaim Australian filmmaker, George Miller as one of the greatest directors of all time. That would be a ludicrous statement. He does, though, fall into that category of artists who may not have an overall impressive body of work, but produced one or two gems that gained him notoriety. The Mad Max films did this for Miller. In 1979 he made the first Mad Max, a very good film in its own right, but flawed in some ways. With only $350,000 he had raised in part from his job as an ER doctor in a local hospital, Miller set about making what he thought would be the greatest car chase/biker movie ever made. One could argue he accomplished just that.

We are given the story of Max Rockatansky (Mel Gibson), a young police officer who is part of a unit tasked with bringing down the assorted villainous biker gangs that rule the roads in this decaying society.  In the beginning of the film, Max manages to take down the vicious "Nightrider" (Vincent Gil) in an epic opening car chase. Killing the "NIghtrider" earns Max and his police bothers the ire of the evil "Toecutter" (Hugh Keays-Bynre) and his biker brothers who take their revenge on Max's best friend Goose (Steve Bisley) and also kill the our young hero's wife and infant child in a particularly heart wrenching scene.  After having lost everything Max takes his supped-up V8 Intercepter and goes after the men who did this and kills them, one by one, including the "Toecutter" himself.

MGM handled distribution in the U.S. and Mad Max tanked at the box office, even though it was a huge hit in its native Australia and in Europe as well. The studio even dubbed the Aussie accents Gibson and his co-stars spoke with in order to try and make the film seem more American. The dubbing is pretty awful and some parts and only serves to highlight the lack of money invested in this thing. Audiences here in the States mostly didn't see it so when Miller decided to make a sequel, reaching far to come up with the title Mad Max 2, he and new distributor, Warner Bros, opted to change the title in the U.S. to The Road Warrior.

Miller brought in cinematographer, Dean Semler, whose experience in shooting on location would prove invaluable. He gives the film a dusty glow that lends to the whole idea of a "western on wheels". There are scenes in this movie shot at "magic hour" (dusk) that are as gorgeous as any Oscar-caliber. The handheld camera work, shot from the side vehicles moving at high speeds, is phenomenal to say the least.

The Road Warrior is a master-class in efficient, economical action moviemaking. After a short prologue covering the events of the first installment (this was added for American audiences who had never seen the first Mad Max), we are dropped literally into the first chase sequence as Max is being pursued by Wez (Vernon Wells) and some other unsavory types, trying to get his car and gas no doubt. The rest of the movie moves at a very fast pace, wasting no time at all. Miller has always maintained that you don't need to explain things to an audience, they are smart enough to figure everything out through the language of film.

 

2.) Mel Gibson and the Lone Gunslinger Archetype, Perfected

He was 23 years old when Mad Max was released in 1979, and I guess for many of us it is difficult to reconcile the guy who played such a bad-ass with the reality of the Mel Gibson we know today. When he auditioned for the role of Max he actually wasn't there to try out, he had only accompanied a friend who was. The story goes that Mel had been in a serious bar fight the night before and his face was so swollen and bruised, black and blue, that Miller asked him to come back in couple of weeks to try for a part as an extra because they needed "freaks" to fill out the cast. When the 22 year-old  returned his face was no longer messed up and George asked him to read for a major part instead and ended up casting him as the lead.

By the time The Road Warrior would be released stateside, Gibson was on the verge of becoming an international star and honestly if it hadn't been for him I don't think this series of movies would have been as big a success. Borrowing heavily from similar characters like Clint Eastwood's "Man With No Name", Gibson's Max is sold as a hollow man who, having lost his family, has no soul or anything to live for. Somewhere along the way he found a canine companion to keep him company. Seriously, this dog gets my vote for coolest mutt ever in a movie. He owns every scene he is in!

The Road Warrior would depict his gradual and reluctant shift towards compassion again as he agrees to help a the residents of an isolated gas refinery besieged by a horde of vicious marauders. The evil bandits are led by a muscle bound mystery man who wears a hockey mask, calling himself the Lord Humongous (Kjell Nilsson). He wants to force his way into the refinery to get the gas, so precious to everyone in this post-apocalyptic world.

The evil Humungus takes aim at Max with the biggest hand-cannon this side of the Wastelands.

Max wants the gas too. His V8 Interceptor is pretty much bone dry, and without wheels he is pretty much dead here in the wastes. He manages to get into the refinery with the unwitting help of a strange man who calls himself The Gyro Captain (Bruce Spence). Once in he discovers a group of, for the most part, friendly people trying desperately to defend their treasure trove of gas from the butchers on the other side of their walls. Max offers to help them out if they will help him fix his car and give him as much gasoline as he can carry to speed him on his way. His plan will involve a huge tanker truck and probably the most ridiculously awesome chase sequence ever captured on film.

The Road Warrior would prove Mel Gibson's leading man star power to the world and also pave the way for studios to cast him in American action movies like the Lethal Weapon series which made him one the biggest and most bankable action stars in the world. These days it is safe to say he is not as bankable as personal issues that have been made very public served to critically damage his image.

3.) Cars Go Fast and Go Boom ....

The Mad Max movies, for the most part, are essentially car stunt movies. Professional drivers were hired to go out to a remote location in Australia, near a town called Broken Hill, and do things that would probably make their mothers cringe. There weren't a lot of rules back then for stunt drivers in a foreign made picture, so the attitude was very much "anything goes". The film would cement its reputation with some of the greatest and most dangerous stunts in cinema history.

 

The car crash sequences in The Road Warrior are, simply put, insane. Miller and his producer, Byron Kennedy went to great lengths to orchestrate practical, realistic action sequences that would make audiences' jaws drop. Max Aspin was the stunt coordinator behind all of this madness. He had done mostly television work before and Mad Max 2 would be his crowning achievement. The final tanker chase, in particular, is a text-book example of how to stage and film such a scene. For the moment when the tanker crashes and rolls, filmmakers told the driver to not eat for 12 hours in case he would need to be taken immediately to surgery. The truck had to be re-built for the epic crash to be filmed.

Another scary moment involved on stunt that went very wrong and could have resulted in a death. Stunt driver Guy Norris was supposed to jump from his bike before crashing into one of the hot rod cars. He jumped a moment too late and because of this his body leg hit the vehicle and he was thrown end over end. The production team had set a cushion of cardboard boxes to break his fall. That's right, flattened cardboard boxes. That's what we call safety on the cheap. Watch the video below to get an idea of how crazy these stuntmen were.

 

4.) "The Last of the V8 Interceptors"

After Max probably the most recognizable co-star is actually the hero's car which made its debut in the first Mad Max film in '79. In that movie it is called the "Pursuit Special" but here in The Road Warrior one character calls it the "last of the V8 Interceptors". The car is actual a 1973 Ford Falcon XB GT Coupe, and it was only sold in Australia. The one in the films is a limited edition GT351 version. It is outfitted with two huge gas tags that rest, in full view, in the back end of the vehicle.  Now, I'm no car guru, but whenever he flips that little red button on his gear shift it kicks the car into turbo mode . . . . which is bad-ass.

This model Ford Falcon has become a largely sought after vintage automobiles for collectors due to its place in pop culture. You could easily set it next to the likes of Knight Rider's K.I.T.T., The Dukes of Hazard's "General Lee", and Steve McQueen's Mustang from Bullitt as one of the most famous automobiles from the movies or TV. But, for all of its popularity, Max's car is constantly getting crashed, bashed and yes, even blown up.

5.) The Influence of The Road Warrior Today

The style and themes George Miller created with The Road Warrior can still be seen today in popular media. I would argue it single-handedly created the post-apocalyptic  "look" which is seen in movies like The Terminator, The Book of Eli and The Road.  James Cameron has claimed it was a major influence on his work on his time-travelling, cyborg series. There have also been video games that have not even tried to hide their ties to Miller's masterpiece. The Fallout series, in particular Fallout 3, owes almost its entire existence to The Road Warrior.

A lone wanderer walks through a blasted landscape with his trusty dog in Fallout 3. Familiar?

Whenever there is a story that takes place after a cataclysmic event, often it looks just like Max's world.

George Miller returns to the character and genre that made him famous with his first Mad Max movie in over 30 years. It's called Mad Max: Fury Road and it stars Tom Hardy, who is taking over the role, and Charlize Theron. You've probably seen the trailers about a billion times on television the last few days. The trailers look amazing, I must say, and I will have my review posted quickly after I see it. Until then, if you plan on seeing it and you've never seen Mad Max or The Road Warrior . . . . first who are you and don't talk to me . . . second, go rent it and stream it because it is a Grade A, must-see flick and absolutely the pinnacle of action filmmaking. Or, at least of post-apocalyptic, car chase, anti-hero action filmmaking.