Synopsis
In the ravaged near-future, a savage motorcycle gang rules the road. Terrorizing innocent civilians while tearing up the streets, the ruthless gang laughs in the face of a police force hell-bent on stopping them.
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Cast
- Mel GibsonMax Rockatansky
- Joanne SamuelJessie Rockatansky
- Hugh Keays-ByrneToecutter
- Steve BisleyJim Goose, Main Force Patrol Officer
- Tim BurnsJohnny the Boy
- Roger WardFifi
- Vincent GilNightrider
- Lulu PinkusNightrider's Girl
- Lisa AldenhovenNurse
- David BracksMudguts
- 90
Newsweek
Junky, freaky, sadistic, masochistic, Mad Max has a perverse intelligence revving inside its pop exterior. It's a crazy collide-o-scope, a gear-stripping vision of human destiny careening toward a cosmic junkyard. [21 July 1980, p.71] - 90
The Guardian
Mad Max has always radiated an otherworldly vibe, a slightly sickly sensation that something at its core is fundamentally wrong. - 80
Empire
Simple, but effective. - 80
Time
With his instinct and craft, Miller has provided more autosuggestive violence on a $1 million budget than The Blues Brothers did with half the Chicago police force and $30 million. - 75
ReelViews
It's pretty much assumed throughout art and literature that the collapse of civilization will result in the rise of barbarism. That assumption underlies Mad Max, where the strong prey on the weak, and Max steps in to be the equalizer. - 75
TV Guide Magazine
Though the plot is that of a simple revenge western, director George Miller infuses the film with a kinetic combination of visual style, amazing stunt work, creative costume design, and eccentric, detailed characterizations that practically jump out of the screen and grab the viewer by the throat. - 75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
One does not expect to find references to Bertolucci in a action movie distributed by American International, but Mad Max is no ordinary action movie: it's a B-movie classic on the order of Truck Stop Women, and when its director, George Miller, steals from established filmmakers, he steals from the best. [15 April 1980] - 70
Variety
The film belongs to the director, cameraman and stunt artists: it’s not an actor’s piece, though the leads are all effective.