Mad Max’s 1974 XB Ford Falcon Coupe. The car in the new film is the same as the one from the first films, but as part of the story it gets souped up with a new engine, four-wheel drive, and a ton of weapons. Underneath all of it though it’s still just a ’74 Ford Falcon Coupe. Gotta love it.

Running time93 minutesCountryAustraliaLanguageEnglishBudget350,000–400,000Box officeUS$100 millionMad Max is a 1979 Australian directed by, produced by, and starring as, Tim Burns,. James McCausland and Miller wrote the screenplay from a story by Miller and Kennedy. Set in a future Australia, the film presents a saga of, murder, and in which an unhinged policeman becomes embroiled in a violent feud with a savage motorcycle gang.

The first Australian film production to be shot in, for Mad Max took place in and around, and lasted six weeks.The film initially received a polarized reception upon its release in April 1979, although it won three and attracted a, while its critical reputation has grown since. Filmed on a budget of 400,000, it earned more than 100 million worldwide in gross revenue and held the record for most profitable film. The success of Mad Max has been credited for further opening up the global market to films.

The film became the first in the, giving rise to three sequels, (1981), (1985), and (2015). as. as Jessie Rockatansky. as Toecutter.

as Jim 'Goose' Rains. Tim Burns as Johnny the Boy. as Fred 'Fifi' Macaffee.

as Bubba Zanetti. as Police Commissioner Labatouche. Brendan Heath as Sprog Rockatansky.

as May Swaisey. John Ley as Charlie. Steve Millichamp as Roop. as Crawford 'The Nightrider' Montazano.

Karen Moregold as Radio Dispatcher (uncredited)Production Development was a in, working in a hospital where he saw many injuries and deaths of the types depicted in the film. He also witnessed many car accidents growing up in rural and lost at least three friends to accidents as a teenager.While in residency at a Sydney hospital, Miller met amateur filmmaker at a summer film school in 1971. The duo produced a, Violence in the Cinema, Part 1, which was screened at a number of and won several awards. Eight years later, the duo produced Mad Max, working with first-time James McCausland (who appears in the film as the bearded man in an apron in front of the diner).According to Miller, his interest while writing Mad Max was 'a with sound', employing highly kinetic images reminiscent of and while the narrative itself was basic and simple. Miller believed that audiences would find his violent story more believable if set in a bleak dystopian future.

Screenwriter McCausland drew heavily from his observations of the ' effects on Australian motorists:Yet there were further signs of the desperate measures individuals would take to ensure mobility. A couple of oil strikes that hit many pumps revealed the ferocity with which Australians would defend their right to fill a tank. Long queues formed at the stations with petrol—and anyone who tried to sneak ahead in the queue met raw violence. George and I wrote the Mad Max script based on the thesis that people would do almost anything to keep vehicles moving and the assumption that nations would not consider the huge costs of providing infrastructure for alternative energy until it was too late. — James McCausland, writing on in The Courier-Mail, 2006Kennedy and Miller first took the film to Graham Burke of Roadshow, who was enthusiastic.

The producers felt they would be unable to raise money from the government bodies 'because Australian producers were making art films, and the corporations and commissions seemed to endorse them whole-heartedly', according to Kennedy.They designed a 40-page presentation, circulated it widely, and eventually raised the money. Kennedy and Miller also contributed funds themselves by doing three months of emergency medical calls, with Kennedy driving the car while Miller did the doctoring. Miller claimed the final budget was between $350,000 and $400,000. His brother was an associate producer on the film.

Casting George Miller had considered an American actor to 'get the film seen as widely as possible' and even travelled to Los Angeles, but eventually opted to not do so as 'the whole budget would be taken up by a so-called American name.' So instead the cast would deliberately feature lesser known actors so they did not carry past associations with them.

Miller's first choice for the role of Max was the Irish-born, who at the time worked at a Melbourne and was seeking a new acting job. Upon reading the script Healey declined, finding the meager, terse dialogue too unappealing.Casting director Mitch Mathews invited for Mad Max a class of recent graduates, specifically asking a NIDA teacher for 'spunky young guys'. Among these actors was, whose audition impressed Miller and Matthews and earned him the role of Max. An apocryphal tale stated that Gibson went to auditions with a beat-up face following a fight, but this has been denied by both Matthews and Miller. Gibson's friend and classmate, who worked with him in his only screen role, 1976's, became Max's partner Jim Goose. A classmate of both, was said to have auditioned and to have been passed over, but Miller has declared she was only in Matthews' studio to accompany Gibson and Bisley.Most of the biker gang extras were members of actual Australian outlaw motorcycle clubs and rode their own motorcycles in the film. They were even forced to ride the motorcycles from their residence in Sydney to the shooting locations in Melbourne because the budget did not allow for aerial transport.

Three of the main cast members (Hugh Keays-Byrne, Roger Ward and Vincent Gil) had previously appeared in, a 1974 film about biker gangs that is said to have inspired Miller. Vehicles. Mad Max Interceptor replica outside the Boston, Massachusetts areaThe Big Bopper, driven by Roop and Charlie, was also a 1974 Ford Falcon XB sedan and a former Victoria police car, but was powered by a 302 c.i.d. The March Hare, driven by Sarse and Scuttle, was an in-line-six-powered 1972 XA sedan (this car was formerly a Melbourne taxi cab).The most memorable car, Max's black was a, a limited edition hardtop (sold in Australia from December 1973 to August 1976), which was primarily modified by Murray Smith, Peter Arcadipane, and Ray Beckerley.

The main modifications are the Concorde front end and the supercharger protruding through the bonnet (for looks only; it was not functional). The Concorde front was a fairly new accessory at the time, designed by Peter Arcadipane at Ford Australia as a showpiece, and later became available to the general public because of its popularity. After filming of the first movie was completed, the car went up for sale, but no buyers were found; eventually it was given to Smith.When production of began, Miller brought the car back for use in the sequel. Once filming was over the car was left at a wrecking yard in since it again found no buyers, and was bought and restored by Bob Forsenko. Eventually it was sold again and was put on display in the in,. When the museum closed, the car went to a collection in the Dezer Museum in.

Replica Mad Max vehicle outside theThe Nightrider's vehicle, another Pursuit Special, was a, also tuned but deliberately damaged to look like it had been involved in crashes.The car driven by the young couple that is vandalised and then finally destroyed by the bikers is a, also modified to look like a hot-rod car with fake fuel injection stacks, fat tires, and a flame red paint job.Of the motorcycles that appear in the film, 14 were donated by a local Kawasaki dealer. All were modified in appearance by Melbourne business La Parisienne — one as the MFP bike ridden by 'The Goose' and the balance for members of the Toecutter's gang, played in the film by members of a local Victorian motorcycle club, the Vigilantes.By the end of filming, fourteen vehicles had been destroyed in the chase and crash scenes, including the director's personal (the small, blue van that spins uncontrollably after being struck by the Big Bopper in the film's opening chase).

Filming Originally, filming was scheduled to take ten weeks—six weeks of first unit, and four weeks on stunt and chase sequences. However, four days into shooting, Rosie Bailey, who was originally cast as Max's wife, was injured in a bike accident. Production was halted, and Bailey was replaced by Joanne Samuel, causing a two-week delay.In the end, the shoot took six weeks over November and December 1977, with a further six-week second unit. The unit reconvened two months later, in May 1978, and spent another two weeks doing second unit shots and re-staging some stunts. Miller described the whole experience as ', where the crew would close roads without, not use walkie-talkies because their frequency coincided with the, and after filming was done Miller and Kennedy would even sweep down the roads. Still, as filming progressed the became interested in the production, helping the crew by closing down roads and escorting the vehicles. Because of the film's low budget, all but one of the police uniforms in the film were made of, with only one genuine leather uniform made for stunt sequences involving Bisley and Gibson.Shooting took place in and around.

Many of the car chase scenes for Mad Max were filmed near the town of, northeast of. The early town scenes with the Toe Cutter Gang were filmed in the main street of, north of Ballarat. Much of the streetscape remains unchanged. Some scenes were filmed at at.

The 'execution of the mannequin' scene was filmed at Seaford Beach in.Mad Max was one of the first Australian films to be shot with a lens, although 's (1974) was shot in anamorphic four years earlier. Miller's desire to shoot in anamorphic made him seek a set of used by to film (1972), which were damaged enough in that shoot to get discarded in Australia. The only one which worked properly was a 35mm lens which was employed in the whole of Mad Max. Post-production The film's post-production was done at a friend's apartment in North Melbourne, with Wilson and Kennedy editing the film in the small lounge room on a home-built editing machine that Kennedy's father, an engineer, had designed for them. Wilson and Kennedy also performed there.Tony Patterson edited the film for four months, then had to leave because he was contracted to make (1979). George Miller took over editing with, and they worked on it for three months. Kennedy and Miller did the final cut, in a process Miller described as 'he would cut sound in the lounge room and I’d cut picture in the kitchen.'

Professional sound engineer would perform the sound mixing in the studio he worked after finishing his work with, and employed techniques that were unseen in Australian cinema. Main article:The for Mad Max was composed and conducted by Australian composer (not to be confused with of the English rock band ). Miller wanted a Gothic, –type score and hired May after hearing his work for (1978). 'With the little budget that we had we went ahead and did it, and spent a lot of time on it,' said May.

'George was marvelous to work with; he had a lot of ideas about what he wanted although he wasn’t a musician.' A soundtrack album was released in 1980. Release Mad Max was first released in Australia through Roadshow Film Distributors (now ) in 1979. The movie was sold overseas for $1.8 million, with releasing in the United States and handling the rest of the world. The film was banned in and, in the former because of the scene where Goose is burned alive inside his vehicle: it unintentionally mirrored an incident with a real gang shortly before the film's release. It was later shown in New Zealand in 1983 after the success of the sequel, with an R18 certificate.

The ban in Sweden was removed in 2005, and it has since been shown on television and sold on home media there.When shown in the United States during 1980, the original Australian dialogue was redubbed by an American crew. American International Pictures distributed this dub after it underwent a management re-organisation. Much of the and terminology was also replaced with American usages to avoid possible confusion (examples: 'Oi!' Became 'Hey!' , 'See looks!'

Became 'See what I see?' , 'windscreen' became 'windshield', 'very toey' became 'super hot', and 'proby'—probationary officer—became 'rookie'). AIP also altered the operator's duty call on Jim Goose's bike in the beginning of the film (it ended with 'Come on, Goose, where are you?' The only dubbing exceptions were the voice of the singer in the Sugartown Cabaret (played by Robina Chaffey), the voice of Charlie (played by John Ley) through the mechanical voice box, and Officer Jim Goose , singing as he drives a truck before being ambushed.

Since Mel Gibson was not well known to American audiences at the time, trailers and television spots in the United States emphasised the film's action content. The original Australian dialogue track was finally released in in 2000 in a by, the film's current rights holders. It has since been released in the US on DVD with the US and Australian soundtracks on separate tracks. Reception Box office Mad Max grossed A$5,355,490 at the box office in Australia and over US$100 million worldwide. It was the most profitable film ever made at the time, holding the for the highest box office to budget ratio of any motion picture. Critical response Upon its release, the film polarized critics. In a 1979 review, the Australian and film producer condemned Mad Max, saying that it had 'all the emotional uplift of ' and would be 'a special favourite of rapists, sadists, child murderers and incipient '.

After its United States release, Tom Buckley of called the film 'ugly and incoherent'., writing in, called the film a 'turkey.' However, magazine praised the directorial debut by Miller.The film was awarded three Awards in 1979 (for editing, sound, and musical score). It was also nominated for Best Film, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor (Hugh Keays-Byrne) by the. The film also won the Special Jury Award at the Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival.Mad Max holds a 90% approval rating on review aggregator, based on 61 reviews, with site's consensus being an average rating of 7.74/10 'Staging the improbable car stunts and crashes to perfection, director George Miller succeeds completely in bringing the violent, post-apocalyptic world of Mad Max to visceral life.' The film has been included in 'best films of all time' lists by The New York Times. Accolades List of awards and nominationsAwardCategoryRecipientsResult(1979 AFI Awards)NominatedNominatedJames McCausland and George MillerNominatedNominatedand Tony PatersonWonWonNed Dawson, Byron Kennedy, and Gary WilkinsWonSpecial Jury AwardGeorge MillerWonLegacy. 21 April 2015.

Retrieved 28 January 2016. Robinson, Joanna (15 May 2015). Retrieved 15 March 2018. ^ Haenni, Sabine; Barrow, Sarah; White, John, eds. 'Mad Max (1979)'. The Routledge Encyclopedia of Films.

Pp. –326. ^ Scott Murray & Peter Beilby, 'George Miller: Director', Cinema Papers, May–June 1979 p369-371.

^. Aso.gov.au. James McCausland (4 December 2006). The Courier-Mail. Retrieved 26 April 2010.

^ Peter Beilby & Scott Murray, 'Byron Kennedy', Cinema Papers, May–June 1979 p366. ^ David Stratton, The Last New Wave: The Australian Film Revival, Angus & Robertson, 1980 p241-243. (PDF). Archived from (PDF) on 15 May 2015.

Retrieved 15 May 2015. ^ Clarkson, Wensley (2005). Mel Gibson - Man on a Mission. John Blake Publishing. Buckmaster, Luke (11 July 2015).

Retrieved 14 July 2010. Retrieved 14 July 2010. Retrieved 14 July 2010.

Retrieved 14 July 2010. Retrieved 7 March 2009. Retrieved 14 July 2010. Retrieved 14 July 2010. Lyttelton, Oliver (12 April 2012).

Archived from on 14 July 2015. Retrieved 14 May 2015. Elliot, Tim (9 January 2014).

Archived from on 10 November 2014. Retrieved 15 May 2015. 27 August 2013. Archived from on 30 June 2015. Harland Smith, Richard. Archived from on 14 May 2015. Retrieved 14 May 2015.

Flanagan, Graeme (14 May 2015). CinemaScore (published 1983) (11/12). Archived from on 23 October 2013. Retrieved 15 May 2015.

Osborne, Jerry (2010). Movie/TV Soundtracks and Original Cast Recordings Price and Reference Guide.: Osborne Enterprises Publishing. P. 353.

Moran, Albert; Vieth, Errol (2005). 'Kennedy Miller Productions'. Scarecrow Press. Retrieved 3 August 2011.

Retrieved January 12, 2016. Wilson, Heather (January 12, 2016). Crypt of the necrodancer aria. Retrieved July 11, 2015.

Carroll, Larry (3 February 2009). Retrieved 4 July 2010. Lyttelton, Oliver (12 April 2012). Herx, Henry (1988). The Family Guide to Movies on Video.

The Crossroad Publishing Company. P. 163 (pre-release version). McFarlane, Brian (1988). Retrieved 3 August 2011.

Zad, Martie (29 December 2001). Retrieved 14 May 2015. Retrieved 17 July 2011. (PDF). Archived from (PDF) on 9 February 2014. Retrieved 1 December 2010. Robertson, Patrick (1991).

Guinness Book of Movie Facts and Feats. P. 34. Phillip Adams, 1 May 1979; cited. Adams has since remained a prominent opponent of screen violence. He has also been consistent in his criticism of Mel Gibson's political and social opinions. Buckley, Tom (14 June 1980).

The New York Times. Archived from on 21 May 2011. Retrieved 26 April 2010. 1 January 1979. Retrieved 7 March 2009. on.

Retrieved 14 May 2015. 29 April 2003. Retrieved 21 May 2010. 4 July 2007.External links Wikiquote has quotations related to:. —home to the original Mad Max film, maintained by members of the cast and crew.

on. at the. at. at.

at. at Oz Movies.