Before Furiosa: How Mad Max redefined post-apocalyptic movies
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- čas přidán 7. 06. 2024
- The story of how a low-budget indie flick led to a global pop culture phenomenon.
Featuring exclusive, recent interviews with Joanne Samuel (Jessie in the first Mad Max film), Bruce Spence (The Gyrocopter Captain in Mad Max 2), and Emil Minty (The Feral Kid in Mad Max 2), this documentary delves deep into the legendary Mad Max saga.
When George Miller and Byron Kennedy released their indie movie debut, Mad Max, in 1979, they unleashed what would become the most profitable film in cinema history. Its sequel, Mad Max 2 (known as The Road Warrior in the US), released in 1981, further revolutionised the genre by setting the visual standard for post-apocalyptic cinema.
We also visit Silverton, the iconic filming location of Mad Max 2, now home to the extensive Mad Max 2 Museum. More than four decades later, Silverton remains a pilgrimage site for fans, celebrating the enduring legacy of a franchise that continues to captivate and inspire audiences around the world.
As fans eagerly anticipate the release of Mad Max: Furiosa, tipped to be one of 2024’s biggest films, this documentary offers an in-depth look at the origins and impact of a series that not only redefined action cinema but also continues to influence filmmakers and captivate audiences across generations.
Video by Tom Compagnoni.
#MadMax #furiosa #movies #documentary #entertainment
00:00 Influence and cultural impact of Mad Max
00:58 Making the first Mad Max film (Joanne Samuel)
04:33 Filming action on a motorbike (David Eggby)
07:35 First time seeing Mad Max and working on Mad Max 2 (Bruce Spence)
09:53 Costume design by Norma Moricau
10:53 Playing The Feral Kid (Emil Minty)
13:32 Mad Max 2 Celebration: 40 Years in Silverton
15:00 Adrian Bennett and the Mad Max 2 Museum
17:05 The genius of George Miller
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For me Mad Max II: The Road Warrior became the template for every Post-Apocalyptic story in any storytelling medium
Совершенно согласен .
2 is Hands down the best of the Gibson films, a performance so powerful, you don’t even notice he has only 16 lines..
It's how Europe is gonna look like if we don't stop mass immigration
For sure. It just anchored every trope. I thought Fury Road was incredible but it still didn't hit me the way The Road Warrior did especially back in the 80's when there wasn't anything else that gave you the sense of a post civilisation world with a level of immediacy and danger. I remember seeing a lot of the 60's/ 70's dystopian movies like Planet of the Apes, Damnation Alley, Logan's Run, Soylent Geen, etc but they never felt like you were in those worlds the way Mad Max did.
Absolutely
The fact that there's a museum and and a festival honoring the legacy of the Mad Max films brings me so much joy sitting at my desk a world a way..
Fark - 180km/h on the back of a bike with a hand held camera and no helmet. That's absolutely legendary!
Imagine holding it steady against the wind hitting the camera lens hood
I love how she refers to the dangers associated with making the film as being, “…very Australian don’t you think?”. That is so badass to me. Much respect goes out to them and anyone willing to risk so much for their art form. That’s how greatness is achieved.
To me, the appeal of Mad Max is a timeless story told in a very unique world. I think the story of Max is about a man who loses and regains his humanity in a world gone crazy. So yes, the complete heroes journey
'In the roar of an engine, he lost everything '....
‘…and became a shell of a man. A burnt out, desolate man. A man haunted by the demons of his past. A man who wondered out into the wasteland. And it was here, in this blighted place, where he learned to live again.”
May our lives never fade
Love all the Mad Max films - such a unique look, energy and genius worldbuilding. The V8 interceptor is still the baddest motherf*cking car on film!
I will choose it over fury road & furiosa !
As a Holden Family, I've always appreciated they didn't refer to it as the Ford V8 interceptor
The stories behind the movie are twice as epic.....
Because WE KNOW Mad Max IS OUR FUTURE.
Brilliantly produced
I grew up with Mad Max. It helped me get through Afghanistan. Now I drive truck. When the pandemic kicked off I seriously looked some canned dog food and asker if we're going full Mad Max. With inflation we may yet discover.
I was way too young to see the first Mad Max during its cinema release, and had to contend with seeing it on VHS in the 80s. One day I'll see it on the big screen, if only out of respect to the ridiculous amount of hard work that went into it.
Wonderful video, Mad Max 1&2 are two of my favorite movies of all time.
Ive seen the Pursuit Interceptor from both movies (its in a "Mad Max 1.5" look)
The Only Mad Max movies imo, the rest spin-off's.
Spence re-cast as someone else in Dome made it a separate film that Gibson was also in for me.
Likewise Tom 'Hardly' Max Fury spin-off could have just been a guy called Tom's storyline, as Furiosa's is hers.
I would have rather seen a Feral Kid/Northern Tribe spin-off.
@@Lana_Warwick read the comics, they bridge teh gap between mad max 3 and *now* furiosa (then fury road) and provide some back story until more movies come out.
Saw the Road Warrior at the drive in, back when they still existed. A classic. One reason these films work is because they acknowledge a basic truth about humanity: the simplest form of government is tribalism. It can be brutal, but it is easy to establish and offers a sense of security that going it alone does not. Like Max I would try to avoid people. But like Max I would end up entangled with them regardless.
LOVE every single film in the saga. Hopefully Furiosa lives up to that as well. You can see the 'Thunderdome' in at least a dozen rock videos too....
Hopefully one day we get another Mad Max movie actually about Mad Max again.
Don't worry you'll get what you ask for......
Don't ask me how I know......
@@skeetermcswagger0U812 I won’t.
@@prezmil4282 Good on ya mate!
With Spence recast in Dome, IMO they've all been spin-offs since MM2. Fury is Tom's story, Furiosa's is hers.
I would have rather seen a Feral Kid/Northern Tribe spin-off.
Living in Newcastle some days it feels like we're already here
Ha ha it feels like its already all over Australia at the moment
You must be a Merewether local... lol 😂
@@originalsusser nope not that rich and about 400kms away
@@grod-1976 I was responding to RealRoknRollr. Merewether is a shitty suburb in Newcastle
Coughs in South Africa
Mad Max are so influential it even inspired other mediums. Fist of The North Star draws a lot of inspiration from Mad Max's setting and look. There's costumes right from the movies in the pages of it.
One and Two were my favourite movies i still watch them today great 👌 stuff
The Only Mad Max movies imo, the rest spin-off's.
I read the book when I was 15, totally blew me away, then hid in the back of my mates panel van to see it at the drive in because it was rated R, good times....
Only Australia could have conjured up Mad Max. He is a metaphor for it's Convict heritage.
huh, never thought of it quite that way but you're probably on to something there mate. it's also noteworthy that not a single 'abo' appears in ANY of them from what i can remember. the closest thing might perhaps be TINA TURNER'S sudden, out of nowhere, incarnation, but if you think about it for even just a second, her appearance is just plain weird. wonderful, but weird nonetheless.
funny thing is, i started my journey with Mad Max watching the 3rd part on VHS and didn't even know that there were other two around, had to hustle a bit to find them but boy watching them for the first time was a treat.
thats what makes Mad Max so timeless, simple stories that you can watch in any order and be introduced to in different ways
@@thisbubblygoodness7611 especially that these stories become more and more a reality.
@@iforgotthenamemate yup, just as the video says, on the brink of a real 'mad max scenario' lol
So happy you have put this together, thank you.
Mad Max essentially gave birth to "The First of the North Star" in Japan. Over time it grew into huge entertainment property.
Mad Max and Fist of the North Star are in the same world. Mad Max is the father of Fist of the North Star, The American Western(The Man with no Name , The Circle of Iron) is it's Grandfather.
@@ramonantoniodejuanbennett6239 I hear you. The westerns featured the lone warrior character. True. The Fist of the North star borrowed heavily from the Mad Max films. And of course Bruce Lee was the main character reference.
Really enjoyed that , thank you!
Original Mad Max was 18+ in Melbourne when released, but that didn't stop us from getting in.
The big difference between mad max and the following Post apocalyptic films was the fact that the Australian mad max , mad max 2 actually looks like it could be real. The rest just looked to fake.
I was living in Australia when MM2 was released. We made the mistake of going as a family to the drive in: my kid brother (who definitely had different tastes than me) and my mother in the back seat poking fun at it. Plus all the attendant tech challenges of a drive in. It didn't make for the best viewing experience. I myself, at age 16, was beginning to grapple with my own tastes. I believe (IIRC) we had just watched the Granada series Brideshead Revisited (Jeremy Irons, Anthony Andrews, Lawrence Olivier et al) and I was trying to become a literary snob. It was later that I became a big fan of the film when I was able to let go of my snobbishness and just enjoy it for what it was.
The film opened with a competition to rename the film for release in America as Mad Max wasn't all that well known and Americans are notoriously confused by sequels to movies they are not familiar with. Apparently the Brit film The Madness of King George III had to drop the 'III' part because Americans would be confused as to what happened to eps 1 and 2. The competition used Warrior of the Wasteland as an example of a new name and I suppose The Road Warrior won. To me, it will always be Mad Max 2. I cringe every time an American or one of my fellow Canadians insists on calling it The Road Warrior or even it's new version Mad Max 2, the Road Warrior. That's the snob in me again, I suppose.
I don't get constantly renaming classic movies after the fact. I do understand renaming MM2 as a business strategy (even though I don't like it). But, renaming movies long after their release to cater to... younger/less imaginative audiences? I was 12 when I stood in line with my Dad in May 1977 to see Star Wars. It will always be just 'Star Wars'. Not 'Episode IV, A New Hope' that was just a gimmick originally used by Lucas to make it feel like the old Saturday serials. Raiders of the Lost Ark is just that. Not 'Indiana Jones and the Raiders... etc etc'. First Blood is just that and not 'Rambo First Blood'. Surely audiences aren't that dumb, are they?
Yes. Yes we are.
As for the last third of your indulgent dissertation, I can only suggest that the renaming of franchises has more to do with the success of the original than the reasons behind the renaming of it later.
A sequel has to stand on its own but has to be understood in the context of the original. An original that may not have been described with a sequel in mind. What may seem like a gimmick is actually a tool to place the original into a greater context it wasn't envisaged for.
I'm with what you say! I skipped school on the day Star Wars was released, a Thursday, there was no one in the theatre at the 11am screening, that Friday night the que wrapped around the block, Monday morning at school we were gods. It'll always be Star Wars to me, but it has to fit into a larger picture, A New Hope was the fit that makes the whole series cohesive, get it?
@@originalsusser I agree... partially... In the case of Mad Max it was pure business. The original did not do well in the US ergo a decision was made not to tie the sequel, name-wise, to the original.
In Star Wars we have a phenomenon that transcends normalcy: fanatic fans, slavish devotion to a cannon, for some - a way of life etc... As much as the renaming annoys me in that specific instance, it can be understood for the following reasons: a. that's how it was named in the gimmick intro, b. it puts it in chronological order, c. it feeds the whole SW universe mystique/magic and d. it helps differentiate the original theatrical release from Lucas' 'improved' version.
Most of the other examples, I believe, are done for the cynical purpose I stated. Execs have limited respect for audience intelligence and feel they need to connect the names in order to guarantee continued sales etc.
Then again, maybe I'm naively giving too much credit to audience intelligence/attention span. The sequel to the Pink Panther was called A Shot in the Dark (because the Pink Panther diamond wasn't part of the story). It didn't perform as well as expected. Another attempt was made with Alan Arkin in the Clouseau role and it fared even worse. In 1976 the Return of the Pink Panther was very successful (and fairly named as the diamond was part of the story). From that point on, every movie had to have 'Pink Panther' in the title because, without it, the film would no rake in as much money.
Star Wars 1977. Mad Max 1979 (best guerrilla filmmaking of all time #1). Alien 1979. Road Warrior 1981. Blade Runner 1982. Empire Strikes Back 1983.
One of the best 6 years in cinema history. Come at me.
Edit: Oops bad math, 7 years. Tell me a better 7 years in cinema history.
May i slip First Blood (1982) in there.
Breathless, 1983… some way disagree.
Glad i was about to see it all. I remember the newspaper clippings about Star Wars before it was released and getting totally caught up in it all at 7 years old 😆.
The Mad Max franchise is so influential. Mad Max 1 and 2 are classics. Beyond Thunderdome and Fury Road were both great movies. I am thinking about going to see Furiosa: A Mad Max Story when comes out in cinemas.
wow great stuff ,,,never seen this before,,,,,mad max is the best for sure ,,,it captured me in 79 to this day,,,can watch it over and over again and still see something new,,,,,,travelled everywhere in 79 just to see it again,,,,if it came back in the cinema,,,can we imagine,,,box office again
1 & 2 are masterpieces…. but no matter how many times I watch it breaks my heart when The Interceptor gets destroyed ☹️
This may be the best short edit of the mad max 1 and 2 films background ive seen..some of the on set clips ive never seen..and im a huge fan ..nice one 🤙🤙😈
What an awesome video, thanks! MM2 is THE film of my life - I have seen it more times than I can count; it was the gateway movie to a lifelong fascination with the post-apocalyptic genre
"When the gangs take over the highway... Remember he's on your side."
Tom your short docos are awesome.. loved the ACDC one and now this also.. kudos
Thanks so much! I also did one on the Fairlight CMI, in a similar vein to this and the AC/DC one. just search this channel for Fairlight.
Loved this video. You are amazing
Brilliant insight 👍
Great job, Tom! As a Broadcast TV Producer in the US, this is an excellent piece!
This is not a broadcast TV producer.
@@TinLeadHammer I was referring to myself. I didn't write that very well.
awesome tribute!!
Really brilliant. Thanks from Canada 🇨🇦
'A Boy and his Dog'
Was looking for this. Strange how it set the groundwork for the post apocalyptic films but does not get recognized.
Fallout took a lot from this movie.
Ultimately Mad Max got the aesthetic but Boy and his Dog got a lot of the ideas out there.
Mad Max nailed it making the film as a myth told through generations so I think that’s what keeps it in the public consciousness
Thank you for this documentary! Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior was very inspiring to me as an artist. The brilliantly original premise, the creative wit and scrappy costumery and set design were so wildly ingenious, I wanted to freeze every frame to examine the details, and could not look at any piece of abandoned junk without wondering....what would one make of this in a post-apocalyptic world? Eventually I did a gallery show of found object sculpture, an altogether exhilerating experience! Thank you for the inspiration, George Miller!
Amazing hearing from the Feral Kid and his reunion with George Miller.
The tale of two George's. George Lucas made one of the greatest films of all time but fell from grace (not because of his personal life but) because his films stopped resonating with the fans. It went down hill with Revenge, oops I mean, Return of the Jedi.
George Miller came on the scene with a genre creating gut felt film in Mad Max and has been getting better and better as he goes through life.
Both Star Wars and Mad Max were about the hero's journey which is why those movies resonate with people of all cultures and ages. Two timeless tales.
A fantastic doco well done Tom
Wow. Fantastic documentary.
Awesome! Thank you!
Amazing video!
that was great thanks ,
Major Kudos!!! 👍🏻
Awesome min behind the films of Mad Max
Nice review. Thanks
Great content.
Eggby's low angle camera work communicated the essence of speed unmatched to this day.
Good timing !
What a fantastic video.
Remember watching the first one on VHS back in the early 80's, guess like 11 / 12 years old. It's been there ever since.
Some great insight into the real life back story on how these films were made. Film making in a different era for sure.
Mel's face when he says, "They took his helmet off after that and there was blood coming out of his ears and his nose!" 🤣 🤣 6:00
Great memories of learning to drive in my
dad’s XB with the wrap around dashboard and the bonnet that went on forever and dreaming of being in an interceptor
What a great documentary. Thankyou for posting . Mad Max 1 2 and 3 are all films that then and now stand head and shoulders above all other cinema history for me 😎 its the ducks guts
My absolute two favorite movies starred by my favorite actor.
Brilliant 👏
Loved this... 🥰
Yessss I love all the new mad max stuff coming out in prep for furiosa
good timing
Mad Max 2 The Road Warrior. It is amazing
Thank you!
Love this ❤
U will never get a better film than mad max and mad max 2 these films are iconic watchin these in the theatre back in 79 were magical the theatre was full packed out it really got me in to films and cinema seeing this film one of the best films ever you could not recreate this now in 2024 it not same
They’ve aged incredibly well.
Mad Max and Mad Max ll: The Road Warrior are the pinnacle. It was down hill from there.
Fury road is my favorite all times movie.
Before i only had a top 3.
And i didn't even like it the first time. Vibrating chair gave me back pain
I took a trip out there to silverton and broken hill 15 years ago. Found the compound site and the hill overlooking it. Few Lord Humungous lines while we were there
Brilliant Tom 👏👏👏
That scene with Toecutter and his crew pulling up on the main street was filmed in Clunes, about a minute from where I live.
Bravo, SMH! Excellent stories! If you watch Furiosa you will see soooo many easter eggs between Max I and II. Lots and lots of very subtle nods to the first two films in the franchise. Watch closely if you're a big fan of I & II.
Nice.
But the third movie and Fury Road can't be ignored.
Reconsider do about them too.
I kinda like Thunderdome. I personally didn’t like the Fury Road, they just driving from a to b, then finally drive from point b to a. Also it didn’t have Mel Gibson, which was a mistake.
Had Byron not died, we wouldn't have to suffer through Thunderdome..
Very good
It's a shame that George Miller hasn't done more films in his career. Babe and babe 2 are some of the best children's film ever made.
The second Mad Max was the BEST of the series. Then, the rip-offs came out of nowhere, but they can NOT duplicate what was done in Mad Max 2.
Greatness never ages💪😃👍
We actually have mad max style city building game called "Surviving the Aftermath". Next we need Mad Max style Total War game.
Try crossout
Legendary
BRILLIANT
Bravo
The wild west of film making - so good!
素晴らしかった
Absolutely bonzer!
Lovely...really lovely.....
Mad Max reigns supreme when it comes to post-apocalyptic narratives. George Miller skillfully crafted a cinematic lexicon.
Adi and Linda my sister and bro in law living the dream x
FROM BRAZIL WITH LOVE !!! MADMAX IS A RELIGION HERE !
So wonderful that the bad guy from the 1970s returned to play the mighty Immortan Joe in Fury Road in 2015
No mention of Beyond Thunderdome lol
There's a museum?! Wow!
damn immortal joe before he got sick is pretty hilarious guy
Weird that it covers the first and second films but doesn’t even mention the third.
Its almost time
It has influenced so many Movies. Both in costume and cinema photography
Greatness isn't easy. Growing up we all wanted our cars to be interceptors. Glad Fury Road and Furiosa got to be made just a shame it took so long.
I often saw Mad Max as about the fall of our civilization and the rise of the punk or deviant civilization, with each film being a stage of it.
Mad Max (1979): Has our civilization still as a state with government and police, and the punks or deviants are a band as a motorcycle gang.
Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981): has the oil refinery as a chiefdom of sorts and last remnants of civilization holding together, with the punks and deviants of Lord Humungus now being at a level of a tribe.
Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome (1985): has our civilization now as the tribe of adolescents living in the crack of the earth, while the punks and deviants have become a chiefdom with Bartertown as a village, with Master Blaster or Auntie Entity being the chief.
Mad Max: Fury Road (2014): has our civilization now as a foraging band of bikers, and the punks or deviants now a state under Immortan Joe with cities like The Citidel and Bullet City and Gas Town some of the industries and urban areas, like forms of government with police as the War Boys.
The best great chase scene interceptor vs motorbikes !