Mad Max

Clip 1: The Interceptor

Taken from the feature Mad Max (1979)

Original title classification R – this clip chosen to be PG

Due to copyright restrictions, this clip cannot be accessed from outside Australia. [more information]

Curator’s clip description

A crazed joyrider (Vincent Gil) and his girlfriend (Lulu Pinkus) lead the highway patrol on an extended chase. Their luck runs out when they come up against Max Rockatansky (Mel Gibson), the best cop on the road.

Curator’s notes

We see Max for the first time and establish that he is a formidable opponent. The scene also gives the first glimpse of the movie’s kinetic power. Note the speed of the cuts at the end – some are almost too quick to see.

Paul Byrnes, curator

Teachers’ notes

provided by The Le@rning Federation

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This clip shows Crawford ‘the Nightrider’ Montizano (Vincent Gil) and his girlfriend (Lulu Pinkus) on the run from the police. They delight in the damage they have caused, as police officer Max Rockatansky (Mel Gibson) prepares to intercept them. Footage of Max starting his engine, putting the car into gear and fastening his black leather gloves is intercut with the frenzied exultations of the Nightrider. Max waits and eventually the Nightrider appears on the horizon. A dramatic head-on collision is narrowly avoided, followed by a car chase that ends in the spectacular destruction of the Nightrider’s car amid the wreckage of an earlier crash. Max is seen properly for the first time as he leaves his car and removes his sunglasses to assess what has happened.

Educational value points

This clip introduces Max but withholds details of his appearance to increase suspense. The audience sees the edge of his sunglasses and the back of his head in carefully framed shots, but not his eyes or face. The initial perception of Max as an anonymous threat secures the viewers’ belief in his later transformation into a lethal automaton.

Colourful and manic characters populate the dystopian world created by director George Miller (1945–). The Nightrider babbles with pseudo-religious fervour to his girlfriend, whose only role is as a willing disciple. Their disregard for human life, delight in suicidal risk-taking and provocation of the police represent the values of the world Max opposes as a police officer, but it is a world he must ultimately join to exact revenge. The Nightrider is the kind of ego-driven, delusional villain who populates all three Mad Max films, a vital component of George Miller’s view of a future world.

Miller’s skill at creating car chases is vividly exemplified. The raw tension created by throaty engines revving, fast tracking shots and clever editing made Mad Max an enormously popular cult film. The suspense of its chases ending in the catharsis of incendiary carnage has been extensively imitated.

The clip contains elements of a number of the genres that Miller incorporates into Mad Max. Miller uses elements of ‘buddy cop’, science fiction, western and ‘road trip’ genres. By drawing from a range of genres in fresh ways, Miller is considered to have revolutionised film and given it new vitality.

The buddy relationship between Max and his colleague is one of decency, cooperation and justice, which is pitted against the anarchy, nihilism, violence and ego of the Nightrider. This is the central conflict of the Mad Max series and the irony is that both sides glory in the exhilarating and dangerous escapism of speed.

Women are positioned as helpless victims, even when colluding with villains. In Mad Max women take on traditional roles, as seen in the Nightrider’s girlfriend, whose laughing turns to concern. Miller’s future world is one in which masculine pastimes of car worship and drag racing have taken over.

The Australian landscape is an integral part of the film’s world view. The barren plains intensify the spiritual desolation and hopelessness of this future society. Victims are even more vulnerable in the emptiness of the desert and help may be far away. The role of the police is elevated in this vacuum, suggesting strong links to the roles of sheriffs and other law enforcers in US westerns.

Mel Gibson (1956–) is shown in the role that catapulted him to international fame. He went on to even greater success as a result of his participation in the second film in the series, Mad Max 2 (1981), and further action films such as the Lethal Weapon series.