Mad Max

"The maximum force of the future."

1979 1h 31m EN

👍

6.7

SOLID

🍅

89%

FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

6.8

IMDB

★6.7TMDB · 5,143🍅89%Rotten Tomatoes●73Metacritic★6.8IMDB · 243,512

ActionThrillerScience Fiction

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

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.

“The maximum force of the future.”

WhatsApp X Facebook Telegram

Where to watch · US

Amazon VideoRent

Apple TV StoreRent

Google Play MoviesRent

Google Play MoviesBuy

YouTubeBuy

Fandango At HomeBuy

Cast

Mel Gibson
Max Rockatansky
Joanne Samuel
Jessie Rockatansky
Hugh Keays-Byrne
Toecutter
Steve Bisley
Jim Goose
Tim Burns
Johnny the Boy
Roger Ward
Fifi
Vincent Gil
Nightrider
Lulu Pinkus
Nightrider's Girl

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: George Miller
Writers: Byron Kennedy, George Miller, George Miller
Languages: English
Countries: Australia

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $0.3M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Grossed $100M — a 285.7× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

47 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Mad Max Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by George Miller, shot by David Eggby. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Brian May. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Cliff Hayes shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Mel Gibson and Joanne Samuel and Hugh Keays-Byrne carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

George Miller directs. David Eggby behind the camera. Brian May scores. Cliff Hayes cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in Australia. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $0.3M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Grossed $100M — a 285.7× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.
347 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
4Part of the "Mad Max Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
5Directed by George Miller, shot by David Eggby. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Brian May. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Cliff Hayes shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Mel Gibson and Joanne Samuel and Hugh Keays-Byrne carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "The maximum force of the future.".
10IMDB entry: tt0079501 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 33 themes, including "australia", "petrol", "baby", "chain".
12Released under 12 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: David Eggby
Original score: Brian May
Editing: Cliff Hayes
Costume design: Clare Griffin
Makeup / hair: Vivien Mepham
Stunt coordinator: Grant Page
Runtime: 91 min · 1h 31m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $350,000
Box office: $100,000,000
Return: 28571% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Mad Max (1979)
Rotten Tomatoes: 89% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 73/100
IMDB rating: 6.8/10 · 243,512 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

6 wins & 8 nominations total

AACTA Award for Best Original Music Score
AACTA Award for Best Editing

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Part of

Mad Max Collection

Mad Max is an Australian dystopian action media franchise. Mad Max references are deeply embedded in popular culture; references to its dystopian, apocalyptic, and post-apocalyptic themes and bizarre landscape and desolate wasteland imagery. The collection currently includes Mad Max 1-4 also Furiosa and as of yet to be released Mad Max: The Wasteland.

Also by

George Miller

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2014-09-25
★ 8/10
Low budget classic that is now a genre landmark. Set somewhere in the future we are privy to a world where the roads are ruled by maniac gangs with souped up cars, and bikers that literally could come from hell. Trying to stop these marauding loons are the overstretched police force who themselves ride in exceptionally fast cars. At the front of this story is Max Rockatansky, a good honest cop trying to hold his own against the chaotic world that is forming around him. After his best friend is burned and left for dead he decides enough is enough and thinks about retiring from the service, but whilst on a vacation with his wife and child things go decidedly bad and Max becomes an avenging force of fury with devastating affect. When evaluating this film I feel it really needs to be put into perspective just how brilliant a job director George Miller did with next to no cash to work with, in fact Miller edited the film in his own bedroom just to emphasise the low-fi nature of the beast. The costumes are excellent, the cast are terrific, with Mel Gibson as Max particularly impressive, and here we have villains to truly fit the word villainous, but it's the stunts and chase sequences that makes this film a rich rewarding experience. The opening ten minutes alone are pure adrenalin pumping genius, but the film as a whole delivers a crash bang wallop punch that has often been imitated since its release, but rarely bettered, and although the heart of the film is a simple revenge story, it grabs your attention and delivers right to the corking finale, 8/10. Footnote: Region 2 Users should note that the bargain bucket Mad Max Trilogy flip pack set still contains the foolishly dubbed version of this film, incredibly stupid move from the American distributors.
talisencrw2016-01-21
★ 9/10
Though I had only seen the previous installment, 'Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome', which I enjoyed whilst a great many people didn't, with the present sequel earning ten (!?) Oscar nominations, I wanted to catch up on things before seeing the new film at the Cineplex. I was very pleased with this early film in the post-apocalyptic movie category, and can see how and why both it and star Mel Gibson became so successful. Other than Kenneth Anger's experimental film, 'Scorpio Rising', I have never seen a work that so fetishes both cars and the ritual of dressing, either for driving or for war. It's very well directed and suspenseful for a first-timer in Miller, and I'm so glad he's still helming the films of the series 36 years later! All that one has to do to see How To and How Not To Continue a Fine Franchise is compare how both George Miller and George Lucas have done this century. It's sad that they were so short on funds that only Gibson could be fitted with real leather in the film--I think I can rightly assume that money isn't a problem anymore...
Gimly2019-04-12
★ 9/10
Who'd have thought we'd still be talking about a $350,000 film, 40 years after it was made? And who'd have thought it would be in a positive way. Mad Max was one of the most formative films ever released, and not only is one of my favourite films, but is chief inspiration to my actual favourite film of all time, Neil Marshall's Doomsday. Final rating:★★★★½ - Ridiculously strong appeal. I can’t stop thinking about it.