Poster from TMDB
Mad Max
Sign in to save1979 film directed by George Miller
OverviewAI-generated
Mad Max is a 1979 Australian action, thriller, and vigilante film directed by George Miller. The screenplay was written by Miller and Byron Kennedy, who also served as producer. The cast includes Mel Gibson, Steve Bisley, Joanne Samuel, and Hugh Keays-Byrne. David Eggby was the director of photography, and Brian May composed the music. The film was produced by Kennedy Miller Productions and is part of the Mad Max series.
The movie has a runtime of 88 minutes and was released in 1979. It is rated R and distributed via Netflix in video on demand format. The narrative is set in Australia and explores themes of revenge, failed state, amorality, and anomie. The film received a Metascore of 73 and an 89% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It has won 6 awards and received 8 nominations.
Synthesized by Vinony from 47 facts across 5 sources: Wikidata, TMDb, OMDb, IMDb, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Film · TMDB
6.7In 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.
Cast
- Mel Gibson as Max Rockatansky
- Joanne Samuel as Jessie Rockatansky
- Hugh Keays-Byrne as Toecutter
- Steve Bisley as Jim Goose
- Tim Burns as Johnny the Boy
- Roger Ward as Fifi
Themes
- australia
- petrol
- baby
- chain
- dystopia
- post-apocalyptic future
- exploitation
- villain
- bridge
- matter of life and death
This product uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB.
Ratings
IMDb
6.8/10
243,512 votes
Rotten Tomatoes
89%
Metacritic
73/100
- Year
- 1979
- Runtime
- 88 min
- Genres
- Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
- Rated
- R
- Awards
- 6 wins & 8 nominations total
via OMDb · IMDb
Key facts
- Directed by
- George Miller
- Screenplay by
- James McCausland George Miller
- Story by
- George Miller Byron Kennedy
- Produced by
- Byron Kennedy
- Starring
- Mel Gibson Joanne Samuel Hugh Keays-Byrne Steve Bisley Tim Burns Roger Ward
- Cinematography
- David Eggby
- Edited by
- Tony Paterson Cliff Hayes
- Music by
- Brian May
- Production company
- Kennedy Miller Productions
- Distributed by
- Roadshow Film Distributors
- Release dates
- 12 April 1979 ( 1979-04-12 ) (Australia) 21 March 1980 ( 1980-03-21 ) (United States)
- Running time
- 93 minutes
- Country
- Australia
- Language
- English
- Budget
- A$350,000–400,000
- Box office
- US$100 million
via Wikipedia infobox
~25 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Mad Max is a 1979 Australian dystopian action film directed by George Miller in his directorial debut, who co-wrote the screenplay with James McCausland, based on a story by Miller and Byron Kennedy. Mel Gibson stars as "Mad" Max Rockatansky, a police officer turned vigilante in a dystopian near-future Australia in the midst of societal collapse. Joanne Samuel, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Steve Bisley, Tim Burns and Roger Ward also appear in supporting roles.
Principal photography for Mad Max took place in and around Melbourne and lasted for six weeks. The film initially received a polarised reception upon its release in April 1979, although it won four AACTA Awards. Filmed on a budget of A$400,000, it earned more than US$100 million worldwide in gross revenue and set a Guinness record for most profitable film. The success of Mad Max has been credited for further opening the global market to Australian New Wave films.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Mad Max” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.