Product Description

Setting Mel Gibson on a sure path to superstardom this highly acclaimed crazy collide-o-scope (Newsweek) of highway mayhem cinematically defined the postapocalyptic landscape (TV Guide). Featuring eye-popping stunts that are electrifying and very convincing (Variety) and an authentically nihilistic spirit (The Village Voice) Mad Max is pure cinematic poetry (Time). 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. But they underestimate one officer: Max Rockatansky (Gibson). And when the bikers brutalize Max s best friend and family they send him into a mad frenzy that leaves him with only one thing left in the world to live for -- revenge!Special Features:New Digitally Remastered Anamorphic TransferNew-To-The-U.S.! Original Australian LanguageOriginal Mono Audio Track Mel Gibson: The Birth Of A Star Documentary Mad Max: The Film Phenomenon DocumentaryTheatrical TrailersAudio Commentary With Jon Dowding David Eggby Chris Murray & Tim Ridge Road Rants Trivia & Fun Fact TrackPhoto GalleryTV SpotsAnd More!System Requirements: Running Time 94 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating: R UPC: 027616869241 Manufacturer No: 1002726

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #747 in DVD
• Brand: TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT
• Released on: 2002-01-01
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .31 pounds
• Running time: 94 minutes

Amazon.com
The Road Warrior is already a classic, sans condescending genre distinctions like "sci-fi" or "action." But the story of Mel Gibson's stately antihero begins in Mad Max, George Miller's low-budget debut in which Max is a "Bronze" (cop) in an unspecified postapocalyptic future with a buddy-partner and family. But unlike most films set in the devastated future, Mad Max is especially notable because it is poised between our industrialized world and total regression to medieval conditions. The scale tips towards disintegration when the Glory Riders burn into town on their bikes like an overamped cadre of Brando's Wild Ones. Representing the active chaos that will eventually overwhelm the dying vestiges of civil society, they take everything dear to Max, who will exact due revenge. His flight into the same wilds that created the villains artfully sets up the morally ambiguous character of the subsequent films. --Alan E. Rapp

DVD features
MGM's special edition restores the original Australian soundtrack (including Mel Gibson's voice!) to the film for the first time on home video. That in itself would be enough to make this a DVD essential, but cinematographer David Eggby, special effects supervisor Chris Murray, and art director Jon Dowding look under the hood of this revved-up revenge classic in a commentary track and the featurette "Mad Max: The Film Phenomenon." Their nuts-and-bolts comments and nostalgic stories of seat-of-the-pants stunts provide a terrific survey of low-budget action moviemaking by ambitious young filmmakers. Less essential is the rather wan Mel Gibson star portrait (apparently Gibson and director George Miller were too busy to participate in the supplements, so we make do with his acting teacher and costars) and the entertaining, if truly trivial, "Road Rants" subtitle track. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews

Not mad enough
This is an interesting film, which if occasionally a bit wooden, virtually created its own genre overnight, and made Mel Gibson a star.

Perhaps its most noteable feature was George Miller's use of unusual camera angles, which created one or two iconic images. Sometimes it has the feeling of an exploitation film, but it never develops in that way and by today's standards it seems rather tame.

It looks as though it was made on a pretty low budget, and I prefer the brasher sequels where a little more polish was added. It remains a film curiosity, but really not much more than that.

MEL GIBSON in MAD MAX!!
Truly the best MEL GIBSON movie, MEL was only 24 when he made this movie.
Australian born MEL GIBSON hits the big screen in his first full length movie.
He plays a cop that loses is family to a biker gang and he's out for revenge.
Before Lethal Weapon & Passion of the Christ there was MAD MAX!!
I rate this movie a 9 from 1to10!!

This DVD ain't bad
Yeah, I'm gonna post here to contrast what others have said. This dvd does include the original Aussie soundtrack, the first time Americans have ever seen this version in the history of the film. Pretty impressive. It is much better than the dubbed version. The special features are so-so, not a whole lot to rave about. The print is clean, it looks great with the widescreen, and the original audio is a definite plus. This is certainly a worthy purchase for being only ten dollars.