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MAD MAX – The 1979 Original Screens at The Tivoli Midnights This Weekend

By Tom Stockman | May 3, 2015

“The chain in those handcuffs is high-tensile steel. It’d take you ten minutes to hack through it with this. Now, if you’re lucky, you could hack through your ankle in five minutes. Go!”

So jazzed about MAD MAX FURY ROAD you’re having trouble sleeping? Can’t wait until the 15^th? Would a midnight screen of the original MAD MAX from 1979 hold you over? Unless you got a pass to this week’s screening of MMFR, it’s gonna have to! MAD MAX will be playing midnights this Friday and Saturday night (may 8^th and 9^th) at The Tivoli as part of their ‘Reel Late at The Tivoli’ midnight series and I will be there handing out some MAD MAX FURY ROAD schwag (I’m not sure what it is exactly yet but I think it will be T-Shirts and hats)

Director George Miller’s MAD MAX, with an unknown Mel Gibson in the lead, would probably rate as just another undistinguished exercise in road kill mayhem were it not such a polished, high-octane, adrenalin-laced Australian production about terror on the highway. The overall novelty of this slam-bang import came from the superlative camera-work of cinematographer David Eggby, the highly credible special effects, the super-charged stunt car driving, and George Miller’s competent, no-nonsense helming. Although it isn’t quite as spectacular as its sequel THE ROAD WARRIOR (1981), and was only available in a weirdly-dubbed American-accents version for decades, MAD MAX qualifies as top-notch entertainment for anybody who craves revenge-based actioners. Mel Gibson became a star after this role. He’s cool and charismatic but also shows great skill as an actor – years before he became boxoffice. Even better are the villains. Hugh Keays-Byrne is convincingly sadistic as ‘Toecutter’ the leader of the biker gang that Mad Max goes up against. Tim Burns is enjoyably over-the-top as Johnny Boy and Vince Gil is memorable in his small role as The Nightrider (“I’m a fuel injected suicide machine. I am the rocker, I am the roller, I am the out-of-controller!”). The best performances in the film however are the cars. For its low budget, the stunt work is amazing. Max’s car is a 1973 Ford Falcon GT Coupe with a 300 bhp 351C V8 engine, customized with the front end of a Ford Fairmont and other modifications, but you already knew that!