Do you want to see ‘Mad Max’?

Mad Max (1979)

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All Critics
Top Critics

Average Rating: 7.7/10
Reviews Counted: 40
Fresh: 38 | Rotten: 2

Staging the improbable car stunts and crashes to perfection, director George Miller succeeds completely in bringing the violent, post-apocalyptic world of Mad Max to visceral life.

Average Rating: 6.4/10
Critic Reviews: 5
Fresh: 4 | Rotten: 1

Staging the improbable car stunts and crashes to perfection, director George Miller succeeds completely in bringing the violent, post-apocalyptic world of Mad Max to visceral life.

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Movie Info

This stunning, post-apocalyptic action thriller from director George Miller stars Mel Gibson as Max Rockatansky, a policeman in the near future who is tired of his job. Since the apocalypse, the lengthy, desolate stretches of highway in the Australian outback have become bloodstained battlegrounds. Max has seen too many innocents and fellow officers murdered by the bomb's savage offspring, bestial marauding bikers for whom killing, rape, and looting is a way of life. He just wants to retire and

R, 1 hr. 33 min.

Action & Adventure, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Cult Movies

Directed By: George Miller

Written By: George Miller

In Theaters: Apr 12, 1979 Wide

On DVD: Nov 19, 1997

American International Picture

Mad Max Trailer & Photos

Cast

Mel Gibson
Mad Max, Max Rockatansk...
Joanne Samuel
Jessie
Hugh Keays-Byrne
Toecutter
Steve Bisley
Jim Goose
Roger Ward
Fifi Macaffee
Tim Burns
Johnny the Boy
Vince Gil
Nightrider
Lulu Pinkus
Nightrider's Girl
Nick Lathouris
Grease Rat
John Ley
Charlie
Sheila Florance
May Swaisey
Max Fairchild
Benno
George Novak
Scuttle
David Bracks
Mudguts
David Cameron
Underground Mechanic
Reg Evans
Station Master
Peter Ford
Jonathan Hardy
Labatoche
Phil Motherwell
Junior Doctor
Geoff Parry
Bubba Zanetti
Tom Broadbridge
Clive Hearne
Paul Young
Neil Thompson
TV Newsreader

Critic Reviews for Mad Max

All Critics (40) | Top Critics (5) | Fresh (42) | Rotten (2) | DVD (37)

Overnight, Mad Max went from being a U.S. cult hero to a mainstream figure, and Mel Gibson's place in the firmament was secured.

May 30, 2007 Full Review Source: ReelViews

| Comment

James Berardinelli

ReelViews

Top Critic

Stunts themselves would be nothing without a filmmaker behind the camera and George Miller, a doctor and film buff making his first feature, shows he knows what cinema is all about.

May 30, 2007 Full Review Source: Variety

| Comment

Variety

Top Critic

Some of the most determinedly formalist filmmaking this side of Michael Snow.

May 30, 2007 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader

| Comment

Dave Kehr

Chicago Reader

Top Critic

Mad Max is ugly and incoherent, and aimed, probably accurately, at the most uncritical of moviegoers.

May 21, 2003 Comments (8)

Tom Buckley

New York Times

Top Critic

More jangly, visceral energy and encompass more creative innovations than something made with today's computer technology and bottomless resources.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Sacramento Bee

| Comment

Joe Baltake

Sacramento Bee

Top Critic

Mel Gibson rules the road in the original Mad Max.

March 29, 2012 Full Review Source: Three Movie Buffs

| Comment

Scott Nash

Three Movie Buffs

Perhaps a bit clumsy in the lumbering middle act, but Mad Max delivers the goods when it comes to pulse-pounding car chases and stunts.

November 2, 2010 Full Review Source: IGN DVD

| Comment

R. L. Shaffer

IGN DVD

Despite its budget and other shortcomings, Mad Max is still worth watching and worth adding to the post-apocalyptic section of your home video collection.

October 30, 2010 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis

| Comment

James Plath

Movie Metropolis

Mad Max's arrival on Blu-ray carries the reminder that, above all else, the film is a low-budget action spectacle that should inspire amateur filmmakers to take genuine risks.

October 14, 2010 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine

| Comment

Chris Cabin

Slant Magazine

Like all of the best exploitation films, it transcends its limitations while simultaneously embracing them.

October 6, 2010 Full Review Source: Sci-Fi Movie Page

| Comment

Rob Vaux

Sci-Fi Movie Page Source: Sci-Fi Movie Page

The greatest example of Ozploitation movies, George Miller's 1979 "Mad Max" is a pure cinematic anomaly.

September 5, 2010 Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com

| Comment

Cole Smithey

ColeSmithey.com

This is brutal, exciting stuff, all the more impressive for its budget constraints.

May 6, 2008 Full Review Source: Film4

| Comment

Film4

Classic cult fun made famous by director Miller and then new star Gibson.

August 3, 2007 Comment

Steve Crum

Video-Reviewmaster.com

The stunt work is spectacular.

July 4, 2007 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews

| Comments (4)

Dennis Schwartz

Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Simple, but effective.

May 30, 2007 Full Review Source: Empire Magazine

| Comment

Empire Magazine

Australia exported this creative, original, exciting, low-budget genre landmark which gave the young Mel Gibson his first starring role.

May 30, 2007 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide

| Comment

TV Guide's Movie Guide

This was a great movie!

August 4, 2006 Full Review Source: JoBlo's Movie Emporium

| Comment

JoBlo

JoBlo's Movie Emporium

The tone sometimes wavers into self-parody, and there are occasional crude patches, but overall this edge-of-seat revenge movie marks the most exciting debut from an Australian director since Peter Weir.

June 24, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out

| Comment

Derek Adams

Time Out

More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Mad Max

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This film did a lot of things: not only did it introduce the world to "Mad" Max Rockatansky, it was the film that turned Mel Gibson from an unknown (it was his second or third film) into the star he is today, and it helped to kickstart the whole near-future dystopia/post-apocalyptic genre. The film takes place in near

June 9, 2006

Chris Weber

Super Reviewer

Awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome.

April 7, 2007

Ken Stachnik

Super Reviewer

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