Rating: 
Summary: Disturbing classic
Review: For a 1979 year of production, credit must be given for the excellent stunts - no computers! This is my favourite in the Max trio, but sadly unavailable on DVD in Australia (go figure that out - we can buy the other two but not this one despite it being an Aussie film!). Thankfully a friend picked it up for me overseas, and what you will first notice is the superb picture quality! But it was always a good picture qualuity actually - I have a video version too and that is outstanding quality. In fact, sometimes videos can be just as good qulaity as DVD's.
Enjoy this film, it will make you swirm, smile and think for three days after!
I think I am the only person who enjoys this more than the second movie (Mad Max 11, which is strangely titled 'Road Warrior" overseas!)
Rating: 
Summary: Melvin Gibson:INCREDIBLY Lucky To Avoid Typecasting!
Review: As Bob Denver, for all practical purposes, became "Gilligan," in real life -- as Frances Bouvier became "Aunt Bea," and Bob Keeshan "Captain Kangaroo" -- the young and beautiful Melvin Gibson, in this earliest of roles, was incredibly, unbelievably fortunate to avoid career-long typecasting as nothing but a cheesecake, eye-candy, silver-screen pretty-boy.This fine debut film, in which Melvin Gibson had to do little more than look extremely nice, exude male lusciousness and wear tight leather pants, came dangerously close to relegating him to Fabio status, committing him to a relatively brief film future of appearance-only, stand-and-model roles in subsequent movies. However, the overwhelming power of Melvin's acting talent (facial expressions, talking, walking, and driving vehicles) -- the raw guts of thespian talent and drive -- managed to save him from a perpetuation of calendar pin-up roles, catapulting him to an infinitely higher plane of cinematic accomplishment than is accessible by a mere male model (see Bird On A Wire, The River, Lethal Weapon VII, etc, Melvin's list is literally endless). It was that determination which wrenched Melvin Gibson out of the male-model mold and elevated him to Oscar quality. Think of Gomer and Goober Pyle, of Herman Munster, Dan Rather and Sheila Jackson Lee... and see how intertwined, how enmeshed, how tied up those actors became with their roles. Melvin Gibson was lucky to avoid the same sort of typecasting that severely restricted the careers of these unfortunate folks, and would have condemned him to being known for the rest of his life as nothing but a darn good looking hunk of meat (as they say). We all knew Goober Pyle -- and we can all say for a definite fact that Melvin Gibson (Mad Max) is no Goober Pyle.
Rating:
Summary: A definitive movie for any serious collector
Review: This movie is must for any serious collector of Australian cinema or action movies. Apart from launching Mel Gison as an actor, and becoming one of the highlights of George Miller's directing career, this movie clearly reveals that big budgets are not a necessary precondition for good movies. Mad Max is a superb blend of good acting and great cinematography that produce a movie which is far more credible as a depiction of a decaying world that most Hollywood productions. Most other reviews of this movie will tell you the plot, let me give you some advice: watch this movie in the original Australian soundtrack. The dubbed American version subtracts most of the atmosphere and feel of this movie.
Rating:
Summary: Mad Max
Review: When I first saw Mad Max in the cinema's 20 years ago as a younger guy I was so impressed by the raw-ness of the film.
The DVD I have has heightend this,particulaly in widescreen.
Mel Gibson likened the character of Max to that of a card-board cut-out. I never looked at Mad Max like that. What i saw was a guy who was desperatly hanging onto the shreds of civility in a society that was becoming debased and uncivilised (one could liken it to living in Germany before the holocaust and coming out the other end) where security was insecure. Even Max wanted to quit Main Force Patrol because he likend himself to that of the gangs, where it was becoming increasingly impossible to distinquish between that which was good or bad. After Jim Goose and Max's family have perished you see a side to him that many of us can relate to - vengence. When he confronts the murderers in the closing scenes it is not with joy that retribution is extracted but with a righteous anger against that which is evil. All in all Mad Max is the original. The Road Warrior and Beyond (eek !!) Thunderdoom become over-shadowed by the fact that Mad Max leaves them for dead in the smoke from His Interceptor.
Rating:
Summary: Finally the Australian version.
Review: I first saw this movie in the theatre in 1980 or 81. I have purchased the VHS version and the DVD version as soon as they came out. Since then I have been searching for the Australian soundtrack version but to no avail. When I read on a Mad Max website that the Australian version was available, I bought it immediately. Man was I blown away. This was one of my favorite movies. Now it is my favorite! How they could have released this movie with the overdub is insane. It's like watching a brand new movie. Definitely worth the price of admission. Oh and there is no comparison between this movie and it's sequels. Road Warrior was okay but Thunderdome was a joke.
Turkey.
Rating:
Summary: a great movie
Review: it has all the right ingredients: love, hate, romance, idealism, betrayal, justice, revenge, exposions, truth, beauty, car chases, gunfire, bad guys, good guys, & fast japanese bikes customized by french guys. perfect.
a piece of trivia, which my brother pointed out, is that
ALL the other police cars have "PURSUIT" printed accross the back, & Max's says, "INTERCEPTOR."
Rating:
Summary: Strewth!
Review: Y'know, when I'm in the mood to watch a good post-apocalypse movie with lotsa high-speed cars & 'cycles, and plenty of collisions & explosions, I just gotta turn to the original 'Mad Max' to satiate my needs! And the new DVD presentation of 'Mad Max' does just that! Not only do I get both the original Australian AND US-dub voice tracks, I also get a better picture than what I used to see on my now-well-worn VHS tape of the flick! The picture isn't absolutely perfect, though, but this is more likely due to the quality of the original print than the quality of the transfer to DVD. Although I'm happy to finally be able to view and hear 'Mad Max' in its original Australian dialogue, I have a certain sense of nostalgia for the American dub as well, as it gives the flick more of a weird Godzilla-like style & cheesiness to it! But if I had my 'druthers, I'd take the original voice track. Why, you ask? Well, there's just something not quite right about an American-accented voice-over uttering "strewth!", you know? But never the less, I have fun switching back and forth between the two tracks as I'm watching. I'm amazed by how well-synchronized they are-- I click from Aussie to Yankee & back, and I miss narry a word of the dialogue! And yes, people, this IS my idea of a good time. Pretty sad, huh? Anyway, on to the special features. The commentary track contains the usual mix of anecdotes and behind-the-scenes memories that one has come to expect from movie commentary tracks. I was somewhat disappointed none of the four contributors was co-writer/director George Miller, but I guess I'll just have to deal with it. Then there's the trivia feature, which works somewhat like VH1's Pop-Up music video in that it comes on the screen every several seconds with a new factoid about the flick. Many of the trivia tidbits cover the make & model of the various cars, trucks, and motorcycles that appear here, as well as letting the non-Aussie viewer in on some of the native lingo that's heard here. Also mentioned are some of the technical aspects of particular scenes, as well as revealing where certain scenes were shot. Unfortunately, I've read that some of the lingo & location trivia bits are incorrect. Which is something of a letdown, but at least I've been given fair warning... Also included are a couple of documentaries which cover the making of 'Mad Max' as well as taking a look at the early days of Mel Gibson's acting career. Like the commentary track, there's plenty of amusing anecdotes and details about the more technical parts of the movie, especially the great crash & collision stunts that one sees throughout the flick. One of the BTS doc's interviewees even refers to 'Mad Max' as being "porn for people who like fast cars" because of all the high-velocity vehicles and stunts! Now that's a most unusual analogy if ever I saw (or, rather, heard) one! Other neat momes include the fanboy who bought and restored Mad Max's MFP Interceptor, and the prop that helped make the Toecutter's eye-popping demise so memorable! 'Late!
Rating: 
Summary: Well-made, but not equal to its sequels.
Review: Often cited as the one that started it all (Which could be reference towards the sequels, Gibson's successful career, or the numerous rip-offs), this low-budget actioner stars Mel Gibson as a cop pushed to the edge. With its dark tone and brutal violence, this is probably the first movie of its kind to de-glamorize car chases. Several such sequences are thrilling (Particularly the opening car chase, one of the better ones in film history) but well-crafted as it often is, the pace is snail-like, and the dialogue and scene transitions are sometimes rather silly. Still a decent set-up for the superior sequels, though.
Rating:
Summary: Good quality but censored
Review: I don't recommend this edition. Ok, the picture is good and the Australian language track is quite cool but the movie is cut.
In the scene in which Max visits the burned Goose in hospital has been censored meaning Goose's burned body isn't shown. Ok, maybe that's something not everybody wants to see but if I buy a special edition I expect to see the whole movie.
Rating:
Summary: What a difference
Review: Gone is the lip-syncing and the picture is clear and crisp. The sound has also been improved greatly.
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