Rating: 
Summary: Where's the Aurstralin version?
Review: A vary good movie. I take one star off for the English dubing. I sugest the relest the Aurstralin version, or at least have it as an Autio track.
Rating:
Summary: SYMBOLIC, GOUNDBREAKING, CONTROVERSIAL
Review: When this movie came out, it became the biggest Australian movie ever. It won awards all over the world, and was given an "X" rating for violence in France. Its American releasing company, American International, was concerned that American audiences would not understand the Australian accents and slang, so they dubbed it with English voices. Then the company folded and in the fallout, the movie wound up being released only as the bottom half of a double bill on 42nd st. in New York City. This dubbed version is what most Americans are familiar with and what is contained on this video.The story involves a highway cop in a world "a few years from now..." where the roads have become dangerously violent. He worries that he is beginning to like the "rat circus" that the highways have become and goes on a vacation with his wife and baby. When his baby is killed and his wife turned into a vegetable by a biker attack, he puts his leathers back on and gets even, becomming...Mad Max. On a symbolic level, this movie can be seen as saying today's society is collapsing into a new dark age, much like the Roman Empire. The cops have become as violent as the outlaws: one shot of a cop shooting a road sign during a chase can be seen as symbolizing how the enforcers of the law are destroying the law; The chief lives at the top of a spiral stair, like a tower, much like ancient Emperors who were said to likve in tall towers, cut off from the chaos below. The collapse is accellerated (pun intentional) by man's relationship to machines, that man is becoming as unfeeling as machines. The cops shout to be heard over their engines; the bikers all wear helmets and gear that makes them look a part of their bikes; one cop, after an injury, speaks with a throat mike (the only voice not dubbed); even the slang: "is she salvageable?" "stick to me like a tire on a licorice road," refers to automobiles. Interestingly, the black leather outfits of the cops, on character's ripped t-shirt, and various short haircuts and bleached hair represent one of the first examples of punk style used in a movie. The techniques for showing the chase and scenes were nigh revolutionary. Cameras were bolted to the fenders of the cars giving a "wheel's eye view" of the action. Quick cuts and close-ups are used a lot giving a hightened feeling of agitation and simultaneity. When a chase scene stops, you feel like you've been in it. Mush of the rest of the movie effectively uses techniques form other genres, such as horror, biker, cop, and western. Most of the most horrible violence is not actually seen, but rather implied by quick cuts, close-ups, and music. In a few key scenes horror movie techniques are skillfully used to heighten the mood of certain sequences, especially during Max's vacation on Aunt May's farm. The entrance of the Nightriders into the small town echoes "The Wild Bunch," "The Wild Ones," and "These Are The Damned." I have seen this film in the theater, on video, on TV, and an Australian-language widescreen video. Of course the theater is the best place to see it. Commercial TV edits a piece or two here and there. The video that I saw had the box illustrated on Amazon. I got it second hand, but there were some quality problems with it that I can't be sure were not from the producer of the video (does anyone else have bad experiences with "Goodtimes" videos?). The Australian version said it had some footage not in the American version, but I couldn't find it. I did notice several things, however: There was a difference in some of the lines. The American version had cut some Australian slang out; The sound quality was better in the American version. The lines could be heard better; There were some additional sound effects in the American version that made the chase scenes more exciting; Though the bit parts in the American version were nortoriouly badly played, the main characters were (in my opinion) better played. The line readings were more interesting, having more character (or maybe I'm just used to them and was thrown when I tried to say the American lines along with the Australian actors). Footnote: In my high school Shakespeare class, I wrote a prequel to "Mad Max" using "Richard III" as the plot. The Nightrider was Richard.
Rating:
Summary: The DVD is the American Dubbed version
Review: I agree with another viewer's request; make the original version of the movie available.
Rating: 
Summary: DVD Mad Max
Review: After reading everybodies reviews, does anyone know if the DVD version "Mad Max (1980)" - is the american dubbed version or not?
Rating:
Summary: Mad Max
Review: One of the best action/cult movies around. The car is awsome, and with a limited budget the director (George Miller) does an excellant job. I only wish there was a way for you to get the true austrailian version intead of the dubbed American ver.
Rating: 
Summary: Great early Mel Gibson! Disappointing DVD features!
Review: This is an excellent example of Mel Gibson's fine acting work. If you haven't seen it, but have seen Beyond Thunderdome, give it a viewing. Unfortunatly I purchased the DVD version which was released in 1998. It doesn't have any special features at all. You are also stuck with the American voices dubbed over the Austrailian actor's. This can be quite funny in itself but I wish I had the option to see both the original Aussie tape and the Americanized version on one disk.
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Summary: DVD Makes this Movie and the Aussie Voice Track...Finally
Review: This DVD is like watching a brand new version of the film with crisp imagery in letterbox format. For those who haven't seen this movie, it's the original story of Max and how he eventually becomes the "Road Warrior" as portrayed in the sequel. The film was done on a lower budget than its successor, but contains great action with some terrific stunts. The main attraction of the movie is his work as a pursuit officer on the highways where outlaws are running havoc over an understrength police force. Max and his peers are almost as rough as the outlaws, creating a gray area between justice and crime. The story centers around Max's aggressive pursuit of an escapee named the Knightrider, resulting in the outlaw's death in a violent car crash. The Knightrider's motorcycle gang then come looking for Max in retaliation, and Max's family suffer the consequences. Max then transitions from police officer to vigilante, going after the bike gang on his own terms. The movie is high-energy with souped-up Australian Fords and Kawasaki motorcycles screaming across barren landscapes in lethal chases. Max and his car, an evil-looking black supercharged coupe, wreak destruction on the outlaw bikers near the end and it's pure adrenaline by this point. The film may not be as polished or as wild as the "Road Warrior," but it has cult appeal with the same flavor. This edition of Mad Max features the original voice tracks of the Australian actors that was never before available in the U.S. This surprisingly quite changes the atmosphere of the movie, making the characters more realistic in a sense, and far less animated when compared to the American dubbed version that feels more like an imported martial arts flick. I personally prefer this version.
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Rating:
Summary: How to do it on your own
Review: 'Mad Max' is an advertisement for all would-be directors to just take up the 16mm device and damn well shoot. Although the present era is less friendly towards this move, just look at how a crock of dung like 'The Blair Witch Project' managed to make it to the cinema. This first installment in the Max trilogy finds a very young Gibson beginning with perfunctory zest, but soon becoming beset with rage at the loss of his friends and family. While the acting is above-board all right, the real stars of the show are the automotives themselves. With the Pursuit Interceptors running as thinly-veiled Datsun heaps, who could have thought that so much hps could have been squeezed out of every car in this picture? Extra kudos go to Toecutter's gang. If you look very carefully at the bit where Max, fresh out of the hospital where's he learnt that his wife is in critical and his son dead, charges the bikers on the overcross bridge, you will see that the biker with the red helmet gets his neck broken by the distended front wheel of his or a comrade's cycle! Ouch. I wonder if he died in real life. There's so much in here that is amateur pulling through as professional-looking, who knows how Miller was able to direct it. At any rate, the choreographer must have been ripping hairs. The movie itself is just the right length and the ending is bleak and suggestive for a sequel. The post-apocalyptic vein was handled in a novel way, showing how present-day elements could co-exist with the Beginnings of the End. All in all, to sum this up in three words: cars, violence and good plot. Did I say violence, already?
Rating:
Summary: A Classic
Review: I first saw the Road Warrior when I was little and loved it, it was my favorite of the three. I probably rented it 100 times. I have all three on tape now and I have come to love Mad Max the most. You see how things were beforehand, and I love the other cops, especially Goose. I still want one of the Falcons. Those cars were great. The cheesy, low-budget feel and look makes it even better. I love it when Max gets the Black car and goes psycho, it's great. I did not know there was an original austrailian non-dubbed version. Does anyone know where you can get it?
Rating:
Summary: Fitting beginnng of an epic
Review: "Mad Max," the first film in a much-imitated but never equalled "action" tragedy/trilogy, perfectly sets up the following two movies. Together, they form an epic of one man's losses of all he loves, his ruthless revenge, and his eventual redemption, beginning in "The Road Warrior," when he grudgingly assists a commune whose members repay him with treachery. Despite that, his metamorphosis comes to fruition in "Thunderdome," in which Max regains his humanity to the fullest degree. Side made several in Australia before this one, and the one to see is "Tim," in which Mel gives an incredible performance that's about as opposite of an apocalyptic anti-hero as anyone could get. This man has amazing talents, to the "Max."
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