Mad Max – 1979
“Larger than life and twice as ugly!”
Welcome back to Season 3 of Because You Watched (woooosh!) Starcrash! This season, mirroring the collapse of whole damn world, is focused on apocalypse movies! Joining the Distinguished Professors is JC Shirley, our new producer and a podcaster in his own right (The Stuff Podcast with CJ and JC). We’re starting off by tackling the blueprint for the modern pre-/ post-apocalyptic movie, 1979’s Mad Max!
Topics covered include a questionable rendition of the Welcome Back, Kotter theme, the budget of $300,000 (did I mention this was shot for $300,000?), Toecutter’s symbolic resurrection as Immortan Joe in Fury Road, the difference between action movies and cult movies/ weird Australian movies, the brilliant low-budget movie Bender (no, not that one, and not that one either - watch it and make Vanderpool famous!), MM as a pre-apocalypse movie, Road Warrior as the template of the post-apocalypse movie, the double revenge plots, the wisdom of going on vacation in the middle of the apocalypse, comparison with Straw Dogs, comparison with Cyborg (stay tuned later in the season!), lines taken from AC/DC’s “Live Wire,” parallels with Gibson’s character in Lethal Weapon, George Miller as a director, the superiority of Fury Road, society falls apart but the roads are looking pretty good and the cars are still pretty cool, the highway patrol as just another gang, the unbearable loudness of the score, an uncomfortable suggestion of bestiality, the polymorphously perverse gang members as a precursor to the weird homophobia of The New Barbarians/ Warriors of the Wasteland, the breast-pillows, the safety-consciousness of the wild and crazy bikers, cheesy camera overcranking, the legendary awfulness of Michigan roads, over-accessorizing as the key to weird characterization, Gibson’s super-tight pants, the foolishness of learning to juggle in order to impress girls (try drawing instead!), criteria for selection of apocalyptic movies for this season, comparison with Wall-E, losing the Mask of Zorro episode, intentional WTF moments, Max’s Macgyver-esque turn at the end, Back to the Future 2 as a dystopian movie, Max’s transition from a cop to a ganger, gang members as evil and crazy, the gunslinger as protector of civilization but outside of it (Shane), Batman beating the crap out of villains, “WOOOOOO!”, humans as the real monsters, and Australians don’t drink Foster’s.
Movies mentioned as fitting the apocalyptic pattern that we don’t actually end up watching: Wall-E, Falling Down, A Bug’s Life, The Running Man, Soylent Green, Planet of the Apes, Until the End of the World, Apocalypto, Blade Runner, Judge Dredd, Dredd, Shaun of the Dead, Zombie Strippers, Children of Men, They Live, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, 2012, and Wake in Fright.
