Road Warrior

[BoyScoutKevin]

There are chick flicks, and there are guy flicks. If most guys don't understand chick flicks, then most chicks don't get guy flicks. And this is the ultimate guy flick.

Besides the chase scenes, which have been mentioned numerous times, here are the reasons I like it.

(1) Some of the most fully sketched out characterizations I have ever seen in a film. Each character is distinctive. Which is somewhat amazing, considering how small are some of the parts, and how little dialogue there is in the film.

(2) The cool names for the characters. How cool is "The Feral Kid?"

(3) The twisty ending.

As a side note, the toy boy in the film was originally suppose to be a girl, until the part was changed. And the bonde Amazon who rides shotgun on the truck, that was suppose to be a man, until that part was changed to a woman.

There was also talk of doing a 4th Mad Max film, which I would have seen, but I guess they never could get everything together to do it.

[odinn7]

They turned Max into a p***y in the 3rd film, what would be the sense of continuing on to a 4th? That movie just shouldn't have ever happened. On its own it may not have been too bad, but to make it as a continuation of the other two? A railroad chase scene, the gyro captain that isn't, oasis kids in the desert, no cars, Tina Turner, 80's video look-alike...it was just a kick in the groin to me.

[Neville]

I agree, the third Mad Max is a travesty. Too much sterilised for my taste. Trying to answer Susan's query, I'd say than on one hand this film is the ultimate male fantasy. To live in a wild world, without moral restraints of any kind, but voluntarily staying in the good side of the road. Helping good people, kicking bad guys asses, but not because it is the right thing to do, but because of our own free will. Being badass, uncivilised, but still doing the right things so we can't be criticised or feel guilty afterwards.

See how male-centered and spartan the iconography is: western landscapes, arms, vehicles... everything seems to involve one or more of these elements. In our ultimate fantasies /as seen earlier in this topic) we still play like childs, driving fast, kicking arse, making things go boom. Mad Max II, like the "Mafia" or "GTA" videogames, allows us to indulge in all that, simply by taking the POV of Max.

And on the other hand, The Road Warrior is one of the best, if not the best, action movie ever directed. Everything is just plain perfect, to the above-mentioned western touches or spartan yet effective characterisation to the wonderfully staged action bits. Miller is able to do all this flawlessly, plus allowing the story to have some deeper sense (Max's attempt of redemption) he manages to avoid it bering silly. Notice also how he avoids mistakes such as being campy by creating a genuinely terrifying portrayal of a world gone berserk. Add to all this a great pacing and minimal dialog and you'll have males around the world hipnotised.

[Susan]

>>Trying to answer Susan's query, I'd say than on one hand this film is the ultimate male fantasy. <<

Vs Debbie does Dallas? ;-)

[Menard]

Susan wrote:

> >>Trying to answer Susan's query, I'd say than on one hand this
> film is the ultimate male fantasy. <<
>
> Vs Debbie does Dallas? ;-)


Debbie is a one-night stand, where ROAD WARRIOR is an alternate reality. There is room for Debbie in the aftermath. (:

[Dr. Kobb]

I dunno.
"Debbie Does the Post-Apocalyptic Wasteland" just doesn't have that certain something...

[Menard]

How about Debbie does the Amazon?

[Susan]

How about debbie discovers H.G. wells time machine....

[Mr Hockstatter]

Actually, back in the '80s, it seemed like post apocalyptic movies with a ton of gratuitous T&A was a whole genre in itself (as if there weren't already enough reasons why the '80s were the best decade of all time).  You had Rollerblade, Rollerblade Warriors, and the Returt of the Rollerblade 7 (or something like that).  Crash and Burn, Hell Comes to Frogtown (little light on the nudity), Hybrid, Creepozoids, Cherry 2000, Star Slammer, and many more.  Almost every one was chock full of everything that makes a movie so bad it's good.  We should make a complete list, because those were some of my favorite movies.  

C'mon guys!  It's a moral imperative.

[Susan]

Battle Queen 2020 (penthouse pet..hello?), Tank Girl, Warriors of the Apocalypse, These movies were funny because i remember the video cover always had a guy with muslces and a gun and some vixen wearing next to nothing

Logans run had alot of orgies even tho it wasn't about muscles and battles - 70's future movies were more of a social commentary. I'm really blanking out on if

Alot of 80s movies in the "I've seen the future and it sucks" genre. Endgame, cyborg, world gone wild, 2020 texas gladiators....I also remember a rutger hauer one where they survived by playing some brutal game. I guess in the future there's nothing better to do than invent bloodsports for fun

[Yaddo 42]

I only ever saw "Phoenix the Warrior" on basic cable, edited. Was there nudity in the full film? Since most of the cast was female it seemed like a likely candidate.

"Hardware" was supposed to be pretty rough. There's the "Empire of Ash" series that I mention sometimes, but I've only seen the second one, no idea if they had nudity. The annoying talking robot/bomb dropping remote control plane made the film hard to sit through.

The Rutger Hauer film was "The Blood of Heroes".

Does anyone else remember an Italian post-apocalypse action quest film possibly called "Rage"? A small para-military unit was sent into the usual wasteland filled with killer mutants to find a mythic magic item that could restore civilization, whcih turned out to be a rather large Bible with lots of gaudy gold trim and shiny baubles. The main character was a total Rambo rip-off, complete with headband.

I'm fairly certain there was nudity in "Equalizer 2000" since the heroine's twin, uh, "talents" were more interesting than her acting.