The Road Warrior was released in the US during the Spring of 1982.
A sequel to the hit 1979 Australian film “Mad Max“, the film launched the highly successful career of actor Mel Gibson and was his first major worldwide hit.
The film earned a modest $24 Million in North America but is still considered a cult classic around the Globe.
At the time of its release, it was the most expensive Australian movie ever made.
I saw this film for the first time as Junior in High School. I had never heard of “Mad Max” and I had never heard of Mel Gibson. I remember leaving the theater with the thought that the final chase that takes up the last 20 minutes of the film HAS to be the greatest chase ever filmed. Seeing as how there were no computer generated special effects and the chase involved actual vehicles being driven by stuntmen, I still think this is the King of all chase films.
The first two-thirds of the movie is pretty slow, there is very little dialogue, and little action, but the last section of the film involving the climactic chase between Max and the Bad Guys is well worth the wait.
I went back and rented “Mad Max” after seeing this movie and although it had a few good parts, it was not nearly the movie that “The Road Warrior” turned out to be.
It spawned a sequel in “Mad Max beyond ThunderDome” in 1985 that was pretty good, but I still think “The Road Warrior” was by far the best film in the series.
My life fades. The vision dims. All that remains are memories. I remember a time of chaos. Ruined dreams. This wasted land. But most of all, I remember The Road Warrior. The man we called “Max”. To understand who he was, you have to go back to another time…
