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But he is. The film opens with what really is one of the greatest car chases ever filmed. A psychotic biker called Nightrider escapes the police’s Main Pursuit Force in one of their own souped up cars, taking out several officers in the process. Max is called in to help and ends the chase by running the maniac off the road, challenging him to a high speed game of chicken. Realizing he’s about to be rolled by someone even crazier than himself, Nightrider loses his nerve and ends his joyride in a fiery ball of molten death. It’s all in a day’s work, and Max is the biggest stud on a force filled with guys who live fast and die hard. This is Max’s world and he exists here with his family, his job and his best friend/partner, Jim Goose (Steve Bisley).

There’s just one problem. Australia’s interior is a hostile place, veined with lots of arid, open road. For reasons the movie does not specify, society has begun to break down, and law and order seems a little hard to come by. Freaks like Nightrider terrorize the highway; their only purpose being to welcome the coming apocalypse with open arms. They’re led by a terrifying lunatic named Toecutter (Hugh Keays-Byrne), who is a master at convincing people to do things just by staring at them. Nightrider was kind of a big deal in the psycho killer world, and Toecutter decides to avenge his crazy friend’s death by going after the cops who took him down. Just because he’s insane doesn’t mean he isn’t resourceful, and it doesn’t take long to come up with some names.

They start with Goose, sabotaging his motorcycle and burning him alive in a scene guaranteed to cure you of any desire to play with matches. After Goose’s death, Max predictably tries to quit the force and the film spends a welcome moment poking fun at the cliché. But then, rather than trivialize Max’s grief as the usual case of tough guy nerves, we see that Max is fully aware of what he’s about to become. Nightrider was right to be scared - deep down inside, officer Rockatansky is the most dangerous thing on the road; a cop whose job is starting to get into his head. Max can sense it, and he wants to get out before he loses it completely. Before you tell me you’ve seen the same story in about a dozen Westerns I want you to stop, and just pat yourself on the back now.

Remember earlier when I said that a guy with so much to live for shouldn’t be so nutty? Mad Max is hardly the first film to feature such an obvious anti-hero, but it’s one of the few that is decent enough not to ask you to take it at face value. If you haven’t already guessed, this is not a film about the future. It’s a Western, the kind where they take everything away from a guy and push him too far until he snaps and takes justice into his own hands. The cowboys have been replaced with cops, the horses with crotch rockets and V-sleds, and the American Frontier with the Australian Outback. It’s not so much the story but the dystopian setting, cross pollinated with Aussie road culture that single handily redefined the already well worn “post apocalypse” genre.

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