Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome
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| Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome | |
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| Directed by | George Miller George Ogilvie |
| Produced by | Terry Hayes George Miller Doug Mitchell |
| Written by | Terry Hayes George Miller |
| Starring | Mel Gibson Tina Turner |
| Music by | Tina Turner Maurice Jarre |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
| Release date(s) | July 10, 1985 |
| Running time | 107 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | A$12,000,000 (estimated) |
| IMDb profile | |
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome was a 1985 film, the second sequel to the action movie Mad Max. The film was directed by George Miller and George Ogilvie, and starred Mel Gibson and Tina Turner.
Taglines:
- Two men enter. One man leaves.
- Hold out for Mad Max. This is his greatest adventure.
- A lone warrior searching for his destiny...a tribe of lost children waiting for a hero...in a world battling to survive, they face a woman determined to rule.
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
Max is once again a loner. Driving a camel-powered cart across the desert (his destination is not specified) Max is stalked and attacked from the air by an aircraft pilot, who manages to steal his cart and belongings. Max walks and stumbles upon the only nearby human outpost in the wasteland that remains — the seedy community of "Bartertown," founded and nominally run by villainous Aunty Entity (Turner).
In Bartertown, electricity, vehicles, functioning technology — all almost unheard of in this post-apocalyptic world — are made possible by a crude methane refinery, fueled by pig feces, using a weathered semi tractor as the electricity generator. The refinery is located under Bartertown and is operated by the wise, diminutive "Master," who is harnessed to his enormously strong, but dim-witted bodyguard known as "Blaster." Together, "Master Blaster" hold an uneasy power-truce with Entity for control of Bartertown; however, Master is beginning to exploit his position with energy "embargoes," challenging Auntie's leadership. She is furious with him but cannot challenge him publicly, as Master is the only one with the technical know-how to operate the machinery that powers Bartertown. The controlled chaos of Bartertown is maintained by one inflexible law that states that no deal can be broken, for any reason. The punishment for breaking this law is equally inflexible and invoked with the simple phrase, "bust a deal, face the wheel."
Entity recognizes Max as a resourceful (if disposable) fighter, and strikes a deal with him to provoke a duel with and kill Blaster in the "Thunderdome," a gladiatorial-esque arena where conflicts are resolved, turning what is arguably a political assassination into a lawful act. The rules of the match, as chanted by onlookers crowding the arena, are simple and singular — "two men enter, one man leaves." Max defeats Blaster, but refuses to kill him when he discovers that Blaster is a mentally retarded simpleton, innocent as a child. An enraged Entity kills Blaster herself and then invokes their single law since Max broke his deal with her. The wheel, it turns out, is a large, spinning metal disc with an arrow pointing to one of several consequences. When it is spun for Max, it lands on "Gulag." He is cast out of Bartertown and exiled to the desert wastes.
The story radically shifts gears at this point. Some time later, Max, near death due to exposure to the hostile conditions, is saved by a group of children. The children, hardened to the desert environment, are survivors of a nearby plane crash, and have formed a sort of tribal community in the sheltered desert oasis in which they live. Clinging to their hopes of rescue, they keep their fading memories of the past civilization alive in the form of ritualistic spoken "tells" which hinge on the return of a messianic "Captain Walker" who will repair their shattered aircraft and return them to civilization. Max's appearance and physical resemblence to Walker make the children believe that he has indeed returned to take them to "Tomorrow-morrow Land," or back to civilization as it once was.
After nursing him back to health, they are shocked to hear Max's account of the dystopic state of the world and become angry at his insistence that they all remain living in the relative safety of the oasis, knowing that the only "civilization" within reach is Bartertown. Some of the children decide to leave anyway, determined to find "Tomorrow-morrow land," the mythic place they believe their parents left them to find. Max goes after them.
The third act begins as Max catches up with them at the outskirts of Bartertown. They sneak in, intent on finding Master. Without Blaster to protect him, the dwarfish Master is little more than Entity's slave. Max and the children free him, but alert the guards, and a frenetic chase ensues, ending at the hideout of the recurring "pilot" character. Max coerces him to help them escape in a Transavia PL-12 Airtruk, but there is not enough room for them all. Max stays behind, heroically clearing a path through the pursuing vehicles so the plane has enough runway to take off. Rather than killing Max, Aunty spares him, but leaves the desert to decide his fate.
The story shifts to many years later, when the much older children are seen in the ruins of a decimated Sydney, lit up by thousands of fires. Savannah, the leader of the children, recites a final "tell":
The final shot of the movie is of a figure in the desert (obviously Max) walking toward the horizon and an uncertain future.
[edit] Reaction
Critical reaction to the film was generally positive, although reviewers were mixed regarding whether they considered the film the highest or lowest point of the Mad Max trilogy. Most of the criticism was focused on the children in the second half of the film, which many felt was a ripoff of the lost children from Peter Pan. [1] On the other hand, critics praised the Thunderdome scene in particular; critic Roger Ebert called the Thunderdome "the first really original movie idea about how to stage a fight since we got the first karate movies" and praised the fight between Max and Blaster as "one of the great creative action scenes in the movies." [2]
[edit] Influences in other media
- In the 1998 Seinfeld episode "The Dealership", George Costanza makes a reference to this movie when complaining about the dealership; "There’s no laws in this place. Anything goes! It’s Thunderdome!"
- The fight between "Dib" and Shunk Wugga in the "Invader Zim" episode "Battle-Dib" shows influence from both Thunderdome and "Tron"
- In the movie Waiting, Dane Cook pokes fun at the movie by saying when introduced "Welcome to Thunderdome, bitch!"
- In the video game Fallout 2, after completing the main storyline if the player revisits the city of New Reno the local NPC living there will be singing a bit of Tina Turner's "We dont need another hero" to the player character.
- In an episode of South Park called The Wacky Molestation Adventure, the children of the town find a way to get rid of all of their parents. Then when two poeple from out of town arrive, Stan Marsh tells them the story of "the before time" in a similar way the children in the movie explain the story of Captain Walker to Max.
- In another South Park episode called Douche and Turd, Stan Marsh is banished from South Park the same way Max is banished from barter town in the film.
- In an episode of The Simpsons in which Mel Gibson guest-starred, Homer and Mel are seen escaping with the same truck that appeared in the film.
- Gladiatorial style competitions using padded weapons inside a replica of the Thunderdome have been a popular attraction at Burning Man. The Thunderdome camp is run by a San Fracisco Bay Area outfit known as Death Guild, who has a Monday night nightclub by the same name. It is purported that what you see in the camp is exactly how the members live, in the Bay Area.
- In World of Warcraft, the city of Gadgetzan in Tanaris, is a reference to Bartertown.
- The online game Kingdom of Loathing contains an area called the "Thugnderdome," where you fight gnomes, hence the spelling.
- The final Comedy Central episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000, Laserblast, opens with Tom Servo and Crow holding a bound and gagged Mike hostage so that they can tell a long and involved joke that ends with a punchline ("Can't we just get beyond Thunderdome?") that reduces Mike to muffled screams.
- In the Season Seven episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer entitled "Showtime" Buffy stages a battle with an Ubervamp in front of the potential slayers and says, "Welcome to Thunderdome." Andrew replies "Two men enter, one man leaves."
[edit] Trivia
- The theme song "We Don't Need Another Hero" was performed by Tina Turner, who also performed other songs in the film's soundtrack.
- The ritual and language of the children's tribe bear a strong, uncredited resemblance to those in Russell Hoban's novel Riddley Walker. This may be the source of the name of their messiah, Captain Walker.
- The character of Captain Walker may also be a reference to Tommy's father, also Captain Walker, in The Who's album and movie Tommy (1975). This sounds even more likely when it is considered that Tina Turner, Bartertown's queen, also has an appearance in Tommy, as the Acid Queen.
- The twin boom sesquiplane aircraft used in the beginning of the film and for the rescue at the end of the movie was a Transavia PL-12 Airtruk.
- Film was dedicated to Byron Kennedy, who had perished in a helicopter crash on July 17, 1983 at Warragamba Dam, New South Wales while location-scouting for the film.
[edit] External links
| Mad Max Movies |
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| Mad Max | Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior | Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome | Mad Max 4: Fury Road |
