# Classic movies you don't get (Mad Max) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 24, 2000, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-movies-you-dont-get-mad-max/26655 "2000-07-24T16:44:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Moe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moe/32/2972_2.png) [@Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moe)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-movies-you-dont-get-mad-max/26655/1 "2000-07-24T16:44:04Z")
Mad Max. I don’t get. This is a cult classic. But what is so good about it? What am I not seeing? Is there something deeper going on here? I actually haven’t seen it in a few years, but for some reason I was thinking about it this morning and figured I’d open a thread to get some insight and then watch it again. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Zero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@Saint\_Zero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Zero)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-movies-you-dont-get-mad-max/26655/2 "2000-07-24T16:46:52Z")
Argh… I haven’t seen Mad Max. everything else but that one. Aside from the Cool car he has in the first one… (wait, I have seen some of it, now that I think about it) I dunno either. ---
**Author:** ![soulsling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@soulsling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/soulsling)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-movies-you-dont-get-mad-max/26655/3 "2000-07-24T16:50:20Z")
mad max is just post WWIII Australia where the government’s lost control, wild bandits have taken over the countryside and begun looting, pillaging, raping and so forth, and this cool guy and his cool car lose his family to these bandits so he goes off on a rampage and becomes a loner vigilante of sorts. Nothing to get. Better than Waterworld or The Postman though. Classic movie I don’t get very well is Brazil, but it’s been a while since i’ve seen it. ---
**Author:** ![Needs2know](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5e925/32.png) [@Needs2know](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Needs2know)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-movies-you-dont-get-mad-max/26655/4 "2000-07-24T17:07:33Z")
Cult classics are just that cultish I suspect. They appeal to a certain segment of the population which considers them “classic”. Whether everyboby “gets” them or not is not the point, obviously someone does. I have to agree with Brazil…but wasn’t that one a bit contrived to start with? Didn’t they kind of set out to “create” a cult classic? I would think that in order to be considered a true “classic” the whole point is to do it by accident. Here’s a good question then…which would you consider the “ultimate” cult classic. I’d have to give my vote to The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Wasn’t that thing the longest running Midnight Movie in history or something? Or would you say it was… Monty Python and the Holy Grail Blazing Saddles Highlander Eraserhead Easy Rider Alice’s Restuarant Dark Star The Gods Must Be Crazy Attack of the Killer Tomatoes Harold and Maude I Spit on Your Grave Texas Chainsaw Massacre Night of the Living Dead Blair Witch Project Just to name a few. Needs2know ---
**Author:** ![lswote](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lswote/32/5737_2.png) [@lswote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lswote)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-movies-you-dont-get-mad-max/26655/5 "2000-07-24T17:11:42Z")
Well I definately like he sequel _Road Warrior_ better and it was the one I saw first. Then _Mad Max_ served mostly to flesh out why Max was who he was and some of his motivation in _Road Warrior_. If you don’t like _Road Warrior_ then I don’t know what to tell you. That is clearly a more understandable movie and I guess you like it or you don’t. ---
**Author:** ![oldscratch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ed655f/32.png) [@oldscratch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oldscratch)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-movies-you-dont-get-mad-max/26655/6 "2000-07-24T17:17:28Z")
Mad max is nothing. The one that took me the longest time to understand was “A boy and his dog”. The entire movie was just a… well I don’t want to ruin it for those who haven’t seen it, we’ll just say if you want a strange but good time rent it. The ending really makes it worth it. It made me see Don Johnson in a whole new light. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Moe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moe/32/2972_2.png) [@Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moe)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-movies-you-dont-get-mad-max/26655/7 "2000-07-24T17:25:37Z")
Funny you mention Brazil. That has recently been recommended to me by a few people and I really want to check it out. Also Eraserhead was also recommended by the same guy who recommended Brazil (a big David Lynch and MP fan). Needs2Know, if you are going to hijack my thread, then darnnit, I’m gonna help. I would agree “Rocky Horror Picture Show” is like the anthem of cult movies. “Alice’s Restaurant” is one of my favs. I’m a huge fan of “Repoman”. Also, anyone out there seen (oh shit, I’m completely blanking on the name, oh wait here it comes) Greaser’s Palace? Far out flick telling the story of Jesus Christ in a western setting, with a hint of 60’s psychedlia. ---
**Author:** ![soulsling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@soulsling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/soulsling)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-movies-you-dont-get-mad-max/26655/8 "2000-07-24T17:33:53Z")
Agreed on Brazil again. But I totally got Harold and Maude, shucks, that was masturbation material for a short time of my young adulthood. I got it alright! Rocky Horror is still playing, don’t know what you mean by was… Here’s a good one though. Along the lines of John Hughes flicks, but not one of his, a British version instead, “The Rachel Papers”. If you haven’t seen it, rent it. Great movie, twisted a bit, but interesting. Totally 80’s British. Highlander… They’ve come out with the next one, it’s got both McCleods in it, and the action looks great, but sheesh, I thought they were done. Nope, I go to see Scary Movie last night, (which i thought was lame, not funny, but very lame), and in the previews comes the ad for the next Highlander movie. Here’s what I don’t get about Highlander. The timeline stinks, it doesn’t connect right. In the original theyr’e all from earth, then you find out they’re from another planet and coming here are immortal until one is left, and he is to rule back on the planet, but then it’s not that way anymore, then the TV movie comes out for the series, and what with all the flashbacks, this series makes no sense what so ever. Got me confused, I just like the sword play. ---
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-movies-you-dont-get-mad-max/26655/9 "2000-07-24T17:42:43Z")
Add me to the pile of Brazil haters. I’ve only walked out on two movies in my entire life and Brazil was one of them. I also saw the Rocky Horror Picture Show to see what all the fuss was about. (I was actually one of the few people who saw the LIVE east coast RHS – before they made the “picture show”; it ran maybe two weeks Off Broadway and closed.) God, that movie was tedious and awful. It goes on forever but goes nowhere. Talk about celluloid masturbation. Zzzzzzzz… ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-movies-you-dont-get-mad-max/26655/10 "2000-07-24T17:47:59Z")
> [@](#): > > Mad max is nothing. The one that took me the longest time to understand was “A boy and his dog”. Actually, there’s nothing to understand about _A Boy and his Dog_. It’s very straight-forward. Of course, I read Harlan Ellison’s much-better novella before I saw the movie (sometime in the early 80s). ---
**Author:** ![h\_thur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/db5fbb/32.png) [@h\_thur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h_thur)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-movies-you-dont-get-mad-max/26655/11 "2000-07-24T17:49:47Z")
Jacob’s Ladder ---
**Author:** ![oldscratch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ed655f/32.png) [@oldscratch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oldscratch)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-movies-you-dont-get-mad-max/26655/12 "2000-07-24T17:50:03Z")
I shoulda been more specific. true, there isn’t anything to understand. What i meant was understand why am I watching this? the end made it worth it though. I almost turned it off on three seperate occasions. ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-movies-you-dont-get-mad-max/26655/13 "2000-07-24T17:53:04Z")
**Blade Runner** : The original version and the Director’s Cut. The new cut may have made it technically a better movie, but it also made it longer and even more boring. **2001: A Space Odyssey** : Visually superb, but boring. **Forrest Gump** : Its ok to be stupid . . . if you are earnest and athletic. **It’s a Wonderful Life** **Apocolyps Now** ---
**Author:** ![Phobos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Phobos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phobos)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-movies-you-dont-get-mad-max/26655/14 "2000-07-24T17:58:44Z")
Was Mad Max _as_ popular before the sequel? Or did it only have a small following and did not become a cult classic until after the very popular Road Warrior was released? ---
**Author:** ![soulsling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@soulsling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/soulsling)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-movies-you-dont-get-mad-max/26655/15 "2000-07-24T18:00:06Z")
Nobody knows anything about Highlander? ---
**Author:** ![soulsling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@soulsling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/soulsling)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-movies-you-dont-get-mad-max/26655/16 "2000-07-24T18:01:10Z")
I thought after “thunderdome” it became very popular, but was already slowly becoming a cultish classic then. ---
**Author:** ![astrangefish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bbce88/32.png) [@astrangefish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astrangefish)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-movies-you-dont-get-mad-max/26655/17 "2000-07-24T18:22:36Z")
> [@](#): > > Nobody knows anything about Highlander? Totally cool movie(s) staring a long haired Christopher Lambert as an immortal. Micheal Ironside played the bad guy (he’s good at that). It’s a shame they made the TV series. There can be only one. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Zero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@Saint\_Zero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Zero)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-movies-you-dont-get-mad-max/26655/18 "2000-07-24T18:43:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by soulsling \* > \*\*Nobody knows anything about Highlander? \*\* From what I know, the way to fix things is dump highlander 2 and 3. They are glossed over/outright ignored. The TV series follows pretty well, having more time to go into depth over the years. I don’t know how all this will apply to Endgame, but we shall see. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-movies-you-dont-get-mad-max/26655/19 "2000-07-24T19:08:00Z")
**Brazil** – Good movie…just takes awhile to get it. Basically the ultimate bureaucratic state where public enemy #1 is a guy (played by Robert DeNiro) who runs around fixing people’s air conditioning without doing the proper paperwork. The movie’s hard to follow because the lead character’s fantasy life and reality blend more and more seamlessly as you move through the movie till you can’t tell what’s supposed to be happening and what’s only fantasy (and, of course, ‘reality’ is pretty bizarre in the movie in its own right). **Eraserhead** – WATCH AT YOUR OWN RISK!!! While interesting it is thouroughly WEIRD. Quite possibly the most difficult movie I’ve ever watched. Glad I saw it but hard to recommend to anyone. Keep a bottle of aspirin handy while watching it. **Harold & Maude** – One of the best movies ever made! HIGHLY recommend this one. Cat Steven soundtrack pretty good too. **Highlander** – Good movie. Immortal warriors who must kill each other till only one remains (immortal EXCEPT if they get their head cut off which is why they fight with swords). DO NOT bother with the sequels. They suck. Only Robocop had worse sequels IMO. **Dark Star** – One of the stupidest movies ever made. A GREAT movie if you like really bad movies. Talk about low budget…the alien attacking them was a beach ball with feet glued to it. They also must talk to a smart bomb capable of destroying a planet out of blowing them all up (they do this by posing philosophical connundrums(sp?) so the bomb stops its countdown while pondering this new thought). **Anything Monty Python** – They’re all great but Holy Grail and Life of Brian really standout. **Toxic Avenger** – As one reviewer put it, “Quite possibly the most disgusting, revolting and offensive movie I’ve ever seen. I’d watch it again in a minute.” Steer clear if you’re even slightly easily offended. **Street Trash** – Makes Toxic Avenger look like a Disney movie in comparison. **Evil Dead I & II** – Classic NASTY horror movies. Another one to avoid if you’re squeamish in the slightest. Can’t say it enough…NASTY NASTY NASTY! _Army of Darkness_ is a sequel to this movie and its tame in comparison. I could go on and on. Sing out if you want other reviews… ---
**Author:** ![FarrisGoldstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f17d59/32.png) [@FarrisGoldstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FarrisGoldstein)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-movies-you-dont-get-mad-max/26655/20 "2000-07-24T19:17:29Z")
Yeah, Troma movies are great. My favorite line from “The Toxic Avenger”: “Hell yeah, I ain’t never cornholed me a blind bitch!” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-movies-you-dont-get-mad-max/26655.md?page=2)