Well, I rented Mad Max, and I like it. The DVD–doing what DVD is supposed to do best–has four audio tracks. Now the theatrical 5.1, theatrical mono, and commentary I can understand, but why in the world would there be an English-dub track? I mean, the freaking movie is in English. Yeah, it may have been made using Australian English, but I don’t need a bunch of crummy VAs rerecording the script.
Does anyone know what was up with this decision, does it go back to the original release, and what bozo came up with this idea to begin with?
The English Dub track is the original American release sound track. When this cheapie was purchased in 1978 the American distributers thought audiences in North America would have a hard time with the thick Aussie accents and slang. So they only purchased the rights to the visuals and redubbed the whole film. For the longest time the only way to view the film is with the 'Merican Dub. It is included more as a curiosity rthare than an actual viable soundtrack. The whole film has a very different tone with the dub.
Especially the garage mechanic’s voice…“RAUNCHY, VERY RAUNCHY!”…he sounds like a total retard in the U.S. dub.
So they purchased the rights to the visuals but not the soundtrack? Interesting, I didn’t know that. Would account for the fact that several companies tried and failed to release MM with the original soundtrack…I remember Image releasing a laserdisc way back when that marked the widescreen debut of the film in the U.S., a release that they claimed would contain the original voices but in fact carried the same old American dub. They claimed “rights issues”. Makes a lot of sense now.
Some purists would object to the American dub being present on the current DVD, but I like the fact that it’s there…it’s a part of this film’s history, at least in the U.S., and ought to be preserved for curiosity/historical purposes.
P.S…just as a sidenote, two instances of the original dialogue are preserved in the U.S. dub.
The nightclub singer’s voice wasn’t dubbed, naturally.
And couple of lines of dialogue that are spoken by Charlie through his voice synthesiser (during the scene where him and Goose are preparing for the arrival of a criminal’s lawyers) are still in their original Austrailian accent, strangely enough.
I found that one awfully strange, when I first laid hands on the DVD. (Charlie’s buzz-box)
If the original complaint was that an American audience would have trouble understanding, why not make that bit easier to understand?
It’s now been years since I watched the original US release, but does anyone recall if the quick shot of Goose leaving the singer’s room in the morning was always there? When I first sat and watched the DVD, I couldn’t remember ever seeing that bit before.
[sub]And does anyone else find it criminal just how much was taken from the character of Toecutter by dubbing his voice?[/sub]
Yeah the bit with the Kewpie doll on the door. I remember it but seeing as the video releases were all full screen you never saw her in the shot so it appeared Goose had a Kewpie doll on his own door.
I have never seen this film with the “original” (aussie) dialog, and this is the main reason I may go out and buy a DVD player. I figure it will make an already good movie great.
Might have to do that today, and put it out as a gift from “Santa” for the wife and myself…
kingpengvin, you’ve got the right of it. I dug up the video tape (worn and barely watchable, anymore) and that scene’s framed so that you can’t see her or the bed in the shot. In fact, the kewpie doll itself is only onscreen for a second, as the door closes.