# Why does Max stay behind? (Road Warrior) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 7, 2013, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-max-stay-behind-road-warrior/649631 "2013-02-07T20:31:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-max-stay-behind-road-warrior/649631/41 "2013-02-08T20:14:46Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > …there is no “in-universe” explanation I can come up with. Perhaps they were worried that all Max would have to do is give it a rap with his knuckles to realise there’s no fuel in there? And I think even someone who hasn’t driven a truck before would notice the different between a full and an empty tank…but that’s just my opinion. 🙂 > [@DCnDC](#): > > It’s the same actor, but [not the same character](http://www.mediamikes.com/2011/10/interview-with-bruce-spence/) (see the penultimate question). Now that’s just bizarre, why did they have such similar characters and use the same actor if it wasn’t supposed to be the same person? Is there anyone in the world who watched the film and realised they were different characters?!? ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-max-stay-behind-road-warrior/649631/42 "2013-02-08T20:54:47Z")
> [@Disposable Hero](#): > > Now that’s just bizarre, why did they have such similar characters and use the same actor if it wasn’t supposed to be the same person? There are only a handful of actors in Australia, and some of them are off on walkabout at any given time. If they didn’t re-purpose Bruce Spence, they would have had to give Paul Hogan a call (and nobody wanted that). ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-max-stay-behind-road-warrior/649631/43 "2013-02-08T21:02:05Z")
> [@Disposable Hero](#): > > Now that’s just bizarre, why did they have such similar characters and use the same actor if it wasn’t supposed to be the same person? > > Is there anyone in the world who watched the film and realised they were different characters?!? Have you ever watched a Tim Burton film, especially re: Helena Bonham Carter? He’ll even not in his films she’s always a creepy lady who has never med a comb. I would understand your confusion, though. Presumably, Miller worked with Spence before and liked his role. And wait… a guy named Bruce and he’s originally from… New Zealand? Is that name stereotype associated with NZ, too? ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-max-stay-behind-road-warrior/649631/44 "2013-02-08T21:51:48Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Have you ever watched a Tim Burton film, especially re: Helena Bonham Carter? He’ll even not in his films she’s always a creepy lady who has never med a comb. > > I would understand your confusion, though. Presumably, Miller worked with Spence before and liked his role. And wait… a guy named Bruce and he’s originally from… New Zealand? Is that name stereotype associated with NZ, too? Bruce? Not particularly. Good point about HBC, though not in sequels where the main character is the same and she plays different supporting characters. Seems like someone should start a thread… bags not me, I have baking to do. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-max-stay-behind-road-warrior/649631/45 "2013-02-08T21:52:16Z")
> [@Disposable Hero](#): > > Now that’s just bizarre, why did they have such similar characters and use the same actor if it wasn’t supposed to be the same person? I think it was just a (perhaps overly) clever nod to the previous film (like the 2 actors who always ended up as half-zombies in the _Return of the Living Dead_ films.) They even went as far as casting a Feral Kid look-alike as his partner. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2013, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-max-stay-behind-road-warrior/649631/46 "2013-02-09T05:58:56Z")
Do we ever get any indication about what shape the world outside Australia is in? I mean there are parts of the world that have oil. Hell by Thunderdome the rest of the world might be recovered from the war already.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2013, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-max-stay-behind-road-warrior/649631/47 "2013-02-09T06:06:54Z")
> [@dogbutler](#): > > They did it for the same reason they blew up the refinery. To cripple the Humongous’ gang. No juice, no cars, no power for the Man in the iron goalie mask. Yeah, I get that but it’s just gas not a death ray weapon. After filling up, they only have a few hours of driving time until they’ve burned through it. Regardless, empty would have been the best strategy. Better for Max anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2013, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-max-stay-behind-road-warrior/649631/48 "2013-02-09T07:57:55Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > What matters is why did they spend all that fucking time bothering to fill the tanker with sand!? I mean…you could try and make the argument of “well, that way it handles like a real semi loaded full of gas,” but why would you want that? AFAIK, Max was never a Big Rig driver, so it’s not like he would know the difference between an empty and a full tank. It’s pretty easy to feel the difference between a full truck and an empty, even for non-expert drivers. For that matter, it’s possible to _see_ it in a truck you’re pursuing, if there are hills and/or quick turns. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2013, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-max-stay-behind-road-warrior/649631/49 "2013-02-09T13:24:22Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > He wasn’t flying at the end. He was go-carting it. The rotor was broke. (Apparently, he had a chain drive to the wheels or something) Anyways, no problems of too much weight to fly since he was limited to ground driving by the end of the movie. \ AUTOGYROS DO NOT WORK THAT WAY! \ Autogyros have an unpowered rotor and a powered propeller. The prop is usually at the back (what pilots would call a “pusher” configuration). The rotor works kind of like those seed pods that drop from trees and spin as they fall. Air flowing upwards through the rotor makes it turn. When the Gyro Captain is shot down, the rotor breaks when he lands (and I think the engine is damaged, too). But if the engine is working well enough to turn the prop, it should still roll down the road. There are still a few issues to overcome for him to catch up to the convoy, but nothing insurmountable. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2013, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-max-stay-behind-road-warrior/649631/50 "2013-02-09T14:35:50Z")
Cool. My point was that he wasn’t flying, he was motoring along the ground (one way or the other). Thus, gyro flying issues don’t apply to the question of whether Max could’ve hitched a ride. He wasn’t left behind by Gyro Captain, he STAYED behind. Was he expected to survive the decoy run in the first place? IMHO, I don’t think so. ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2013, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-max-stay-behind-road-warrior/649631/51 "2013-02-09T17:51:30Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > I’m not. If Mel was playing Max againthen he could be out saving the world from the evil jew biker gangs who only want to rape our women and steal our gas. Led by a biker chick named Sugar T\*ts? ---
**Author:** ![SirGalahad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/71c47a/32.png) [@SirGalahad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SirGalahad)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2013, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-max-stay-behind-road-warrior/649631/52 "2013-02-09T18:38:40Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > At the end of _Beyond Thunderdome_, “Mad Max” stays behind so the lost children can escape. > > But in _The Road Warrior_ he could have gone north with the settlers, but it seems like he chooses to stay behind. > > Why does he stay behind? Did I miss something? Max is the post-apocalyptic Paul Kersey. He doesn’t want to live, he wants to kill. Now, in later movies after “Death Wish”, Kersey seems to be healing a little, but apparently, Max is more damaged and the wasteland isn’t a very good therapeutic setting. I believe the implication is that Max’s soul is empty, he’s become a driven revenge machine. He doesn’t want companionship (except his dog). He’s the ultimate Post Traumatic Stress vigilante. He doesn’t need associates, he needs bad-guys to punish. He’ll never be able to kill enough psycho-barbarians to heal his loss. He has a death wish of his own … he’s fearless because he wants to die, but not before taking out as many murderous thugs as he can. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2013, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-max-stay-behind-road-warrior/649631/53 "2013-02-09T22:04:25Z")
When The Road Warrior was originally in US theaters I didn’t know it was a sequel. But that became obvious due to the flashbacks. ---
**Author:** ![Enter\_the\_Flagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Enter\_the\_Flagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enter_the_Flagon)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2013, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-max-stay-behind-road-warrior/649631/54 "2013-02-09T23:02:31Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > When The Road Warrior was originally in US theaters I didn’t know it was a sequel. But that became obvious due to the flashbacks. You were having flashbacks? 'Cause I don’t think there were any in Road Warrior. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2013, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-max-stay-behind-road-warrior/649631/55 "2013-02-10T00:48:45Z")
> [@maggenpye](#): > > My WAG is that he stays to police the badlands. A force for good in a world gone bad. > > In the first Mad Max movie (IIRC) he was a police officer and went off the deep end after his wife and son are killed by a biker gang. After torturing and killing the bad guys he wanders off into the sunset ready to take on all forces of evil. > > That’s paraphrasing, mostly what I remember of the first movie is bad sound levels and lots of yelling. That doesn’t sound right to me. Didn’t he go after the bikers for revenge, then that was it, movie ends? Then in the sequels didn’t he pretty much want to be left alone in the now post-apocalyptic wasteland (though events kept dragging him back in, of course)? More of a reluctant hero, anyway, not a force for good looking to take on all the bad guys around. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2013, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-max-stay-behind-road-warrior/649631/56 "2013-02-10T02:20:21Z")
> [@Enter\_the\_Flagon](#): > > You were having flashbacks? 'Cause I don’t think there were any in Road Warrior. 😕 There was at least one I think. Kind of black and white, with a woman running away, holding a child and looking back over her shoulder. Was that Max’s wife? ---
**Author:** ![dogbutler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogbutler/32/428_2.png) [@dogbutler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dogbutler)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2013, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-max-stay-behind-road-warrior/649631/57 "2013-02-10T03:57:01Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > There was at least one I think. Kind of black and white, with a woman running away, holding a child and looking back over her shoulder. Was that Max’s wife? Yes, I remember that one. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2013, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-max-stay-behind-road-warrior/649631/58 "2013-02-10T04:08:11Z")
Virginia Hey is still pretty fuckable, I feel compelled to note. ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2013, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-max-stay-behind-road-warrior/649631/59 "2013-02-10T04:17:03Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > There was at least one I think. Kind of black and white, with a woman running away, holding a child and looking back over her shoulder. Was that Max’s wife? I think those were shots at the beginning of the film which were describing how the world was ravaged by nuclear war and they showed Max’s family murdered by the biker gang from the first movie. Those movies were also back when Mel Gibson still had an Australian accent(still noticeable in the first\* Lethal Weapon\*). ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2013, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-max-stay-behind-road-warrior/649631/60 "2013-02-10T04:46:11Z")
I thought Max stayed after the first movie so there could be a sequel, but I was lousy at interpreting a character’s motivation when I was in literature classes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-max-stay-behind-road-warrior/649631.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-max-stay-behind-road-warrior/649631.md?page=4)