Mad Max Flubs & Trivia

Grant Page on his way to the set

Where possible, the flubs / trivia are listed in the order in which they appear in the movie. Recent additions marked in yellow.

Note that I don't have the time to verify everything people keep sending me, so I'm marking most new additions with UNVERIFIED.

Film Flubs - The Fun & Interesting Stuff

  • When Roop is riding shotgun, from the exterior shots he holds the gun in both hands, but the interior shot shows him holding the shotgun with his left hand only.
  • March Hare's Cruiser is only belching white smoke from one pipe. This is because the car is a straight six - the left exhaust pipe is only be for looks.
  • Charlie said the Mazda bongo van had its indicatior on right? Well, it wasn't.
  • In the opening chase sequence, March Hare crashes twice. As you see the scene where March Hare clips the phone booth, if you look off in the distance you can already see March Hare crashed upside down in front of the caravan.
  • When Goose lowsides his bike in the chase, he drops it on his left leg. However, his right leg is the one which ends up in the cast.
  • Look closely at Goose's bike when he slides it. For the close ups of the bike we see a nice new Kwaka with mag wheels. For the stunt work it actually seems to be a beat up Suzuki with spoke wheels. Look at the bike during the slide, and also look later in the film for the bike jump. Look again when it tumbles over with the ute (the spokes are wrapped with foil to look like mags).
  • When Max is stopped waiting for the Night Rider to approach, there is a view of the radio, then Max's sunglasses, and then Max putting on his gloves.  If you look at the reflection in the sunglasses, Max is back on the dirt road!  Looks like they re-used one of the shots from earlier.
  • In the Night Rider/Max chicken scene, Nigh Rider yanks the wheel at the last second to avoid hitting Max.  Yet the yellow Interceptor swerves much more than the black one in the exterior shot.
  • In Mad Max when the Nightrider is just about to get blown up in the car, he turns the steering wheel right but he seems to turn left instead.
  • There is a plume of fire from the Night Rider's pursuit special just prior to his crash which doesn't belong there - this is the solid fuel rocket being used to propel the car!  If you look close there are no people in the car at this point.
  • Look closely with the Nightriders eyes pop out of his head, this is actually the shot of Toecutter from later in the film.
  • Jessie's saxophone playing doesn't match the music heard, at least in the American version of the film.  (A qualified sax player verified this!)
  • Take a look as the kids drive off in the Impala, knocking over Toecutter as they flee. When they drive off, all four windows are down. But, while they drive down the road, the windows are all up. Finally, after the Chevy is punted off the road, the two front windows are down again, but the rears are up. In addition, the right rear window seems to get broken at least three times during the smashing.
  • When the Toecutter goes to hack the windshield of the Impala, the windshield is already smashed.
  • When the Impala radiator is gouged it's not blowing any steam. The driver was running her for all she had, so it had to be hot!
  • Max and Goose have pulled over the weird custom bike near some trees. As Max responds to the call, the yellow Interceptor sits on the side of the road, with a large tree in front of it. When they drive off, the car pulls onto the road and speeds off... but where's the tree?
  • In the American version, Charlie's voice is dubbed.  Yet, after his throat is injured, he suddenly acquires a different accent in addition to his vocal box. This is the only voice which isn't dubbed over for the American release (apart from the Cabaret singer, who has no spoken lines).
  • In the beach scene, there are three shells fired with the two barreled shot gun.  First Toecutter shoots the double barrel shotgun to get everyone's attention.  Shortly after, Johnny the boy grabs the gun and shoots the dummy, twice, once below the left shoulder, and once in the face.
  • Also in the beach scene, watch the tide come in from one shot to the next. There is a mud shoal clearly visible just off shore which disappears under water in a subsequent shot.
  • When Goose rolls the ute with the bike in the back, the bike falls out and the ute rolls over once more. In the following shot the ute is sitting a LOT further away from the bike than this. Also, when  Goose rolls the pick up the stunt driver can be seen with a helmet on, and you can see the foil wrapped around the spokes on the bike (they couldn't afford real mag wheels for the crash bike).
  • When Max goes to St. George's Hospital to see The Goose, he is in the room for about five minutes. But on the clock on the hallway, where the others are waiting, you can see that he was in there for 45 minutes.
  • When Max and Jessie drive up to the mechanic's shop to fix a tyre, the area seems fairly deserted.  The town is almost a ghost town. If you look behind their wagon as they drive up to the mechanic's shop there is a large freeway in the distance, full of cars.
  • When Jessie is escaping from the beach with her icecream, what the background closely as she speeds past the houses, just after Cundalini throws the chain. If you look closely you'll see the black Interceptor parked in the driveway of one of the houses!
  • When Jessie finds the hand at the back of the panel van, take a close look at the chain at the top left of screen - whose hand is that holding the chain?!
  • At May's farm, Jessie goes to the beach.   Yet when she runs back to the farm, there is no coast in sight behind the forest (look to the right of the trees as she runs toward Max; in the distance are farm fields)
  • When auntie May confronts the bikies which the shotgun..she says "open that door, get in there" ..the door is already wide open
  • When May locks Toecutter's gang in the shed she locks the white door. The next scene when she walks over to where Jesse has driven up, you can see in the background the door is wide open and you can see one of their bikes inside, just as it was before she locked them in.
  • When max is looking for the bikers and enters the forbidden zone, the fuel line to the blower is routed back in to the blower and you can see the fake plate with small allen screws [access panel to carb] plate on the back of the blower.
  • After Max passes Kirk's Bridge in the interceptor, he does a handbrake turn ready to meet Toecutter's gand head on. During the handbrake turn, you see his hands yank the steering wheel round and pull the handbrake. These shots were actually done in a stationary vehicle, if you look at the rev counter (tachometer) it is on zero rpm, indicating that the engine was switched OFF during this shot. This was probably necessary in order to get a steady camera angle.
  • Earlier in the film when talking with the Toecutter, Bubba operates the visor with his right hand. However, just before attempting to run over Max, Bubba Zanetti operates his visor with his left hand - the stunt man is using the wrong hand.
  • When Bubba is shot from the bike, you can see the cable tied between him and the telegraph pole in the background.
  • If you look carefully, the bird on Bubba Zanetti is actually chained to his waist. It's also eating a steak.
  • Look closely at the front of the truck which wipes out Toecutter. It's completely false! Look especially at the headlights, obviously just painted on to the cardboard or fibreglass front.
  • After the Toecutter meets a road train head on, you see various scenes phasing in and out of Max driving in the dark, in the rain, looking tired etc, before he catches up with Johnny the boy. During one of these scenes, the Interceptor comes accross the screen from the left to the right, and it is dark, so the car's lights are on. The interceptor at this point, also has its front fog lights (or driving lights) switched on (the ones below the front bumper). Only one of them is on, the bulb in the other must have blown!

Film Flubs - The Nitpicker & Speculative Stuff

  • In the scene where the gang members chase the kid into the cafe, you can see a piece of the door come off, and the screens come apart as the kid goes inside. This is an indication that this door was actually made to come apart when the kid was thrown through it.
  • When Goose is riding his bike just previous to when the brakes lock, the clocks are indicating 100mph at 8000rpm. A Z9 should be doing 6000rpm at 100mph. He was in 4th gear to make the motor sound like it was working.
  • When Max is shot in the first film, the bullet goes through his right leg. However, throughout the rest of the movies his left leg is the one showing the injury. When frame by framing the scene it's actually quite a mess. Max is shot in the right leg, while holding the gun in his left hand. In the next scene as he starts to fall, he throws the gun away from his body - from his right hand. Next we see Max falling to the road, with the gun still in his right hand now, and he drops it again. From this point he returns to normality, with a wound in his left leg, and the gun lying to his right. Most probably someone just got some negatives reversed in all the brief cuts in this scene, and possibly never even noticed!

 

Trivia

  • The van (Mazda Bongo van) that is smashed in the opening chase was George Miller's own vehicle, as they were running out of money.
  • Approx. 20% of chase scenes scheduled were not shot due to lack of money.
  • Mad Max is still listed in the Guiness Book of Records (1998 edition) for the highest cost/profit ratio of a motion picture (it cost approx $400,000 to make, and made over $100 million). This record has probably been broken by Blair Witch, I don't know if that's "official" though.
  • The motorcycle jump when Goose comes off his bike was also in the Guiness Book of Records - If anyone has this edition (probably 1980) and can help me verify this, please contact me. The current edition lists a 1991 jump as the longest.
  • Max's full name is Max Rockatansky. His last name is mentioned twice in Mad Max, and you can also see it printed on the side of his yellow interceptor "M. Rockatansky / The Dark One".
  • "The Dark One" was actually meant to be Max's partner, but apparently was elminated from the film somewhere between the scripting stage and the actual production.
  • The black interceptor was actually for sale after Mad Max, but with the success of the movie they kept it to make Mad Max 2.
  • At the start of Mad Max when they show a clip of the Night Rider's foot steping on the brake, he has DEATH tattooed on his toes.
  • The signpost at the intersection where the two MFP cars try to intercept the Night Rider shows it as the corner of Anarchy Road and Bedlam Road. Note that Anarchy has been spelt differently than earlier in the film.
  • The Night Rider quotes (not quite word for word) a song by AC/DC, the song "Rocker" - "I am a rocker, I am a roller, I am an out of controller!"   This song was released in 1976, two years before the film was shot.  (View the lyrics at this AC/DC lyrics site).
  • The Night Rider's name is Crawford Montizano. It is mentioned in the newscast that Max and Jessie watch.
  • In the underground garage scene, look in the foreground as the camera pans across. You can see the pusuit car the nightrider was driving, now with police lights on the roof. They are actually the lights from Max's interceptor, in the background you can see his car with no lights on the roof.
  • Also in the underground garage scene, look closely at Goose in the scene change just after his line "You've seen it, you've heard it, and you're still asking questions?" Also take a look at Mel's reaction, he doesn't seem sure whether or not to continue with the scene!
  • All of Toecutter's gang, including the Night Rider, have the same small tattoo on their cheek.  It it a capital 'T' with a small 'c' crossing it.
  • All of Toecutter's gang, including the Night Rider, have the same small tattoo on their cheek.  It it a capital 'T' with a small 'c' crossing it.
  • When the bikers first turn up in town, the two kids in the Impala are listening to the radio. Listen carefully - it's the same singer as is heard in the nightclub later in the movie.
  • As the Chevy is being chased by the bikers, look closely at the shot of the bikers looking out of the rear window of the Chevy - the biker on the right hand side is waving at you!
  • The bikies in Toecutter's gang in many cases were actually real bikers from local motorcycle clubs such as The Vigilantes, The Victorian Four Owners Club, and the Barbarians - see the bikers page for further info.
  • It's not really clear if Jessie is DOA at the hospital. They list a bunch of injuries which sound pretty fatal, then the doctor asks if she's salvageable. This might not in fact mean salvageable from her point of view, but might point instead towards organ transplanting / harvesting, as a few people have pointed out.
  • If you look closely after Max's wife and child are killed, in the center of the steering wheel of the black interceptor there is a picture of his wife and child.
  • The biker who is hit in the head by his bike as he crashes on Kirk's Bridge walked away from the stunt unharmed.
  • When Max drives off after being shot in the knee, listen to the sound when he shifts gears - it sounds very much like he shifts without using the clutch (like you'd do if you couldn't use your leg!)
  • Phil Brock, who is a stunt driver for the cars in the film, is the brother of Peter Brock, 9 times Bathurst winner.
  • Max's MFP (Main Force Patrol) number is 4073, Jim Goose is 2241, Roop is 3582, Charlie is 3640, Scuttle is 1528, and Fifi is 1805. If anyone ever manages to read Sarse's badge, let me know.
  • Max's Yellow Interceptor number is MFP 508. Big Bopper is 08.
  • The dead body in the final scene of the film was played by Andrew Jones, one of the traffic coordinators for the movie.

 


For flubs & trivia, thanks to:
Kieron Murphy,  Karol (the Wordwarrior), Christopher Crockett, Graeme Row,
Coldsnow, Mobydrift, Scott Crawley, Paul (Barney) Miil, Carlos Pina,
Don Gomez, Jason Smith, Peter Horne, George Gorman, Robert Ploof,
Pierre Savoie, [email protected], "warriormax", Rob (Gnarler),
Elliot Wrann, Terry Parker, Alden Elliott, Ross Beckley, Curtis Gropp,
Andre Narbonne, Andrew Paton, Mike Brokke, C. Osborne, Marcus Arundel,
Kevin Wilson, Jon Gibbs, "VW Scat", Axle Jack, Chuck Nelson, Dave Ford,
Jim Smith, Simon Waite and Konstantine Karras.

A note about flubs...

I originally intended this to be a list primarily of "fun" stuff, like really glaring continuity errors, things being in shot when they shouldn't, etc. Some people have emailed me flubs which require really intricate technical knowledge to even pick, or are either minor and uninteresting, or ambiguous as to whether it's really a mistake at all. For a long time I've rejected the less fun ones to try and keep the list to what I thought was interesting, but I keep getting emailed some of the small ones over and over, so now it's just easier for me to put them up and forget them. But please bear this in mind when you send me something, because I'm sure most people are like me, and would rather just stick with the fun stuff, and not get too picky about minor technical errors and so on.

 

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